Tam Lin Music

Location:
New York, New York, US
Type:
Artist / Band / Musician
Genre:
Folk / Folk Rock / Experimental
Site(s):
Label:
any takers?
He remembers finding someone's copy of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited on vinyl. He was nine years old, and within a few days he had memorized all the words to "Desolation Row." It was the moment when he realized that songs aren't just tunes with words: they're worlds that can be inhabited fully, worlds filled with strange characters, unexpected emotions, and lessons to be learned. He was nine years old, and it was that year that he learned to play guitar and begin dreaming up song worlds of his own.
A few decades and several hundred songs later, Paul Weinfield (AKA Tam Lin) is still at work, crafting, performing, and living his intricate and magical songs. He has released three albums under the moniker "Tam Lin," the most recent of which, Begin Again, was produced by Mario J. McNulty (David Bowie, Philip Glass) and featured such illustrious performers as Aaron Comess (The Spin Doctors, Joan Osborne) and Mike Shobe (Wu Li). Begin Again is a rare gem in the world of singer-songwriter music: an album that is as sonically adventurous as it is well written. Using Omnichords, open-tuned guitars, and distorted trumpets, Begin Again combines a Leonard Cohen-esque approach to precise, poignant songwriting with the ambient sound-textures of artists such as Talk Talk, John Martyn, and Daniel Lanois. The result is a total musical experience in which cinematic narratives, elegant melodies, and sonic landscapes all come together to form a single world in which the listener can fully reside.
Paul Weinfield has long been a favorite of the New York City songwriter's scene. Time Out New York praised the earlier Tam Lin albums, In the Twilight (2008) and Floating World (2006), for their "gentle, literate tunes … wistful yet vaguely sinister." "Every now and again a musician is preceded by his reputation," Dan D'Ippolito of Jezebel Music, a Brooklyn-based promoter of independent music writes. "The intricacies and uniqueness of [Paul's] compositions stand alone as a rare, successful, genuine-sounding blend of old and new sounds." Paul has played at some of the northeast coast's most prestigious venues: New York City's Mercury Lounge, Philadelphia's World Café, etc. He is known for playing in a variety of formats, depending on the venue: intimate solo sets in which he can showcase his songwriting, "cabaret-style" shows with guitar loops and trumpets, or in full regalia, with his electric band.
At the center of Paul's sound, however, is his voice: a lush, gentle baritone that is utterly unlike that of any contemporary singer and at once extremely recognizable. One recent blogger described it as "simple, soulful, and socially-sentient – he could sing the IHOP menu and make it sound like molten glass." It is this distinct voice that makes Paul's music accessible to a variety of age groups and genres. His music has at times been classified as folk, rock, ambient, and soul, but it seems that whatever style Paul occupies, the result is always music that is wholly his own. He is the son of a poet and classical composer, and a lot of his expressivity comes from exploring this tension between speaking and singing, much like a Lou Reed or a Lee Hazelwood. And like a Nick Drake or a Leonard Cohen, his music tends to win listeners over with its patience and gentleness.
So for everyone who remembers what it was like to first enter the world of a song, here is a chance to experience that magic all over again. Pick up a copy of Begin Again and be transported.
For more information about Paul Weinfield, his recordings, and his live shows, please visit the following websites:
Recent Studio Releases: http://www.myspace.com/tamlinmusic
Video Footage of Live Shows: http://www.youtube.com/tamlinmusic
Electronic Press Kit: http://www.sonicbids.com/tamlinmusic
Official Website: http://www.tamlinmusic.com
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