Noe Venable

Noe Venable
Noe Venable at Ectofest 2007
Background information
Born	April 20, 1976 San Francisco California, US
Genres	Indie folk Experimental New Weird America Indie rock
Occupations	Musician, Vocalist, Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Piano
Associated acts	Todd Sickafoose, Alan Lin
Website	http://www.noevenable.com/

Noe Venable (born April 20, 1976 in San Francisco, California) is an experimental folk/pop singer-songwriter. She has earned a loyal fan base in her native San Francisco, in part through frequently performing in small, intimate venues. Her advocacy of small venues caused a stir in the San Francisco music community when she took San Francisco Chronicle reporter Joel Selvin to task for claiming that the city's music scene was "dead".

Education

Venable attended Bennington College as a Dramatic Writing and then a Music major before deciding to pursue music as a career. In 2004 Venable moved to Brooklyn, New York where she obtained a bachelor's degree at Hunter College of the City University of New York. In 2007 she relocated to Boston, Massachusettsshe began graduate studies at Harvard Divinity School.^[1]

Theatrical career

She performed in numerous theatrical and musical productions as a youth with the San Francisco-based Young People's Teen Musical Theater Company. She was also in the cast of the Lewis Carroll-themed musicals "Right Mind" and "Right Mind is Nowhere" directed by George Coates. Her original one-act play "Annie Beckstead Does Her Homework" won at the Rocky Mountain Student Theater Project in Telluride, Colorado.

Musical career

She spent a month opening for Ani Difranco, and toured with artists as varied as They Might Be Giants, Boz Scaggs and Dar Williams.^[2]

Venable continues to compose and perform with longtime-collaborators Todd Sickafoose and Alan Lin. Her songs are noteworthy for their striking melodies and complex subject matter, and she invites comparison with musicians Elliott Smith and Mazzy Star.

Discography

You Talking to Me? (1996)

Cover of 1996's You Talking to Me?

Venable's first recording, produced by Noe Venable and Tom Meshishnek and recorded in Meshishnek's basement, San Francisco. Featuring non-traditional percussion including pots and pans, a vegetable steamer, a squeaky oven door, and a metal candy machine.

1. Blues Song / Burning Moth
2. Koltez' Girl
3. Jamie Goes Home
4. Paint Mine Blue
5. We Run
6. Euridyce
7. Out Waiting
8. Resistance
9. Streets of Fire
10. Giuliano
11. Left Behind
12. Slow Down

No Curses Here (1998)

Cover of 1998's No Curses Here

This recording was produced by Lee Townsend, who had previously produced Bill Frisell and Elvis Costello, and was released by the German independent label, Intuition Music and Media. Arrangements are eclectic, but center on acoustic instruments. Alan Lin plays violin, Viktor Krauss (Lyle Lovett) plays acoustic bass, Scott Amendola (T.J. Kirk) plays drums, Rob Burger (Tin Hat Trio) plays keyboards, Ryan Rosenberg plays pedal steel guitar, and Tom Meshishnek plays electric guitar.

1. Five On The Dime
2. Jawbone Canyon
3. Papa Ain't Comin' Home
4. Alcina's Things
5. Paint Mine Blue
6. The Man With The Disease
7. 3 AM Call
8. Mr. Viper
9. You Talkin' To Me?
10. Broken Bird, Broken bird
11. Starboy Coming Soon
12. On Time

Down Easy (2000)

Cover of 2000's Down Easy

Live recording of the Noe Venable Trio performing at house concert venue Mo's Melody Mansion in San Francisco, January 20, 2000 This album, along with its title song, is featured in the movie "Cherish" by director Finn Taylor (Dream of the Fishes) which stars Tim Blake Nelson, Robin Tunney, and Liz Phair. Featuring Noe Venable (voice & guitar), Todd Sickafoose (acoustic bass), and Alan Lin (violin).

1. Timebird
2. Stolen Thing
3. Dear Carolyne
4. Look, Luck
5. Badlands
6. Strange Companion
7. Six Prayers, No. 1
8. Shoeshine Man
9. Dandelion Hills
10. Tarbaby
11. Aren't Captives
12. Angelyne
13. I'm Sad Too
14. Down Easy

Boots (2002)

Cover of 2002's Boots

Produced by Venable and Todd Sickafoose, the lyrics explore the meaning of womanhood. Arrangements are dominantly acoustic, and the music is very melodic.

1. Boots
2. Prettiness
3. Tinkerbell
4. Stolen Thing
5. My Insomnia
6. Climb
7. Happiness
8. Look, Luck
9. Julia
10. Wild Blue & Yonder
11. Don't Stop Crying
12. In Memoriam

The World Is Bound by Secret Knots (2003)

Cover of 2003's The World Is Bound by Secret Knots

Produced by Todd Sickafoose, this is Venable's most well-known work, receiving attention on National Public Radio. Secret Knots was recorded at Eary Canal studios in Oakland, California. Much of the material was written while opening for Ani Difranco, Boz Scaggs, and They Might be Giants.

"The World is Bound by Secret Knots" introduces more variety to Noe's songs, including electronic sounds and effects and often a more foreboding sound that hearkens back to some of her earlier work, such as "Jamie Comes Home". There are also some acoustic songs, including "Is the Spirit Here?"

1. Riverwide
2. Juniper
3. Tower
4. Black Madonna
5. Garden
6. Is The Spirit Here?
7. Midsummer Night's Dream
8. Feral
9. Simple Song
10. Wings Again
11. Lilies
12. Doll Comes To Life
13. In The Dark

The Summer Storm Journals (2007)

1. Woods Part of When
2. Prayer For Beauty
3. Sea of Possibility
4. Ice Dragons
5. Into the Wild
6. Onion, One Day
7. Swim With Me
8. Flower in Time
9. Sparrow I Will Fly
10. Fangs of Discipline
11. Ambassador
12. Army of Nows
13. Lion Dreams

External links

• The Official Noe Venable website

References