THEORETICAL GIRL
Theoretical Girl is the very lovely Amy Turnnidge, once of Southend, now a
near neighbour of Memphis Towers in dear old North London. Lovely. Half the
time Amy ploughs a brand of seductive melancholic pop that always gets us
here at Memphis, and then she goes and gets all up in your face with summat
like Red Mist.
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01. Rivals
02. The Boy I Left Behind
03. Dancehall Deceit
04. I Should Have Loved You More
05. A Future Apart
06. Divided
07. Redmist
08. Never Good Enough
09. Good Timing
10. The Biggest Mistake
11. Seeing You Again
12. The Hypocrite
Order:
Memphis
Amazon
Norman Records
Piccadilly Records
Rough Trade
A Red Mist
B Never Said A Prayer
Order now from:
Memphis Industries
Amazon
Norman Records
Piccadilly Records
Rough Trade
A Rivals
B The Boy I Left Behind
Order from:
Memphis Industries
Rough Trade
Amazon
Norman Records
Piccadilly Records
Puregroove
07 March - Club Ifor Bach (solo show), Cardiff
08 March - Start the Bus (solo show), Bristol
13 March - Twee as F*ck (with The Equations), London
18 March - South By South West (with The Equations), Austin, Texas
19 March - South by South West (with The Equations), Austin, Texas
20 March - South by South West (with The Equations), Austin, Texas
21 March - Latitude 30 - South by South West (with The Equations), Austin, Texas
27 March - Pamplemousse, London
05 April - Northampton Square, Islington, London
21 April - Camden Barfly, London
20 May - Live Session from Maida Vale on Radio 1, London
28 May - Smash & Grab at the Proud Galleries, London
29 May - In store at Pure Groove
17 June - Memphis Industries Night, Borderline, London
19 June - Culture as a Dare at Cobham Lodge, Southend on Sea
27 June - Queen's Head Stage at Glastonbury Festival, Glastonbury
18 July - Rooftop Party @ South Bank Centre (Acoustic Set), London
25 July - Be @ Proud w/ Those Dancing Days & Au Revoir Simone, London
17 August - Album Launch Party @ the Lexington (with Jonquil & Horse and Condor), London
19 August - In Store @ Puregroove, London
26 August - Bitterscene @ The Basement, Chelmsford, Essex
11 September - Twee as F@ck, London
14 September - Captain's Rest, Glasgow
15 September - Sneaky Petes, Edinburgh
16 September - 1 in 2 Club, Bradford
17 September - Don't Die Just Yet (14+ show), Wrexham, Wales
18 September - The Firebug, Leicester
19 September - Proud Galleries, London
25 September - Astro Hall, Tokyo
26 September - Fever (solo show), Tokyo
27 September - Dragon Club, Yokohama
10 October - WYCE Charity Gig @ Escape Bar (acoustic set), London
22 October - Charity Gig @ 100 Club (solo show), London
But let's rewind further to Amy's early years in Southend. Amy's mum was a classical musician who studied at the Royal Academy of Music and her dad used to bash out "Ring of Fire" on the acoustic guitar. So, with a household steeped in music, Amy won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music in London aged five to learn the violin. Sadly she had to give this up when her mum became ill and was unable to take her on the bus anymore. Her mum died when she was eight and music took a back seat for a long while.
The spark that reignited Amy's passion for music was finding her mum's copy of Joni Mitchell's 'Blue', which inspired her and she started writing folk songs on her dad's acoustic guitar. Through her teenage years Amy taught herself the bass guitar, piano, and pretty much any instrument she could lay her hands on whilst joining a succession of local indie bands. Living in Southend provided its own obstacles, but also motivation. As Amy says "There's very little to do in Southend, so if you want to go out to see a band, you have to play a gig yourself. I put on a night, Frolic, for four years, just so I had somewhere to go to dance to decent music".
Such self sufficiency soon extended to her music, as Amy became frustrated with not having complete control over the song-writing in the bands she was playing in. Initially just one woman, a guitar and an 8 track recorder, Amy sketched out her first single as "Red Mist", released to no little acclaim back in November 2006.
Taking inspiration from such diverse sources as 60s girl groups, New York's ESG, and even the classic twee-pop of Sarah Records, Amy relocated to London, and gigged tirelessly over the next couple of years throughout the UK and Europe. Initially armed with just her guitar and backing tracks, and latterly with her backing band The Equations, she built up a formidable following and an impressive list of bands she's played with: Metric, Maximo Park and Robyn amongst many others. Two sold out German headline tours, a headline jaunt round Italy and frequent shows in Paris testify to Theoretical Girl's increasing international popularity.
Honing her skills through a number of now highly collectable 7"s led to an album deal with Memphis Industries, home of The Go! Team, Field Music, The Pipettes and other modern British pop luminaries. Amy spent the winter of 2008 holed up in a North London studio putting her debut album together with Grammy nominated remixer, producer and general sound-fiend Andy Chatterly, coming out the other side with 'Divided', 12 tales of sweeping pop beauty, where melancholic lyrics telling tales of unrequited love, mistakes and regrets are skilfully juxtaposed against twisting, upbeat melodies and grooves.
Take recent single, 'Rivals', a song that is both heartbreaking and danceable in equal measure, where swooping strings and delicate vocals offset a tale of friendship disappointed, the regret and calamity of binds unbound. Or the title track itself, where sweet chamber pop is overlaid with the mantra "Our love is unrequited, We'll always be divided", repeated to the point of psychosis. Other standouts include 'Red Mist' all ESG groove and feminine aggression, and 'I Should Have Loved You More' where self-recrimination is set to sunshine-pop.
With the album due out in August 2009 plus her debut Glastonbury performance lined up Amy's come a long way from her DIY roots back in Southend. And she wants to keep pushing it further: "I want to keep writing, keep playing, keep adding to the live band and end up fronting a full orchestra". Which at the rate she's going won't be too long.
