“Neuburg’s talents as songwriter, singer, arranger, studio technician, and keyboardist distinguish this remarkable release… Neuburg is a major player in her own right, a unique voice in the true sense of the word.” — Keyboard Magazine
1992. Created mostly while Amy was a college student, as a “pop” reaction to her classical training, Songs has a charmingly lo-tech quality — the result of cheap equipment and unofficial all-nighters in the basement studio. Regardless, you can hear the odd textures and intimate multi-layered vocals that have become part of Amy’s signature sound.
A great review in Keyboard Magazine helped this CD launch Amy’s career:
“Neuburg’s talents as songwriter, singer, arranger, studio technician, and keyboardist distinguish this remarkable release. From “This is the last,” an intricate a capella exercise in polyrhythms and accessible pop tunesmithery, Neuburg stretches to a sequence-driven recitatif, “Nothing,” with staccato vocals skipping over a spiky synth pattern. No slouch on keys, she plays some lines on “Get you out” with a most peculiar lead texture — analog synth with snarling animal sample? (Cut in 1985, this track forecasts the techno phenomenon with a frenzied clairvoyance.) A hypnotic quality permeates her arrangements — not the stupor of new age but the more dynamic stasis of minimalist repetitions powered, as on “Keep us 2,” by displaced accents and emphasized by sharp, low-budget, buzzy textures. Even on the sparer pieces, such as “It never ends,” a restlessness underlies her languorous vocals and lazy, legato synth lines. If the world was fair, Songs would win this Bay Area performance artist acclaim as America`s answer to Kate Bush. No, even that isn’t fair: Neuburg is a major player in her own right, a unique voice in the true sense of the word.” [Robert L. Doerschuk]
Released 1992 on Racer Records.
- Words and music by AMY X NEUBURG
- Occasional guitar by HERB HEINZ
- Produced by AMY X NEUBURG
- Recorded and mixed by AMY X NEUBURG
- Mastered by PAUL STUBBLEBINE
- Artwork by AMY X NEUBURG