Everybody’s favorite daughter of a mariachi singer father and hula dancer mother, Sabrina Velazquez has a new project called “Montclaire.” Personally, I am a big fan of solo artists that use monikers, versus their own name. Not sure why, maybe because it’s mysterious, maybe cause it can be confusing or maybe it’s because it allows people to reinvent their sound, which is a bit of what Sabrina has done with Montclaire.
You may remember her from opening for Cat Power in 2011, her previous EPs as Sabrina or just being an all around awesome musician from Hawai‘i. She moved to Portland in 2010 (can’t believe it was that long ago) and has been extremely productive ever since. I’ve had the honor of playing music with her through the years and she never ceases to impress me with her songwriting skills and her voice.
For those of you familiar with her previous works, you will recognize her voice, but Montclaire has a much more lush and dreamy sound, with more layers of vocals and instrumentation. My favorite song on this album is “Cowards,” but I don’t want to tell you what to like, I would prefer if you checked it out yourself.
If this is your new favorite album, or if you need new music, In the Light of the Morning is available to purchase on iTunes, Amazon, or buy it from Sabrina herself at Bandcamp. For lots of great info on Sabrina, check out her site here, which I also linked many times throughout this post.
You can also catch Montclaire tonight at Hawaii Theatre at the free, Alternative Hawaii concert, with a ton of other great local artists.