Click here for 300 dpi photos -- .tif files:
(Right-click or Ctrl+click the link and choose "Save link as" or "Download linked file")
If you need other formats, or have problems downloading the files, email me with your request / problem at:
PRESS RELEASE
(For more information, see also "ABOUT" above.)
For Immediate Release
Contact: Nijole Sparkis
www.nijolesparkis.com
NIJOLE SPARKIS DEBUT CD “PARALLEL UNIVERSE” NOW AVAILABLE
LITHUANIAN/AMERICAN SONGWRITER CD FEATURES MYSTICAL SONGS AND LUSH PRODUCTION THAT STRADDLES TWO WORLDS
Los Angeles, California
Parallel Universe, an artful 11-song collection of dreamy sensual pop from L.A. vocal siren Nijole (pronounced Neola) Sparkis, is now available from Amazon.com, iTunes, and CDBaby.com. Nijole’s vocals are hypnotic and her songwriting solid, but what sets her atmospheric sound apart from the crowd is her choice of exotic, richly textured world music instruments and Lithuanian choral background vocals, with appeal for fans of everything from the lavish pop of Kate Bush and Loreena McKennitt, to the harmony-laden Enya and the Eurocentric Dead Can Dance. From “Rise,” with its galloping flamenco guitar and high-harmonic (occipital) singing, to the Arabic violins of “Sweetest Fruit”, to the lush Lithuanian style harmonies on “My King”, “Sky High” and “Everything,” every song masterfully combines flavors and rhythms with introspective spiritual lyrics that truly sounds like a bridge between Parallel Universes. “I definitely grew up in parallel universes,” says Nijole of the album title. She grew up entrenched in the old world cultural traditions of her South Side Chicago Lithuanian neighborhood, where everyone sang together spontaneously in multi-part harmonies (Lithuania was the country that staged a “Singing Revolution” against Soviet occupation in 1991), but through pop culture was introduced to and drawn in by the exotic side of artists like Kate Bush, Sting, and Peter Gabriel. “It was kind of strange walking the line between one of the oldest cultures on earth and the youngest culture.” It is the sound of these two cultures not clashing, but rather merging, that Nijole seeks to capture in her arrangements.
On Parallel Universe, Nijole is teamed with producer/engineer Fritz Heede, a highly respected multi-instrumentalist and world music composer (NBC’s Emmy-winning special “Mystery of the Sphinx” and the DVD “Illuminated Manuscripts”). Fritz contributes sitar, Turkish saz (a type of long-neck lute), octave mandolin, flamenco guitar, electric guitar and keyboards to the CD accompaniments, and also enlists the support of fellow musicians from the band Mystic Journey: Gilbert Levy (Wynton Marsalis) on world percussion and kit drums, Suzanne Teng (Tito Puente, Kenny Loggins) on ethnic flutes, and Barry Newton (Yes, Elton John) on acoustic bass. Also featured are Terry Glenny (Kanye West, Ray Charles) on violin, John Krovoza (Yanni, Michael Crawford) on cello, and George Hamad (Sting) on Arabic violin. Above the colorful backdrop, Nijole’s voice pulls the listener in with sometimes intimately gentle and sometimes dramatically soaring emotional expressiveness, commenting on the human spiritual experience.
Parallel Universe is Nijole’s debut full-length recording. During its first week of release, the CD was ordered by international fans as far away as the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Australia, and one reviewer called it an “aural equivalent of the film ‘What the Bleep’ “. Legendary DJ Jim Ladd has been featuring several of Nijole’s tracks on his Theatre of the Mind radio show “Headsets” on Los Angeles’s #1 classic rock radio station, 95.5 KLOS-FM, and her music video was featured for two months on a Comcast Cable Video On Demand station, the Harmony Channel. Nijole also collaborated on writing and recording vocals for Fritz Heede's last CD "Ritual Path", which also features the vocals of Jon Anderson, lead singer of 70's super-group Yes. She also contributed choral backup vocals for a Trance-scendent Dance album co-written by Jon Anderson and Fritz Heede, to be released in summer of 2008.
Music samples and media downloads are available at www.nijolesparkis.com.
###
All content © 2005
Nijole Sparkis.
Only copy and distribute this content with proper attribution
-- thanks!
RETURN TO TOP
"Parallel Universe"
at:
AMAZON.COM
CDBABY.COM
HARMONY CHANNEL STORE
DIGITAL DOWNLOADS
available at:
iTUNES
eMUSIC.COM
CLICK song titles
to HEAR music samples:
In My Dreams
Parallel Universe
My King
Sky High
Phoenix
Now I'm Here
Everything
Sweetest Fruit
Fateful Day
Rise
Evening Prayer
