Andreya Triana

This isn't normally my type of music, but I really enjoyed Andreya's sound. It is chillout music at it's best, music you can truely relax to and slip into your comfort zone, without wanting to sound like a massive hippy - if you seriously listen and take a moment, it's that soul reaching type that gets to your bones. Good stuff then..

Chill out starlet Andreya Triana is another lucky musician to be hand picked by the BBC as part of their ‘Introducing’ series. With a much more laid back/horizontal sound than the general pop and electro music around, Andreya certainly has a niche she can bounce straight into, noticeably. The Brighton soulstress has been on the underground radar the past few years, singing on tracks such as ‘Tea Leaf Dancers’ by electro hip hop Flying Lotus and ‘Hold On’ for, more famous, DJ Mr Scruff’s album. She performed a five song set on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury last year, which supports “unsigned, undiscovered and under the radar musicians,” some of which go onto great commercial success, like The Ting Tings -unfortunately.

On her MySpace Andreya describes herself as “Andreya likes to sing, laugh, dance about, dream, strum her guitar and write songs using preferably good quality stationary...” this horizontal attitude easily translates to her music. Song ‘The Keeper’ is full of her staple chill out beats, reminiscent of chill out kings Zero 7, with the difference of intertwining xylophone melodies. The vocals are mainly echoes, one mass voice which is a harmony in itself. Different wooden instruments are also evident, the sound which conjures up images of relaxing cultural music from a nearby tent on a hot day at a festival, lying on the grass dreaming into the cloudless sky.

My favourite is more or a solo affair than the echoes in ‘The Keeper’, ‘Lost Where I Belong’ really showcases Andreya’s beautifully soothing and impressively wide ranged vocals. Her deep voice is further reflected in the deep lyrics, “searching deep within my soul” showing this is music made to get to your core rhythm of the body – songs in tune with it and simple relaxation. The song has basic beats but luckily the vocals make it more interesting and more attractive to listen to. The first three quarters of the song are peace embodied, however after this graduates into a much more produced sound with the inevitable strings, but this does show maturity and avoids it becoming another naive and overdone chill out record. This single is out on 5th April, hopefully after some much deserved publicising and press time.

Andreya’s debut album ‘Lost Where I Belong’ is out 23rd August and has been produced by “superproducer supremo extraordinaire” Bonobo at Ninja Tune Records, with some tracks written with “crazy skills and talents” Fink. Andreya is touring the big USA all through April but will be back on home soil in May to play Leeds University before embarking on a mini tour through Europe.