Event Information:

• Polishing Stones (2015)

  Polishing Stones

  album

  

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  Polishing Stones

  Elisabeth Cutler

  1 Polishing Stones 3:29
  2 I am Love 4:10
  3 Song of Solitude 4:41
  4 Make a Love 4:34
  5 I Found You 5:39
  6 It’s Never Too Late 3:14
  7 Reunion 4:41
  8 Across Your Heart 4:40
  9 In Your Hands 3:12
  10 Nothing But Love 4:29

  • Notes
  • Credits
  • Lyrics
  • Reviews

   

  Here are the stories behind the songs:

  Polishing Stones – This song has all the elements of the entire disk, ‘Polishing Stones’. It is a very rich song sonically and lyrically; every musician who played on this album is on this song. It is the summary and guiding light for this period of my life that has been a time of self-reflection and solitude. When I was studying Indian singing, my teacher, Francesca Cassio, taught me to work on every note as I would be polishing stones.

  I am Love – Here is a playful song to express the joy of discovering love inside oneself then re-emerging with a light-hearted and spirited desire to share this joy. There comes the letting go of the need to look for love outside oneself.

  Song of Solitude – An elderly Italian woman advised me to ‘Be quiet now’; which I take to my heart to calm myself . So continues the re-occurring theme of practicing patience in the search for love; to learn to trust yourself and believe that things happen when you are ready. Musically inspired by a full-immersion into the music of Brazil.

  Make a Love – What happens when love is recognized as a natural process and allowed to grow and become a love that never stops.

  I Found You – The search is almost over… but not quite.

  It’s Never Too Late – To do all the things you thought you could never do… a tongue-in-cheek wedding song 😉

  Reunion – I’ve heard it said that we human beings are taken away from our mothers too soon; then we spend the rest of our lives searching to return to a mother-figure. This is a human condition that creates a longing inside of us. Sometimes, in our innocence and desperation we are mistaken and we find ourselves in dark unknown places.

  Across Your Heart – I was laying on my back in a field watching and waiting for falling stars. I felt I could be a star falling across a person’s heart and landing in their arms. This is a comfortable and warm song.

  In your Hands – Yet another hopeful and joyous song of discovery and following a good feeling. Musically and lyrically inspired by Stevie Wonder in my mind and heart, as well as Brazilian chord structure and melody.

  Anyone But You – A darker and twisted ghost track, recorded solo guitar/vocal live in the studio. I enjoyed writing the lyrics and playing with the double meanings.

   

   

   

   

  All songs written by Elisabeth Cutler
  P & C 2015 Hole in The Donut Music (BMI) /sub-published by Beste! Uterhaltung
  Produced & arranged by Filippo De Laura
  Recorded and edited by Filippo De Laura at Telepe Studio, Rome, Italy
  Drums and percussion recorded and edited by Eugenio Vatta at Oneemusic Studio, Rome
  Mixed by Eugenio Vatta and Filippo De Laura at E45 Studio and Oneemusic Studio, Rome
  Mastered by Eugenio Vatta at Oneemusic Studio, Rome
  Photography by Bee&Gio, Filippo, Elisabeth
  Stylists: Ernesto Biagetti & Mauri Menga
  Artwork by Rita Giacalone – Bitbazar, Roma

  Elisabeth plays and loves Ken Parker Guitars, Fishman Transducers, D’Addario Strings
  Filippo De Laura plays with great joy the Chapman Stick
  Mats Hedberg uses exclusively: Engl Amps, True Temperament fretting system, Manne Guitars, Ramirez Classical guitars, EBow, Kor Pedals, Vignoni Handmade Pickups, The Rock Slide, Essetipicks, Ernie Ball Strings
  Massimo Cusato is a Remo artist and plays Ufip cymbals

   

  Polishing Stones | I am Love | Song of Solitude | Make a Love | I Found You | It’s Never Too Late | Reunion | Across Your Heart | In Your Hands | Nothing But Love | Anyone But You

   

  Polishing Stones

  Come to me with an open mind
  Empty your heart then look into my eyes
  Far beyond the shadows of doubt
  Long lost lovers who broke your heart
  I am not one

  I’ve been on my own
  Upstairs in my room
  Polishing stones
  Slowly I roll them
  Over and over in my hands
  Like a woman and a man
  Love comes with time
  Patience is wise

  My heart has eyes of its’ own
  It goes where it wants to go
  With or without me
  The same story keeps repeating
  Again I try to change the ending

  But I’m still on my own
  Upstairs in my room
  Polishing stones
  Slowly I roll them
  Over and over in my hands
  Like a woman and a man
  Love comes with time
  Patience is wise
  Patience is wise
  Patience is wise
  Patience is wise

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Filippo De Laura: chapman stick
  Massimo Cusato: bodhran, tar drum, shaker, cymbal, triangle
  Mats Hedberg: acoustic guitar, ebow
  Ernesto Cossío: Spanish guitar

  

   

  ---

  I am Love

  Some days I’m getting nowhere
  Searching a four-leaf clover
  You come around the corner
  You’re not the one I must remember

  I am Love, I am Love, I am Love
  An’ I’m looking for a heart to open tonight
  I am Love
  I am Love

  Somewhere inside the emptiness
  There’s music in the silence
  After the storm of sadness
  Here comes the sun of happiness

  I am Love, I am Love, I am Love
  An’ I’m looking for a heart to open
  looking for a heart to hold me tonight
  I am Love
  I am Love

  I’m looking for a heart to open
  Lookin’ for a heart to hold me
  lookin’ for a heart to find me tonight, tonight
  I’m lookin’ for a heart to love me tonight
  I am Love
  I am Love

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Filippo De Laura: Chapman Stick, kalimba, vocals
  Massimo Cusato: drums, conga, djembe, chimes
  Mats Hedberg: electric guitar, Wah-wah

  

   

  ---

  Song of Solitude

  Lay down
  Be quiet now
  All the things you want will find you
  Slow down, look around
  Someone’s waiting when you’re ready

  But not now
  Calm down
  Listen to the song of solitude
  Go down and you’ll find out
  Love is hiding deep inside of you
  An’ love will come to renew you

  Lay down
  Be quiet now
  Let the river run through you
  Take time out, have no doubt
  Love is close an’ watching over you
  An’ love will come to renew you

  Lay down
  Be quiet now

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Filippo De Laura: Chapman Stick, wooden piccolo
  Massimo Cusato: drums
  Ernesto Cossío: Spanish guitar

  

   

  ---

  Make a Love

  I dream what I feel
  I want what I fear
  I know what I need
  Everything you do to me

  Passion is a chemical reaction
  It happens with no reason
  I follow the Law of Attraction
  Is it wrong to fall in love

  Diamonds in your eyes
  Roses on my lips
  Promises from the heart
  Make a love that never stops
  Make a love that never stops

  There’s a rising in dependency
  It comes from a natural chemistry
  You can stop a woman’s heart
  So take care with what you start

  Diamonds in your eyes
  Roses on my lips
  Promises from the heart
  Make a Love that never stops
  Make a Love that never stops

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Filippo De Laura: bass
  Massimo Cusato: drums
  Mats Hedberg: electric guitar, Wah-wah
  Ernesto Cossío: Spanish guitar
  Liquid Groove: loop

  

   

  ---

  I Found You

  I ask you if you’re going away
  You come back but will you stay
  I’m trying to ride out this wave

  You gotta go when the spirit calls
  A wildflower won’t last long
  A bird in your hands then I’m gone

  I’ve been searching for the perfect rhyme
  It’s not easy to find
  The right word at the right time
  Then I found you
  I found you

  If it’s true Jesus is Love
  I’m calling all his angels for help
  Help us learn to love

  Take it slow and make it last
  Go with the flow, release the past
  Open the seed of love

  My heart’s racin’ I’m on fire
  I’m walkin’ on the highwire
  I’m fallin’ fast, closin’ my eyes
  Then I found you
  I found you

  Play me a melody
  I’ll sing a harmony
  You can be free with me

  We’ll make it up as we go
  In the future no one knows
  How long will this song go on
  ‘Til I find you
  I found you
  I found you

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Filippo De Laura: bass, Akkord Zither
  Massimo Cusato: drums, shaker
  Mats Hedberg: electric guitar delay, EBow

  

   

  ---

  It’s Never Too Late

  Today’s my wedding day
  I’ve waited for this day to be free
  No more worries
  ‘Bout nobody lovin’ me

  Take off your walkin’ shoes
  Lay down and let me love you
  Right now
  An’ forever too

  We’ll make a lot of promises
  We won’t break
  We’ll split it down the middle
  When we cut the cake

  It’s never too late
  It’s never too late
  It’s never too late
  It’s never too late
  It’s never too late

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Filippo De Laura: Chapman Stick, fusion-tar
  Massimo Cusato: drums, dholla, darbuka, shaker
  Mats Hedberg: acoustic guitar

  

   

  ---

  Reunion

  You are the darkness under my skin
  You are the softness I’m longing
  You are the danger I’m risking
  You are the beauty I’m seeking

  All I am is human
  All I want is reunion

  I am the way to your heart
  I am your last chance stop
  I am your wish out of your reach
  I am the promise you couldn’t keep

  All you are is human
  All you want is reunion

  We are walking with our fathers
  We are asking why to our mothers
  We are embracing our brothers
  We are crying with our sisters

  We are all human
  All we want is reunion

  You are the darkness under my skin
  You are the softness I’m longing

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Filippo De Laura: bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, bouzuki, Mohan Veena
  Massimo Cusato: drums
  Mats Hedberg: electric guitar, EBow
  Ernesto Cossío: Spanish guitar

  

   

  ---

  Across Your Heart

  False starts
  Broken hearts
  Lookin’ for a new beginning
  Blind dates
  Late-night bars
  Another dead ending
  Nothing is impossible
  But it might take a miracle

  I didn’t see you comin’
  But here you are
  Now I’m falling like a star
  Across your heart
  I’m a falling star
  Into your arms
  Across your heart
  Across your heart

  Zodiac
  An’ tarot cards
  Can’t tell me who you are
  Eight balls
  An’ ouji boards
  Send a message up to god
  Anything is possible
  A wish becomes a miracle

  I didn’t see you comin’
  But here you are
  Now I’m falling like a star
  Across your heart
  I’m a falling star
  Into your arms
  Across your heart
  Across your heart

  Life is unpredictable
  Our love is a miracle

  I didn’t see you comin’
  But here you are
  Now I’m falling like a star
  Across your heart
  I’m a falling star
  Into your arms
  Across your heart
  Across your heart
  Across your heart
  Across your heart

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Filippo De Laura: Chapman Stick, bass, fusion-tar, dholla
  Massimo Cusato: drums, brushes
  Mats Hedberg: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, slide

  

   

  ---

  In Your Hands

  It’s so easy to start
  A fire lights with a spark
  it’s so hard to stop
  Your fingers are like a gentle rain
  Falling on my skin
  I open in your hands

  I’m gonna take a chance
  To embrace this romance
  Like the ocean moves the sand
  A wave is rising deep inside me
  Bringing up a longing
  For love in your hands

  I’m letting down my hair
  In your hands
  I’m spreading my pretty wings and flying
  Into your hands

  I wanna be the one
  To laugh and have fun
  To live in the land of love
  I’m falling like a leaf outside
  your window in the sun
  I land in your hands
  In your hands
  In your hands

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Filippo De Laura: Glissentar
  Massimo Cusato: drums, conga, djembe, chimes
  Ernesto Cossío: Spanish guitar

  

   

  ---

  Nothing But Love

  If you were standing in front of me now
  You’d be the earth holding me up
  Steady and strong

  Every night when the sun goes down
  I’ll be your moon turning around you
  Silently and slowly

  If I tell you what I want
  Will you take me in your arms
  Then you’ll see what’s inside my heart
  Nothing but love, nothing but love
  Nothing but love, nothing but love

  There’s an island in the middle of me
  If you’re a lonely ship lost at sea
  I will harbor thee

  Far away in your eyes
  Clouds are gathering
  Tears are falling from my sky
  Oh why

  Do I give you more than you want
  Shall I take this burden from your arms
  Then we’ll see what’s inside our hearts
  Nothing but love, nothing but love
  Nothing but love, nothing but love

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Ernesto Cossío: mohan veena
  Massimo Cusato: udu, shakers, chimes, spring drum
  Filippo De Laura: vibratone

  

   

  ---

  Anyone But You

  I closed the blinds and went inside
  To listen to the silence
  I stood between my heart and mind
  And watched you from a distance

  Anyone but you would do
  Anyone but you
  I need somebody new
  Who’s not you

  I knew it from the start
  I should stop my heart
  I thought I could control
  How far I would fall

  But there’s no one like you
  There’s no one like you
  Who makes me feel
  The way you do

  I don’t want anyone but you
  I don’t want anyone but you
  I don’t need anyone but you

  I’ll change the sheets and change my thoughts
  I’ll turn the clocks ahead
  I’ll make some plans to travel
  To some far-away land

  But anywhere I go there’s you
  Everywhere I go
  I already know
  There’ll be you

  You said, “I love you”
  Then you said it again
  I didn’t know that it was love
  When I was fallin’

  Anyone but me could see
  That anyone but you
  Would be the best thing
  I could do

  To find anyone but you
  I’ll take anyone but you
  Send me anyone but you

  Elisabeth: acoustic guitar, vocal
  Recorded live in Telepe Studio

  

   21 aprile 2015 release on youtube:

  ‘Elisabeth Cutler – an American artist in Europe’

  (subtitles Italian)

   

  https://youtu.be/GFLmKkBA918

   

  ---

  Pure Faszination - Musenblätter, Das Magazin für Kultur und Reise - Franck Becker - 2015 March

  Sie selbst gehört mit Sicherheit schon jetzt zu den besten Künstlerinnen ihres Genres überhaupt. Vom ersten Akkord des Openers/Titelsongs an ist man von der faszinierenden Stimme und dem sehnsuchtsvollen Gitarrenspiel Elisabeth Cutlers rettungslos gefesselt - Apropos Rita Coolidge: wie die unvergessene große Country-Lady serviert Miss Cutler allerhöchst gepflegten Country-Pop, das warme, dunkle Timbre recht ähnlich, die Botschaften der Songs ebenso. Auch die Songs von „Polishing Stones“ haben durch die genannten Qualitäten und das Charisma Elisabeth Cutlers das Zeug, die Zeit zu überdauern. Dieses außergewöhnlich berührende Album wird unsere Schallplatte der Woche und hat unsere Auszeichnung verdient, den Musenkuß.

  ---

  Akustik Gitarre - Jens Hausmann (Stefan Woldach) - 2015 April

  Polishing Stones (Beste! Unterhaltung) Ihr interessanter Stil-Mix aus Folk, Jazz und Pop lässt eine gut sortierte Ptattensammtung vermuten, schon die charismatische Stimme erinnert an Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones oder Diana Krall. und die Songstrukturen folgen den Rezepten bester

  Singer/Songwriter-Tradition mit geschmackvotlen Jazz-Akkorden, pikant abgeschmeckt mit

  europäischer Weltmusik und einem Hauch Sting. Kein Wunder, die WahLheimat der amerikanischen

  Künstlerin ist Rom. Gut eingelebt arbeitet sie dort mit meist italienischen Künstlern und veröffentlicht sporadisch Alben, dies ist die sechste Scheibe seit 1993. In den lyrischen Texten geht es natürlich vor allem um ,,Amore" im weiteren Sjnne: Die Serpentinen des Lebens und der Liebe sind gemeinsame Nenner und universeller Rahmen zugleich. Mit ausgeprägtem Sinn für bitter-süße Melancholie irgendwo zwischen den Polen von verzweifelter Einsamkeit und sehnsuchtsvoll romantischer Liebe wickelt uns die elegante Dame mjt sehr persönlichen Songs um den Finger. Auch wenn es in dem 0hrwurm-verdächtigen TitelSong um polierte Steine geht, schürft die djskrete Poetin nicht tiefer nach Botschaften und verrät auch keine Geheimnisse. Das würde nur von den wundervollen Arrangements ablenken. die in kleiner Besetzung mit Perkussion, diversen Gitarristen und Filippo De Laura am Chapman Stick kristallklar eingespielt wurden. Auch das Gitarrenspiel der Ken Parker Endorserin selbst ist sehr versiert und Filippo sammelt zudem seine Credits ats Arrangeur, Produzent und für das Recording. Die zauberhaft polierten Akustiksongs machen dem TjteI alle Ehre, aber irgendwie stellt sich eher eine kühI erfrischend nordische Fjord-Stimmung ein, als daß man die Produktion im mediterranen Klima verorten möchte. Aber wenn auch, eine clever gemachte Easy-Listening Platte zum entspannten Abschalten und Kraftschöpfen ist es alle Ma. Im besten Sinne.

  ---

  Musicamag – Alessandro Hellman - 2015 April

  E’ un percorso del tutto autonomo ed inusuale quello della cantautrice statunitense Elisabeth Cutler. Nata e cresciuta a Boston, ha scelto, dopo una parentesi nashvilliana, come patria adottiva l’Italia e da ormai una decade porta in giro per il vecchio continente il suo raffinatissimo pop acustico, costruito con meticolosità e intelligenza ed estraneo ai cliché di genere. Il suo nuovo album, "Polishing Stones", prodotto da Filippo De Laura per la tedesca Beste Unterhaltung, è una raccolta di canzoni che ruotano intorno ai temi eterni dell’amore e di una solitudine che non è deriva o abbandono, ma, piuttosto, consapevolezza e attesa. Un disco ricco di melodie nitide, mai appariscenti, servite con misurata grazia, capace di affascinare e rivelarsi a poco a poco, confidando sottovoce un nuovo segreto ad ogni ascolto. - Elisabeth Cutler, “Polishing Stones” (Beste Unterhaltung, 2015)

  La recensione è online su www.musicamag.com

  ---

  www.mescalina.it - Laura Bianchi - 2015 April

  Da anni Elisabeth Cutler, americana di Boston, con trascorsi a Nashville e ora italiana di adozione, sperimenta in diversi territori musicali; esperta conoscitrice degli strumenti (ha infatti iniziato a farsi strada nell`ambiente come restauratrice), valida chitarrista, scrittrice di poesie in musica, ha percorso strade che si intrecciano fra loro, e l`hanno portata ad un mix sapiente di sonorità, che spaziano dal songwriting di Joni Mitchell e Shawn Phillips fino al soul di Stevie Wonder, passando per l`apprezzamento per chitarristi jazz come Ralph Towner e il brasiliano Egberto Gismonti.

  Il nuovo lavoro, Polishing Stones, il primo dal 2009, il sesto della sua lunga carriera, registrato interamente a Roma, rappresenta un passo avanti nell`evoluzione di un`artista, che non ha fretta di produrre dischi, ma che cerca, in ognuno di essi, di segnare una tappa importante in un percorso umano e musicale. Il musicista Filippo De Laura, con doppia residenza a Roma e New York, ha dato il giusto tocco internazionale e insieme mediterraneo alla produzione di un disco di facilissimo ascolto, eppure non commerciale nel senso letterale del termine.

  Influssi della West Coast si mescolano a quelli delle songstresses più acclamate di ogni tempo, dalla Mitchell fino a Norah Jones, con piacevoli tocchi jazzy dello Sting di Nothing Like the Sun, per ascoltatori dal tempo lento, che cercano un adult easy listening di classe, con testi introspettivi il giusto, e qualche perla rara, come You are the darkness under my skin / You are the softness I‘m longing (frase che apre Reunion), oppure Everywhere I go, I already know, there`ll be you (Anyone but you).

  E, se tanto parlare di pene d`amore, sentimenti soffusi e introspezione a qualcuno può risultare stucchevole, la Cutler prosegue per la propria strada: lei si rivolge a quanti, in una canzone, cercano esattamente il colore dell`anima, che per lei ha un suono: quello di una chitarra e della sua voce.

  ---

  Glitterhouse mail order house - Joe Whirlypop - 2015 March

  Ausgereift und erwachsen sind Sound und Songs ganz zweifellos, und ihre Stimme ist wirklich außergewöhnlich. Im weiteren Verlauf ihres bereits sechsten Albums wird ihr Sound eher folky, mit luftigen Drums - zum Glück gerät das Album dann aber nicht allzu betulich. Geschmackvoll und reif, ist „Polishing Stones“ letztlich ein Album geworden, wie man es so in den letzten gut 30 Jahren kaum mehr gehört hat.