With guitar / With Songs
“Ainara has always been the most intimate of artists. Her songs are a brave, compassionate and elucidating guide and in the end we can only be thankful for her courage.”
(CHRIS ECKMAN)
The new self-titled album by Ainara LeGardon is the result of a composition and production process that took place in the recording studio over a few months, together with the musician and producer Xabier Erkizia. This collaboration has made it possible to capture the crossroads where the different musical landscapes travelled by Ainara meet: from the rawest rock to improvisation and sound experimentation. Joining them were some regular accomplices: Rubén Martínez (bass), Héctor Bardisa (drums) and Hannot Mintegia (guitar, vocals). The lyrics, in Spanish for the first time ever, also reflect this exploring and coalescing of the artist’s dreamlands.
Since her first gig in 1991, Ainara LeGardon has taken her songs to stages across Europe and the United States. In 2003 she created her own record label, publishing to date six solo albums to critical acclaim and excellent response from the audience: In the Mirror (2003), Each Day a Lie (2005), Forgive Me if I Don’t Come Home to Sleep Tonight (2009), We Once Wished (2011) and Every Minute (2014) –the last two co-released with Aloud Music Ltd.-, returning now with another self-release, Ainara LeGardon (2017).
An essential reference on the national folk-rock scene as a result of a consistent career and her honest approach to music, Ainara has counted on some of the leading musicians on the scene to play with her in the studio and onstage: Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts) –producer of her first two albums-, Joe Skyward (Posies, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Walkabouts), Hannot Mintegia (Audience), Javier Díez-Ena (Dead Capo, Ginferno), Rubén Martínez (Tokyo Sex Destruction, Maika Makovski) or Héctor Bardisa (Futuro terror), for instance.
Ainara has been billed alongside artists such as Swans, Shannon Wright, Thalia Zedek, Dayna Kurtz, The Walkabouts, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Matt Sweeney, Karate, Giant Sand, Damien Jurado or Lisabö, playing festivals such as Festival Internacional de Benicassim (FIB), Primavera Sound, Bilbao BBK Live, Monkey Week, Lemon Day and Faraday, among others.
Behind her sober aesthetic and characteristic emotional intensity, Ainara LeGardon’s music is moving because of its honesty, capturing such wealth of expression that it continues to reveal new aspects of ourselves on every listen.