Monday, June 15, 2009

Haley Dreis to release debut album to benefit Sierra Club and North Carolina School of the Arts

Imagine a female John Mayer with the folk flavor of Sarah McLachlan and a taste of Sara Bareilles. At just 19-years old, singer-songwriter Haley Dreis is capturing these influences and designing intelligently crafted pop songs which merit far beyond her years.

The pop/folk/rock singer-songwriter will be releasing advanced copies of her debut album, Beautiful To Me, at the Bitter End in NYC on June 21 at 9:30 p.m. The album will be independently released on CDBaby.com June 29 and will hit iTunes and other online digital distributors July 20.

10% of the album proceeds will go to the Sierra Club and the North Carolina School of the Arts, her alma mater, to promote environmental conservation and arts education.

“I love music and I think it’s even more meaningful when that message is carried through to something that will make a difference in everyone’s life as well,” Dreis said.

Hailing from a small-town music scene in Columbia, SC, Dreis is sinking her teeth into new musical ambitions. As a conservatory trained classical violinist, her musical knowledge and interest in a range of styles and genres have inspired an interest in songwriting.

Dreis was most recently awarded $2,675 as a 4th place winner on Yobi.Tv, an online singing and songwriting contest. She was also a top 10 finalist in the 2009 USC Idol competition.

Beautiful To Me draws from introspective content discussing spirituality, the intricacies of love, the arts, optimism, coming-of-age, and self-worth.

Opening hit “I Believe In Love” is an up-tempo, piano-rock track. The soulful undertones and accessible style showcase Dreis’s pop sensibility and vocal versatility.

“Take It All Away” and “Other Side” will get you pumped to hear more. Driving drumbeats, progressive melodies, and angsty lyrics drive these up-tempo folk/rock tracks. “Other Side” is an honest expression of moving on from a relationship while “Take It All Away” is an inspiring assessment of human potential.

Darker tracks, “I Will Heal You,” “Take Away The Pain,” and “Beautiful To Me” reveal haunting personal reflections about life and death. The title track “Beautiful To Me” is played acoustically with a string quartet, encompassing the album’s theme of seeking inner-beauty and optimism in life.

“Dancing To A Symphony” ties it all together. The song expresses a metaphorical connection between love, life, and music. This interconnected web is expressed in the chorus, “We’re dancing to a symphony/Searching for our part.”

The album’s organic power and universal appeal lend something for everyone. Dreis’s simplicity and substance in her songwriting bring something compelling and fresh to the scene.

Dreis is currently preparing for her fall Southeast tour to promote her album beginning September 2009 in the NC/SC/GA/VA/TN areas.

Tour Dates:

6/21 – New York, NY @ The Bitter End, 9:30 p.m.

7/12 – New York, NY @ The Bitter End, 9:30 p.m.

http://www.haleydreis.com
http://www.myspace.com/haleydreis

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