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On April 15th, V. Contreras (Victoria Contreras), will be launching her first full-length album, V. Contreras independently, which follows her first EP Burn, (released last December) and has critics saying that the songs “bursts forth with a lush wall of sound that transports you back to the Cosmo pop of the early sixties, with a mix of groovy dance beats, strings and horns.” The debut album is being distributed through Burnside.
Contreras has been called the “love child of Dusty Springfield and Nancy Sinatra, with a splash of The Ronettes,” and has been compared to alternative soul songstresses, Amy Winehouse, Adele and Joss Stone. The album produced and engineered by Martin Feveyear (Brandi Carlile, Common Market, Blue Scholars) features string and horn arrangements by Andrew Joslyn (Macklemore, Passenger String Quartet, Mark Lanegan). All the songs on the album written by Contreras, with the song “Feelin That” being nominated in the International Songwriting award, examines male and female dynamics in relationships, using all the lessons she learned through her life including love lost, with the sound falling between retro soul, pop, and jazz.
“This is an album about humility, vulnerability and the emotional polarization of love,” says V. Contreras.
Strings pour, horns soar and a refreshingly soulful voice takes center stage on the album. V. Contreras, a classically trained vocalist and long-time jazz aficionado, has been a featured vocalist with Seattle Rock Orchestra, Patsy Cline’s Sweet Dreams tribute, and more. The band on the album includes Seattle’s finest musicians: Rebecca Young, Jeff Fielder, Rusty Willoughby, William Stover, Andrew Josyln, Natalie Mai Hall, Eric Padget, Tom Yoder & Craig Flory.
“If the world were right all of the time, Victoria would be a huge star right now” – Duff McKagen (Guns n Roses, Walking Papers, Loaded) Seattle Weekly
The album’s first single, “Gasoline”(Listen here) is a sultry blend of pop, rock and soul and follows the dark and romantic theme of the album, which includes the feisty Killjoy” and “Pretty Bitch,” and the beautiful “Burn,” featuring a phenomenal string arrangement, and will have a remix released later produced by Mike Illvester (Fly Moon Royalty). A remix of the hit “Feelin That,” produced and featuring local hip hop artist Tilson, is featured on the album. Listen here.
