Los Angeles Singer-Songwriter MAUREEN TOTH Releases Sophomore Album SHINE
1888 Media
Posted On October 6, 2011
Illuminating from the inside is Shine, the breezy sophomore album by Los Angeles singer-songwriter Maureen Toth.
Produced by guitarist Bernie Larsen (Lucinda Williams, Melissa Etheridge, Rickie Lee Jones, Jackson Browne, El Rayo-X), Shine is a ten-track excursion down the highway of love, loss and edification in which Maureen’s ruminations enlighten subtle signposts of the universal human condition.
Painting a delicate mood with a perpetually swaying ambiance brushing your face on a magnificent autumn day, Toth’s timbre echoes the soothing vocalizations of artists such as Beth Orton, Dido, Suzanne Vega and Beth Gibbons of Portishead.
Set against the cozy waft of lazy-day Americana wandering amidst lilting down tempo soundscapes, tracks such as “Boy & Girl,” “Jane’s Song” and “Love Me Still” unfold with a slow elegant amble that comforts one’s consciousness. It’s a leisurely gait that deftly permeates throughout to the final Caribbean-infused riddims of “Lonely Shoes”.
“Let It Shine,” is the album’s first single/video and the defacto title track. It’s a joyous celebration that Maureen originally anointed as “Song To The Children” as it is “a gentle guide to embracing the beauty in each of us”. Its chorus of “Who you are, Is divine, Who you are, Let It Shine” bustles with a foot stompin’ Hammond B3-driven undertow reminiscent of a Sunday morning Gospel revue.
Shine is dedicated to Patricia Toth, Maureen’s dearly beloved mother who passed away in 2008. She lovingly pays tribute to her “beautiful angel” in the mystically genteel “Mom’s Song” as her remembrance glistens and glows “Forever”.
Born and raised in Huntington Long Island, Toth attended Boston University where she studied voice and began to develop her range. After getting her degree, she relocated to the Bay Area, where she continued to pursue her musical interests for a few years, before transplanting to Los Angeles in 2000.
Once in L.A., she ingratiated herself into the city’s vibrant singer-songwriter scene and met Larsen, whom, in addition to being a renowned touring guitarist and accomplished producer, is also a record label owner. The two began collaborating and in 2004, Larsen’s Spinout Records released Maureen’s debut album Deven Kay, an introspective journey with vocal accompaniment and songwriting contributions by fellow musician, Lora Kay Ball (the album’s title is a union of their two middle names and a respectful acknowledgement of their longtime friendship).
The collaboration continues to Shine as Larsen plays all of the instruments on the new album while adding background vocals. Additionally, they continually perform together at select venues and house concerts around the country with Maureen also contributing background vocals for Larsen’s reggae outfit Cry On Cue.
Aside from her songwriters endeavors, Toth runs Eastern Talent, a successful talent agency in downtown L.A. that reps Editors, Directors of Photography, 1st Assistant Directors, Production Designers, Costume Designers and Composers whom have worked on full-length feature films including The Hangover Part II, Win Win, The Descendants, Final Destination 5 and Alice In Wonderland as well as TV shows such as Breaking Bad, CSI, Mad Men, Wilfred, Dexter and MTV’s Teen Wolf.
http://www.maureentoth.com | http://www.easterntalent.net
