Pasadena, CA
April 12, 2007

Pop singer-songwriters Nicole Gordon and Marty Axelrod bring an unexpected musical character to life.

By Bliss

In Los Angeles it's not uncommon to hear actors and screenwriters dicussing characters they're creating, but songwriters don't often hold forth on the same topic, as many prefer more immediate personal expression.

But when singer-songwriters Nicole Gordon and Marty Axelrod found themselves paired off two years ago in a songwriting workshop, the fruit of their collaboration was a character: a 25-year-old small-town waitress named Shiloh. The first song they composed in Shiloh's voice was "Got the Car Running," a subtly detailed, melodic gem of a song relating one woman's escape plan from domestic abuse.

"We started to think about her life and thought, 'Why don't we do a whole record about this great person we made up?'" Gordon recalls. "The more we got to writing about her, the more we liked her."

In November, they independently released "Songs of Shiloh," a moving cycle of 10 pop songs. Shiloh emerges as a scrappy young woman who paints, plays her brother's old guitar and dreams of "opening for Skynyrd," while paying the rent serving coffee to cheapskate diner patrons (detailed with knowing insight in "Waiting on Me"). She's haunted by family dramas, including the possibly violent death of her brother with whom she still communes nightly (the heart-rending "Our Little Talks"). Her story unfolds in hints, poignant confessions and humorous asides.

"The more details we put into the songs, the more we felt we understood her," Gordon says. "It was as if she was revealing herself to us.... That line when she says, 'In my bedroom, man, I'm a Van Gogh' -- she's an artist, but she has that waitressing job to pay her bills, like so many people here in LA."

Based in Los Feliz, Gordon likewise works a day job while moonlighting as an in-demand session singer and playing clubs with her own, more groove-oriented band. Since moving here from Philly nine years ago, she's placed numerous songs on TV shows, including "Brothers and Sisters," "Friday Night Lights," "The Black Donnellys" and "The Amazing Race." "Songs of Shiloh" is a fine vehicle for her strong, shivery soprano, which elicits frequent comparisons to Sarah McLachlan and Patty Griffin.

"Initially we [said] we found these songs on a tape -- that Shiloh actually was a person," Gordon explains. It's a credit to the songs' believable scenarios and their clean simplicity that so many people believed that "sweet fairy tale." That theatrical conceit has since been abandoned, though theater friends insist "Songs of Shiloh" would translate well as a musical.

"Who knows?" Gordon muses. "That would be amazing, to see it come to life that way. We'll see."

Maverick (UK)
Issue 57, April 2007

SONGS OF SHILOH is a song cycle chronicling the life and times of a small town American woman called Shiloh. The brainchild of songwriters Marty Axelrod and Nicole Gordon, it developed from co-writing one song into a fully-fledged story and album. "Got the Car Running" was the first song written, it opens the album, and is magnificent. No other word will do. It establishes Shiloh as an independent strong woman who wishes her boyfriend was a better person, but is stripping down and repairing her Ford pickup so she can leave if he doesn't treat her better. Gordon's aching voice fits Shiloh like a glove, the song is driven by rich, sumptuous rolling piano and it would be a rare listener who after hearing it for the first time didn't immediately play it again (and again).

It's a measure of the remaining nine songs that they barely suffer by comparison. As the tale progresses we discover that she's an artist ("Waiting on Me") and a dreaming guitar player ("My Name is Shiloh"), we share her regrets over past lovers (the heartbreaking "Our Little Talks") and her birthday joy ("Quarter Century") and finally travel with her as she finds new and hopefully lasting love ("The Boy From Crooked Creek"). Throughout Gordon's sweet and soulful vocals drive the songs forward, while the pop-rock melodies and hooklines provided by Axelrod and the remainder of the band slice their way into your brain forever.

SONGS OF SHILOH is a believable portrait of an everywoman, one who we can all (male or female) identify with in part, but one who is, perhaps, a better and stronger person than many of us. It is an emotional, beautiful and rewarding album, and a cert for 2007 top ten lists.

Jeremy Searle

Pasadena, CA
November 16, 2006

Born out of a writing group project, this collaboration between local singer-songwriters Marty Axelrod and Nicole Gordon is an emotionally affecting cycle of pop songs about a waitress named Shiloh. Aside from pure melodic appeal, what makes this midtempo collection singular is the lyrical specificity. Clues dropped in one song pay off with poignant answers in another, while the gradual accretion of relatable details paints vivid, believable portraits of thwarted dreams and cautious hope.

Moreover, there's the shivery beauty of Gordon's voice, which echoes that of Sarah McLachlan and Kris Delmhorst. When she raises it during "Got the Car Running" and the quietly heartbreaking "Our Little Talks," the ache in her voice raises goosebumps.

Reviewed by Bliss