The distorted cry of a lap steel guitar slices through the Brooklyn night. A voice sings with aching sweetness and strength. Caressing melodies are barbed with stinging solos. This is the sound of The Last Town Chorus - the revolving ensemble led by singer/writer/lap-steel-guitarist Megan Hickey - whose singular approach to music has beguiled writers from The Village Voice, Time Out, Uncut, Relix, and No Depression among countless others. Her live shows are nothing short of revelatory, bringing audience members to tears, turning critics into fanatics and building a fiercely loyal fan base in every city The Last Town Chorus visits. The new album, Wire Waltz, is even deeper, more powerful and more personal than the last and includes the wistful reinvention of David Bowie's 'Modern Love' that was recently featured in an episode of Grey's Anatomy. Wire Waltz is comfort food for wounded souls.
"Even before Hickey spellbinds listeners with her Gillian Welch-meets-Hope Sandoval voice, the sheer exclusivity of what you're seeing is enough to make you stop and gawk." PASTE (USA)
"She sings like an angel and plays lap steel guitar like the Devil. Audio Narcotics." (Village Voice)
"Beneath the soft surfaces, 'Wire Waltz' courses with the dark stuff: songs such as Foreign Land, Boat and You are expositions of souls racked by self-doubt, as much in torment as rapture. The title track is typical: its sparseness means every sound, every word, counts. And the funereal deconstruction of Bowie's Modern Love is devastating." The Sunday Times (UK) (October 2006)
"Quite beautiful" - Jonathan Ross, BBC Radio 2 "A stupendous album" - Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2 "Absolutely Gorgeous" - Bob Harris, BBC 2 Radio
A brief history of The Last Town Chorus:
· Megan Hickey was born 1974 in Pittsburgh, PA, and has lived in New York since 1999.
· For her 6th grade graduation she asked for, and received, a bass guitar and amp from her parents, which she used to play along to Hendrix'sSmash Hitscassette.
· Megan's musical influences go deep--fromThe White Albumto Chopin's Piano Nocturnes--and she's unapologetic about her love of mainstream country music because, as she puts it, "I respect irony-free songs."
· In 2001, she had a revelation about "a sound and an affect," which germinated into The Last Town Chorus. "I heard the bittersweet ethos of country with unapologetically effected, rich sonic textures found in new wave," she says.
· That year she was introduced to musician and graphic artist Nat Guy, who in turn introduced her to the 1940s lap steel guitar he'd bought at a pawn shop.
· Megan played Nat's vintage lap steel through a series of thick delay and distortion effects and instantly discovered what she considers to be the "sonic core" of The Last Town Chorus. She subsequently convinced Nat to sell her the guitar, which she plays to this day.
· Nat became Megan's partner in The Last Town Chorus and in 2002 they recorded their first album in her apartment.
·The Last Town Choruscame out in 2003 and went on to receive rave reviews from the UK and US press.
· In 2004, Nat moved to Japan to start a family.
· After rejecting several big-name producers, Megan began recordingWire Waltzon her own in her apartment with a dozen or so friends from the NYC music scene. Songs germinated slowly over weeks and months as different people came in and tried varying approaches.
