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"Ravishingly melodic!"
--Ani Difranco
"Here we have a homegrown, full blown young musical visionary, and a window into a part of the new San Francisco sound. This train is headed somewhere"
--puremusic.com
"Enviably literate and awesomely disciplined, Venable amplifies her power through a riveting soprano voice that stuns and enraptures so thoroughly that multiple listenings are required to begin unraveling her mysteries of music and meaning."
--S.F. Bay Guardian
Noe Venable is a singer-songwriter, composer, and poet. Having honed her songwriting and musicianship within the context of San Francisco’s rich experimental and jazz music scene, Venable has gone on to wider recognition through the release of five albums, as well as national tours opening for artists from Ani DiFranco to They Might be Giants. Venable has shared stages with artists as diverse as Patti Smith, Gillian Welch, Robyn Hitchcock, Carla Bozulich and Tom McRae.
Musically complex, yet emotionally accessible, Venable's songs have proven capable of reaching audiences across genre boundaries. Lyrically, her songs often explore the theme of lost or misplaced childhood as a place of wonder, darkness and possibility. Many songs also have a mystical strain. Here Venable cites David Abram and Wendell Berry as influences, as well as a winter spent as a composer in residence Caldera Arts in Sisters, Oregon, recording snowfall and listening to streams.
Musically, Venable's collaborators are many. Her first album was produced by Lee Townsend (Bill Frisell, Charlie Hunter). More recent collaborators include bassist Todd Sickafoose, violinist Alan Lin, guitarist Nels Cline, (Wilco), and avant garde marimba virtuoso, Payton MacDonald, (Alarm Will Sound). At present, her live ensemble features pianist / vocalist Greta Gertler and cellist / vocalist Yair Evnine.
As well as performing her own music, Venable often sings on the projects of others. She can be heard on albums by Ani DiFranco, John Vanderslice, Faun Fables, and Vienna Teng. Film credits include Cherish, by Finn Taylor, which used Venable's songs in its score and soundtrack.
In addition to her work as a songwriter, Venable is also a teacher committed to empowering young people through the arts. A passionate believer in the capability of imagination to liberate, Venable has taught creative writing, songwriting, theater and visual arts, working with youth ages five to nineteen in a variety of settings. Framing her sense of purpose as a teacher in spiritual terms, Venable is also a scholar of world religions. In service of this dimension of her work, she holds a masters degree in comparative religion and education from Harvard Divinity School.
Venable's experience as a teacher is the subject of a new work, her one-person play, The Homecomer, which she wrote and performed for the Harvard community in June of 2009. Featuring original music, monologue, and spoken word, the play looks at the challenges and rewards of teaching in a public high school. The play is based on her experience teaching English Language Arts to high school students in Arlington, Massachusetts. Venable looks forward to New York and San Francisco performances of the play some time next year.
She has also started work on a new album, for release in 2010.
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