Debbie Neigher

An artist with a gift for earnest lyricism, Debbie Neigher is one of San Francisco’s most promising singer-songwriters. On Unravel, her sophomore album produced by John Vanderslice (Spoon, The Mountain Goats), Neigher explores her battles with vulnerability through luminous singing, expressive keyboard work, and startling arrangements. Unravel navigates her journey toward self-acceptance through insightful, dream-like ballads, as well as triumphant, danceable pop anthems, vividly expressing her joys and sorrows in a way that is disarming and inspiring in equal measures. The music on Unravel moves in delightfully unexpected directions, incorporating her years of classical piano training with an indie pop and jazz approach. Neigher’s eponymous 2011 debut began garnering attention with its striking melodies, lush piano, and jazz-infused vocals, earning her two television placements on the Lifetime Network’s “Dance Moms,” as well as features in The San Francisco Chronicle and AOL Spinner. On Unravel, the music is more expansive, making use of synthesizers and electronic effects, producing cinematic soundscapes that immediately pull you in. Unravel was recorded in eleven days of intense analog sessions to capture the dynamic and exposed energy of Neigher’s live, full-band shows. In addition to Vanderslice, she enlisted the help of her San Francisco friends Minna Choi, the arranger/conductor for the Magik*Magik Orchestra (Death Cab for Cutie), who provided the string and horn accompaniments; engineer Ian Pellicci (Deerhoof, The Dodos, Rogue Wave); drummer Jason Slota (Thao with the Get Down Stay Down); and Jesse Cafiero on bass and lap steel guitar (Thao, Split Screens). Neigher now returns with a new single, “It Never Snows Here”, recorded on Christmas Day in Oakland and released on June 9, 2015. Of the inspiration for new track Neigher said, “Being born and raised on the east coast, I found it completely deregulating when I moved to San Francisco, a city without any seasons. I realized that you get used to the external cycles of the year and your internal emotional cycles reflecting each other, and it felt very strange to live in a place where time seems to just run into itself." Neigher has received features in American Songwriter Magazine, Daytrotter, The Huffington Post, Paste Magazine, and has shared the stage with Mary Lambert, John Vanderslice, and most recently with Thao & the Get Down Stay Down at this year’s SF Noise Pop Festival. Paste Magazine raves, “There are moments of poetic beauty so front-and-center on Debbie Neigher’s sophomore album, Unravel, you’d be remiss not to struggle to swallow a bit after hearing them." NEW RECORD "UNRAVEL" (Produced by John Vanderslice) OUT NOW!