AMELIA BAND PRESS

Michael Joseph Snyder's Myspace - July 2006

Amelia's music is its own genre'...lyrical, moody, sophisticated and gliding across a timeless plain of serenity dotted with a tree or two of sadness and want. Its folkountry with Spanish overtones. Think Paul Simon, Gordon Lightfoot and Jose Feliciano jamming in a progressive Bohemian bar.

All the music is imbued with a gravely bluesy feel thanks to the smoky tenderness of singer Teisha Helgersons earthly voice. What makes this band a touchstone of Indie brilliance are the lyrics. Scott Weddles thought-provoking strings of poetry are an elixir for those who crave a world in which words and language are integral, not antithetical to the music.

Broad brush strokes of lithe and supple melodies become more focused by the finer details of Weddles brilliant metaphorical prose. In the short and haunting gem of Edison Last Breath we are intrigued by the Spartan spin of these lyrics:

Take the bottle off the shelf, my sweet Elizabeth
And trap the life thats left inside like Edisons last breath.
The big hand points at seven, the small hands on the ten
Tomorrows here but may not come again
Its cooler than a killers heart as gentle as a sigh
Promises to never leave your side.

In Marigolds, the combination of Hedgersons pleading voice and Weddles wistful lyrics create a triage for the fickleness of love. A story of suitors not willing to stay:

The seesaw sky and the merry moon go round
The swing set chains in the breezes blowing down
Penny drops and finds her feet but could have used a hand
Not marigolds and maybes from someone flashing in the pan

Ameilas originality may be its own governor. Music this lyrically interesting is alas, not accessible or understood by the masses. Then again neither is most great art and that certainly does not make it less important. In fact, music this terrific stands like a monolith of stalwart sturdiness; unyielding to the pop retch that so much music has become.

~ Michael Joseph Snyder

The Olympian - April 2006

Amelia?s melodic hooks stand out

Imagine a worldly wise lounge singer in a flowing dress. That might be Amelia ? if there were an Amelia. Amelia, though, is not a person at all but a Portland-based band playing a free show tonight at McMenamin?s Olympic Club. ?We named the band like we were naming a character,? said Scott Weddle, guitarist for the group. ?There?s sort of an old-fashioned aesthetic that runs through our music. Amelia is someone we imagine singing songs in Spanish or French. It?s kind of an antiquey name, and we felt like it applied.? Amelia would wear not calico and a bonnet, but a rayon floral print, calf length. The musical style blends pop, jazz and a dash of country into what one might call torch songs, or cabaret music or even lounge a la Pink Martini. She probably would have little creases between her brows, too. ?Candy hearts and Hallmark cards, they fill the drugstore shelves/There next to you the perfect tools for torturing myself,? Teisha Helgerson croons on ?No Valentine.? ?I keep my heart behind a lock and key/Is there anybody more alone than me?? She also is quite serious,although Weddle, Helgerson and bassist Jesse Emerson most definitely are not. During an interview, Weddle was driving his bandmates home from Bend, the first stop on the band?s mini-tour of McMenamin?s locations. ?No jokes while I?m doing this, man,? Weddle muttered. The occasional curse word escaped him as he tried to find his way out of town. But Amelia?s way is clear: melodic hooks, lyrical hooks and stories that stand the test of time. ?If you bring songs, some don?t make it past the living-room test,? Helgerson said. ?They have to fit with the body of work that is Amelia?s work. Some songs you write just for kicks and some you write trying to be Amelia songs. ?Humor? Not a part of that,? she added crisply. ?I don?t think the guys would let me. They would axe that idea in a hot second.? And although both Weddle and Emerson are late of alt-country cult fave The Flatirons, Weddle said Amelia is just a little bit country. ?We all like country music, roots music, and it shows up in our songs, but it?s not our primary focus,? he said. ?I?m a country guitar player. I can?t really get away from that, so it shows up in that way. ?Well, at least I?m influenced. ... I don?t know if I?m a country guitar player. Feel free to edit this heavily.? OK, so a lot of the band?s humor might be unintentional. But in addition to a voice that inspires critical adoration, Helgerson has a flair for the funny that could make for some mighty appealing songs. Meanwhile, she confines her humor to writing for the band?s Web site. Her own bio mostly is about her dog Sasha: ?She is goodness and light and loves to be loved and is loved; I speak here of the poodle. Teisha wants to be just like her dog sometimes. She wants to be non-shedding and eternally optimistic. ?She wants many things she cannot have. I speak now of Teisha.? When it comes to Amelia, though, she knows what?s expected. ?I think my songwriting is really heavily influenced by Scott,? she said. ?It?s like having a mentor.? Emerson muttered something. ?That is a frightening prospect,? Helgerson agreed. Then it was Weddle?s turn to chime in. ?It is your fault,? Helgerson told him good-naturedly. ?Everything?s your fault that doesn?t work.?

Molly Gilmore

Eugene Register-Guard - March 2006

Amelia continues its quest for success in different form>/strong>

When Amelia last played at Luna, it was a five-piece band. Now, the group from Portland with a sound that has been described as "film music" is a trio.

Remaining members are still getting used to their new sound without Richard Cuellar on drums and percussion, and without a keyboardist. But the heart of the band still beats.

Cuellar left because he was overcommitted, bass player Jesse Emerson says. Emerson was on his way to a gig in Seattle to perform with a side project of his own - a Pogues tribute band put together for St. Patrick's Day weekend with, among others, members of the Decemberists and Ezra Holbrook. Holbrook briefly lived in Eugene and played with Jacob Marley's Ghost before seeking the bigger pond of Portland.

Singer Teisha Helgerson has picked up some of the slack, and drumsticks, and the band presses on with a stripped down sound.

Amelia is working on a new album, which will be its third release since forming in 2000, and trying to land a record deal.
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"The band doesn't support us at this point, but we hope to," Emerson says. "We're in a good place right now. ...

"We would like to have a record label put out the next record. It's really hard. Booking is awful work. Most bands feel this way. It'd be nice to have someone taking care of it."

In the meantime, the band is gaining audiences the old-fash- ioned, grass-roots way. From its two shows last year at Luna, Emerson knows some Eugene people have heard about Amelia from an "Oregon Art Beat" episode on the band on Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Campus radio stations also have played its music, most often lately the song "Better Than Sleeping Alone," penned by Helgerson.

Emerson says Luna is the ideal location to experience music such as Amelia's, an elegant place where people sit and listen.

"In Eugene - there's always someone dancing in Eugene," Emerson says, noting the music isn't really dance music. "I think they would dance to Leonard Cohen."

Amelia has been compared to everyone from the Cowboy Junkies to Natalie Merchant to Norah Jones.

Or, as Metro Santa Cruz puts it, in a May 2005 article:

"Amelia has mined the entire world of music to augment their moody and melancholy northern soundscapes."

The band's biography describes its sound as "overcast, with the occasional glimpse of sunshine," like Portland. Latin America and Gypsy camps of Europe kick in as influences.

Emerson says the Cowboy Junkies comparison is "understandable" because of the moodiness of Amelia's music and its slight country tone.

"I'm fine with that comparison, but it doesn't really sound anything like Cowboy Junkies," he says of Amelia.

He believes Amelia, which involves no one named Amelia, has something in common with Merchant in the song- writing.

"The songs are stories about something," Emerson says. "We like to think they are smart."

Along with working out its sound as a trio, Amelia has another challenge for its new album.

Guitarist Scott Weddle put the band together in 2000 after his former band, the Flatirons, broke up. (Emerson also was in the Flatirons). Weddle wrote all the songs on Amelia's 2002 debut release, "Somewhere Left to Fall."

For the 2004 release, "After All," each member contributed to the songwriting. The band's most recent release is a live album called "Por Avión."

"It's a challenge to have different writers' songs sound like they belong in the same place," Emerson says.

Serena Markstrom

Paste Online - July 2005

AMELIA
This Portland, Ore., quartet plays light, retro, coffee-shop jazz pop?a perfect fit for the Norah Jones era we inhabit. Subtle, yet substantial, singer Teisha Helgerson interprets the songs of guitarist Scott Weddle and bassist Jesse Emerson with gentle elegance. Resolute on ?Better Than Sleeping Alone,? the spare arrangement provides just the right support. A walking bass line and drum shuffle carries the listener forward, while bluesy guitar creates less-certain psychic space.

The French lyrics of the ?Et Vous? add to the sense that the song originated in a bygone era. ?St. James? uses piano to create a dark tone, while Weddle?s intense electric work gives ?Blackbird Pie? an intensity not heard on the majority of After All. Most importantly, though, Amelia offers its songs up to frame the lovely voice of Helgerson, a good idea for all concerned.

The Oregonian - November 2005

Giving up the goods Guitarist Scott Weddle and singer Teisha Helgerson make for a potent songwriting team: While the former pencils diverse outlines, the latter stains them deep shades of blue. When combined with keyboardist Jesse Emerson and the new rhythm section Steve Moretti and Michael Papillo, they form Amelia, a Portland blend of pop, jazz and just a twang of country.

Nathan Skidmore

Metro Santa Cruz - October 2005

amelia
"Hear that, Matt? Single coils, baby!? proudly proclaimed guitarist Scott Weddle as he swapped through pickup settings on his Telecaster before launching into another oddly inflected excursion into Amelia's blend of '60s pop, Ecuadorian vamps, and country & western slide guitar. Fronted by Teisha Helgerson, whose haunting voice reverberates around you skull long after you've left the venue, Amelia has amassed a collection of songs that would require way too many hyphens to adequately describe. All I know is that echo effects are liberally utilized over acoustic guitar, Pink Floyd's "Fearless" might show up in a set and there is a mid-'50s Supro lap guitar in the band. Also former local Michael Papillo is in the band on bass. The Attic; $10; 8pm.

Peter Koht
AMELIA
This Portland, Ore., quartet plays light, retro, coffee-shop jazz pop?a perfect fit for the Norah Jones era we inhabit. Subtle, yet substantial, singer Teisha Helgerson interprets the songs of guitarist Scott Weddle and bassist Jesse Emerson with gentle elegance. Resolute on ?Better Than Sleeping Alone,? the spare arrangement provides just the right support. A walking bass line and drum shuffle carries the listener forward, while bluesy guitar creates less-certain psychic space.

Paste Online - July 2005

Metro Santa Cruz - June 2005

Amelia Wasn't Lost at Sea

The first time a group hits the road, it's difficult to get people into the seats, especially if the music is hard to categorize. One brave soul who took a gamble on seeing AMELIA at the CAYUGA VAULT asked the singer, TEISHA HELGERSON, what kind of music they played, to which guitarist SCOTT WEDDLE replied, "We don't know. If you do, could you tell us?"

Amelia paints with a wide brush. In a single set they covered folk music from ECUADOR, PINK FLOYD's Meddle-era classic, "FEARLESS," and some '60s BUBBLEGUM POP. All these offerings were peppered by slinky slide guitar, some melodica and the stunning stage presence of a group on its way to many more major engagements. (Say that fast 10 times.)

Despite their guitarist's confusion over the lack of alcoholic beverages and the people who get rowdy when they drink them (the band had played Nevada the night before), the group rocked the Vault as if it were a honky-tonk, throwing out raw and rocky slide work and single-coil telecaster licks that would make Elvis' guitarist, SCOTTY MOORE, proud.

Amelia also features the bass work of one MICHAEL PAPILLO, who used to play around these parts in PICK UP STICKS before leaving Santa Cruz for Portland and the bass chair in THREE LEG TORSO. He's still pretty impressive, though Amelia didn't cover a single MARVIN GAYE tune.

Peter Koht

Metro Santa Cruz - May 2005

amelia
Like their fellow Portlanders in Three Leg Torso, Amelia has mined the entire world of music to augment their moody and melancholy northern soundscapes. Their blend of pop music combined with the sensual sounds of South American torch songs is a touch of genius. This band, built around the voice of singer Teisha Helgerson, creates intricate and oddly simple arrangements of songs that sound half way in between the work of Lhasa and the Tin Hat Trio. With some hints at the French chanteuse tradition and more than a healthy dose of old time jazz, this is a band with one foot in chamber music and the other firmly placed in the club world. The Cayuga Vault is the perfect setting to see such an intimate and amazing group. Cayuga Vault; $12-$15; 8pm. (Peter Koht)

Amelia

Portland-based country/jazz/folk band Amelia orchestrates joyfully gloomy sounds via cinematic balladry, torched country stylings and melancholy pop. Frontwoman Teisha Helgerson evokes the likes of Patsy Cline, Joao Gilberto and Sade, singing several of her songs in Spanish. It?s a bilingual, countrypolitan act that only Portland could produce.
-- Garaj Mahal

Santa Cruz Sentinel - May 2005

Amelia

One listen to After All (Slow Down), the self-released sophomore effort by Portland's Amelia, and it's pretty clear what's going on: misty-voiced chanteuse Teisha Helgerson has somehow managed to coax the Bad Seeds away from Nick Cave. What else to make of guitarist Scott Weddle's jazzy, Depression-era blues riffs or Jesse Emerson's gurgling sideshow Wurlitzer organ fills? Songwriter Helgerson takes full advantage of her talented musicians, simultaneously evoking desire and despair on self-penned tracks such as "Better Than Sleeping Alone." Hey, what isn't? Bassist Michael Papillo and drummer Steve Moretti play the rhythms straight and simple as Amelia shift through material that alternates between Latin, American and European influences, with Helgerson donning whatever mask feels appropriate, Patsy Cline one moment, Esma Redzepova the next. There is, of course, only one North Bay venue capable of showcasing such a chameleon, and that would be Zebulon's Lounge, where Amelia check the wee hours on Friday, May 20, at midnight. (R. V. Scheide)

North Bay Bohemian, May 2005

Amelia

Oregon Art Beat (OPB) - April 2005

AMELIA
One person describes the sound of the band, Amelia, as "swank." It's definitely a retro sound that takes you to another place and time. This band may be young, but the members have years of experience that add up to great entertainment with their original songs.

TORCH

Amelia, Miss Michael Jodell, Amoree Lovell
Worried that Sade is a little more cheesy than seductive? Take your hip hottie to see Amelia and keep your credibility intact. This local combo plays torch music for modern lovers. You wouldn?t think three former members of the Flatirons could make music this delicious. While the Flatirons were a terrific old-school country band, they didn?t exactly ooze sexiness. After hooking up with lead singer Teisha Helgerson, this once-twangy crew pasted together jazz, country and ethnic folk to create songs that are pretty enough for the mainstream but eclectic enough for tastemakers to savor. The new record, ?Por Avion,? finds the band polishing its beguiling sound, while its live show is one of the hottest around.
-Cortney Harding

Portland Tribune - April 2005

TORCH
Amelia, Miss Michael Jodell, Amoree Lovell
Worried that Sade is a little more cheesy than seductive? Take your hip hottie to see Amelia and keep your credibility intact. This local combo plays torch music for modern lovers. You wouldn?t think three former members of the Flatirons could make music this delicious. While the Flatirons were a terrific old-school country band, they didn?t exactly ooze sexiness. After hooking up with lead singer Teisha Helgerson, this once-twangy crew pasted together jazz, country and ethnic folk to create songs that are pretty enough for the mainstream but eclectic enough for tastemakers to savor. The new record, ?Por Avion,? finds the band polishing its beguiling sound, while its live show is one of the hottest around.
-Cortney Harding

Amelia leaps starward
COREY duBROWA
"Amelia singer Teisha Helgerson surveys the crowd with an impish grin on her face, like someone who's already in on the joke."

"It's the Saturday before Mother's Day and the fast-rising quartet is playing the biggest show of its career: a sold-out CD release affair in front of an appreciative hometown gathering at the Aladdin Theater. The assembly is boisterously encouraging Amelia's impromptu version of the "Pow, right in the kisser!" verbal jousting of "The Honeymooners."

"Everyone says they love their mom, but I really LOVE my mom," Helgerson gushes between songs, tossing her tall tangle of hair as she peers into the crowd."

"I love my mom, too," offers guitarist Scott Weddle, whose mother is also in attendance, having flown in from Montana for this evening's show."

"Dude, you're so LATE," counters Helgerson to a chorus of laughter. "I said mine first."

"Well, we see eye to eye most times," Weddle concedes, the band cracking up behind them."

"Scott, sometimes I think you just want me to sing pretty and shut up," zings Helgerson before diving into Weddle's "Blackbird Pie," one of the 11 genre-bending compositions featured on the band's sophomore release, "After All" (self-released, Slow Down Records)."

"The album is the best representation to date of Amelia's stock in trade: slow, melodic compositions steeped equally in jazz, country and various ethnic folk traditions. Part Patsy Cline, part Joao Gilberto and part Sade, "After All" is a leap forward creatively from Amelia's debut album and has grabbed the attention of AAA (adult album alternative) radio stations across the United States: Its leadoff track, "Jigsaw," has been added to the playlists of 20 stations in markets ranging from Portland to New York and is generating increasingly voluminous industry buzz."

"The band recently returned from a whirlwind trip to the Bahamas after attending the influential Sunset Sessions, a gathering of radio programmers and record label tastemakers that often determines which bands are elevated onto the industry's heat-seeking radar. They've appeared on West Virginia's legendary Mountain Stage --the segment they taped aired one week ago -- and are slated to play a week of high-profile dates on the East Coast later this year. In short, Amelia is on a roll, and it's not far-fetched to suggest that the group's next album could be released on a major label."

"Amelia's rapid ascent and colorful banter notwithstanding, the band's story unfolds over two distinct chapters. First is their hard-luck tale of second chances: For each member of the band, Amelia represents a sort of "last dance" with the arbitrary and frustrating gears that move the music industry. Then there's the second: the chronicle of a band growing beyond its original charter to become more than the sum of its gifts."

"If this were simply another yarn about a good band with a great album to sell, it wouldn't be nearly as interesting as it ultimately is -- the story of Weddle's band becoming community property and not only surviving the shift, but also thriving because of it."

Chapter One: Losering

"But before we get into that story, you need to hear this one: The reason that Amelia exists at all is because the band's previous incarnation as the late, lamented Flatirons failed as gloriously as it did. While Amelia has opted for a subdued, jazz-influenced Countrypolitan sound, the Flatirons leaned toward an edgy intersection of rock and Bakersfield twang."

"I feel like I've been living in the shadow of that band since we've been doing this," Weddle says reflectively. The Flatirons "had a shot at a major label deal, and it was heartbreaking when that didn't work out. Then we had an indie deal, but disintegrated before we ever got a chance to see how well it worked."

"The Flatirons' lineup included Weddle, Amelia's rhythm section of drummer Richard Cuellar and bass player Jesse Emerson, guitar whiz kid Jason Okamoto and talented torch singer Wendy Pate. The band recorded one promising album -- 1999's critically acclaimed alt-country essay "Prayer Bones" --and then dissolved in a hail of internecine squabbling and unlucky breaks. The lessons of this experience have stayed with Weddle and informed much of the way Amelia has gone about its business since forming back in late 2000."

"It's frustrating when you're in a band that's talented but can't keep it together," Weddle laments. "This band is my chance to do things differently. There's something cool that happens when somebody with a great voice sings a song," he adds by way of referencing Pate's and Helgerson's considerable vocal talents. "It's different than being proficient at an instrument. I could do solo stuff, but then I'd only be singing to the bartender."

"That "great voice" came to Amelia in the form of Helgerson, who had previously sung with her uncles and a few friends in the R&B act Say Uncle. At the time, Weddle was playing guitar for L.A. session man Warren Pash (who wrote the Daryl Hall and John Oates hit "Private Eyes" and has since become something of a fixture on the Nashville scene). Weddle tentatively waded back into doing his own music with Helgerson before asking Emerson and Cuellar to join the band. It was clear from their debut, 2003's "Somewhere Left to Fall," that Amelia would be a very different band from the Flatirons -- less twang, more swing. But none of the band's progress has come easily."

"On that first record, I definitely had 'red light fever,' " recalls Helgerson of her initial nervousness recording with Amelia. "You can hear it."

"Teisha's come a long way in terms of confidence," Weddle agrees. "That first record was hard on her. She was trying to sing the way I wanted her to sing . . . and it's hard not to smother when you're trying to help somebody be as good as you think they can be. But the days of me stressing about vocals in this band are over. I expect a lot from her and she delivered it. She's got a sound and the confidence now."

Chapter Two: Come Together

"The other through-line in "After All" is the gradual shift that's occurred within the band's dynamics over the past year."

"Where "Somewhere Left to Fall" was all Weddle, all the time -- he wrote the songs, co-produced the album and generally supervised every square inch of the band's output -- "After All" features songwriting contributions from all four members and a much looser, more confident sense of teamwork than the debut. It's a development that suits Weddle just fine."

"The changes "have been for the better," he agrees. "I don't have enough confidence in myself to think that I can write 11 songs record after record. When someone brings a song like 'I Read the News Today' or 'Better Than Sleeping Alone' (Emerson's and Helgerson's respective contributions to the new album), you'd have to be insane to say, 'No, I've got another one in my catalog that I'm gonna roll with.' You have to say, 'That's a fantastic song, we've got to record that.' It only makes our band better."

"And then there's the song that has garnered the most attention of any on the record -- Emerson's jaw-dropping ballad "All but the Sea," an aching, piano-laced vamp that's pitched somewhere between midperiod Prince and late-period Billie Holiday. Recorded live in the studio with Emerson and Helgerson standing back-to-back as they played, the song is an ode to discovering life through love that ranks among Stumptown's finest compositions. It's a testament to the band's growth that a song so ferociously eccentric can be placed alongside the album's more pop-oriented material and still resonate as strongly it does.

"I had that song for nine months," Emerson explains. "The chorus, chord progression and lyrics were all there, but I didn't really know what to do with it, and didn't want to force it. I was on the bus to work one day, and it came together. To be honest, I thought it was kind of weird," he laughs of the song's somewhat obtuse verse. "But (the band) gave me the go-ahead and said, 'Let's do it.' "

"We've been through a lot this year," adds Helgerson. "I can't imagine that isn't reflected in some of the music. We've grown."

"Our music has become the time when we can forget about everything and go to the place where all we are is just musicians," finishes Weddle. "There's a lot of buttin' heads in this band -- mostly between me and Teisha -- but when we play, that's when things feel good."

"Here's to happily ever after."

Oregonian - June 2004

Amelia leaps starward
COREY duBROWA
"Amelia singer Teisha Helgerson surveys the crowd with an impish grin on her face, like someone who's already in on the joke."

"Everyone says they love their mom, but I really LOVE my mom," Helgerson gushes between songs, tossing her tall tangle of hair as she peers into the crowd."

"I love my mom, too," offers guitarist Scott Weddle, whose mother is also in attendance, having flown in from Montana for this evening's show."

"Dude, you're so LATE," counters Helgerson to a chorus of laughter. "I said mine first."

"Well, we see eye to eye most times," Weddle concedes, the band cracking up behind them."

Chapter One: Losering

"On that first record, I definitely had 'red light fever,' " recalls Helgerson of her initial nervousness recording with Amelia. "You can hear it."

Chapter Two: Come Together

"The other through-line in "After All" is the gradual shift that's occurred within the band's dynamics over the past year."

"We've been through a lot this year," adds Helgerson. "I can't imagine that isn't reflected in some of the music. We've grown."

"Here's to happily ever after."

Performing Songwriter - June 2004

"Sultry and sophisticated cabaret pop with just a whisper of twang that flits in and out like a friendly ghost. The music of Amelia is a staggeringly cool exercise in understatement."

"Made up of former members of alt-country act the Flatirons and fronted by the honey-voiced Teisha Helgerson, the band Amelia inhabits a lush mid-tempo world of vibrato guitar, electric piano, organ and miles and miles of wide open space. The cool, dark environs of their songs evoke Cousteau, Bacharach, Weill and Waits just as easily as they conjure Gillian Welch, Natalie Merchant and Edith Piaf (particularly on the standout "Et Vous.")

"The band's alt-country background steps to the fore on tunes like "Last Pariah" and "Happy After All," where they're allowed to swing wide and easy. These songs mesh seamlessly with the subtle and charming ambience that saturates this highly recommended album."

Clay Steakley

Oregon Music Guide - May 2004

OREGON BAND TO WATCH - AMELIA
By BRIAN BLAIR
A little after four in the afternoon, the dinner crowd is still a couple of hours away and there’s only a few patrons inside the Mexican eatery. Those that are present in the east Portland restaurant appear to be either waiting for someone or just looking for someplace to be.

In the back corner, Scott Weddle works his way through a healthy sized burrito and makes light conversation. When the topic turns to the band he formed, Amelia, he returns to his burrito without a word. Teisha Helgerson, the group’s lead singer, looks at the guitarist, realizing that he’s left her to fend for herself, and offers a “Uh huh,” that says she’s not surprised by this move.

As the mastermind behind the group, Weddle could easily dominate the conversation and offer up all of the intricacies of the band and its music but he holds back to allow Helgerson the opportunity to field questions. Just as with a number of his other actions, it’s obvious that this is another attempt to coach the singer towards her inevitable stardom.

Meeting up in 2000, the two were drawn together by mutual admiration. Weddle was serving as a member of the alternative country act The Flatirons and Helgerson was fronting Say Uncle. As a friendship grew, the pair started working on music together with Weddle teaching Helgerson how to play guitar and control her voice.

”I grew up singing in a way that would not be called ‘subtle,’” Helgerson says matter of factly.

With the dissolvement of the Flatirons, Weddle spent his time playing alongside Warren Pash (who’s major claim to fame has been that he cowrote Hall & Oates hit “Private Eyes”). At the same time, he was performing an occasional show with Helgerson.

The makings of a band started coming together for Weddle and he started plotting out a group that would move away from the alt country he had been doing. He had an idea of the sound he wanted to achieve but he realized that the most important element of the band would be a strong lead singer, which he knew he had in Helgerson.

”I chose to be in a band with Teisha because she’s the best singer I had heard,” says Weddle. “It wasn’t like, when I heard Teisha, I thought, ‘She sings too powerfully for what I’m trying to do.’ I thought, ‘Whatever she does, it’s probably going to sound good singing my songs.’”

Assembling the band around Helgerson, Weddle contacted a couple of his former bandmates in The Flatirons, bassist Jesse Emerson and drummer Richard Cuellar. The four started working on the five songs that Weddle had ready but found that things weren’t coming together as hoped.

”It took awhile for Rich and Jess to understand,” says Weddle. “We played together a few times but all the songs were in the wrong keys. I listened back to recordings and I’ve got Teisha singing really low and all this stuff. It was just a learning process.

”Just because I had a vision didn’t mean I knew exactly how to get there.”

The music that Weddle had in mind is something he describes as “cinematic” and “melancholy,” and he says that he drew it’s elements from Calexico, Elliott Smith, Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan.

Asking the band to describe its sound is akin to asking a blind man to describe the color red. There’s a lot of fumbling around the definition and parts of it sound decent enough but there’s never a solid answer that summarizes it completely.

After each of the members takes a stab at explaining the band’s music, Weddle honestly responds, ”The more we get asked this question, probably the better we’ll get at answering it. I’m probably about 10 interviews away from being able to describe it.”

Others outside the band have said the music is reminiscent of Norah Jones, which is mainly a result of Helgerson sultry, chanteuse vocals, while others have pointed to a similarity to the Cowboy Junkies. The band is aware of the references but seemed slightly confused by them. Still, each of the members seems to realize that the comparisons aren’t necessarily a bad thing.

”I don’t think any of us would object to having comparisons made about what we sound like, especially if it’s helping someone find our music in a record store or tell a friend about us,” says Weddle. “But, if you ask us if we’re trying to be like those bands, in most cases not. It’s a coincidence more than anything else.”

The new album, After All, which the group says is more “collaborative” than the group’s debut, Somewhere Left To Fall, displays a band that draws from various sources but only as influences and not as blueprints. What the group has created is a sound that is smooth and intoxicating but able to move into more upbeat material without sounding contrived.

Behind the captivating voice of Helgerson, the band could easily just phone its performance in and issue standard generic melodies, but it doesn’t. The group creates rich compositions that serve Helgerson’s voice in the way that only a collective of accomplished musicians can.

Amelia is a band worthy of any praise and recognition that comes its way and, if After All is any indication, there’s certainly a lot in the group’s future.

Scripps News Service - May 2004

Tuned In: Amelia's 'After All'
By CHUCK CAMPBELL
"It's a standard strategy used by critics and fans alike to persuade an unconvinced audience of the value of a CD: "It gets better with repeated listens."

"Truth is, most music sounds more appealing if it's given the chance to work into a listener's subconscious via multiple exposures. Any angler knows the more you cast your hooks out there, the more fish you'll catch."

"Subtle bands like Amelia usually count on such audience diligence, but the indie group from Portland, Ore., is immediately addictive with "After All." Just try resisting the romantic blend of lush rhythmic swoon and winsome vocals on first track "Jigsaw" or the aching opening declaration of "Last Pariah": "Brokenhearted fools/They're not that much to look at."

"Lead singer Teisha Helgerson is the chief dealer for her group's aural narcotics, her dulcet voice glowing with sophisticated sorrow that's not quite as restrained as Cowboy Junkies' Margot Timmons nor as demonstrative as k.d. lang. Yet Helgerson wouldn't be so effective without the band - Scott Weddle (guitars), Rich Cuellar (drums) and Jesse Emerson (bass). Together, they craft cosmopolitan cocktail music that fuses lilting Americana, Old World endearment and Latin swing."

"First single "Better Than Sleeping Alone" is a grabber, with slinky upright bass, brushed snare and polite pedal steel supporting the singer's countrified cadence. Amelia also floats through the dreamy piano bar ditty "All But the Sea" and sashays through the smooth ease of "Cannonball," plus there's a kiss of Euro-swank in the downcast French allure of "Et Vous."

"Like many 21st-century indie acts, Amelia is making a hard push through online retail at outlets ranging from amazon.com to the group's own ameliaband.com. Those who track it down will find it instantly rewarding."

"And it gets better with repeated listens."

"Rating: 4 out of 5"

Willamette Week - May 2004

Ameliorate
More voices mean a greater sound for Amelia's second release.
BY JAY HORTON
"Jigsaw," the first track off Amelia's second album, After All, opens with the drop of a record needle--the hiss of old vinyl almost immediately subsumed by a bristling, confident guitar. It's a wonderful moment and a fair taste of the journey to follow: a journey influenced by the traditional, but constructed and colored by the numerous talents in the band."

"As every profile seems duty-bound to report, nobody within the band is actually named Amelia--though bassist Jesse Emerson insists it's his given name. The heaven-kissed vocals belong to Teisha Helgerson. Four years ago, she sang for R&B band Say Uncle (featuring, yes, two of her uncles) and happened to meet Scott Weddle--at the time, guitarist for Warren Pash. Weddle brought around Emerson and drummer Rich Cuellar, former bandmates of Weddle in the Flatirons. Amelia was formed and soon developed a passionate Northwest following, even before its 2002 debut, Somewhere Left to Fall."

"That album won significant airplay and, along with a series of prominent West Coast gigs, attracted national attention. To support After All, the band has appeared at a Caribbean music conference for radio programmers and played the syndicated radio show Mountain Stage. "When we recorded the first record, those were the only 11 songs we had," Weddle says. "For this, Jesse was writing, Teisha was writing--we had a lot more stuff to choose from. There were a lot of different influences...that had yet to be explored."

"Richie, Jesse, all of us at some point have gone through a major bossa nova phase, we've gone through a country phase, we're all big fans of Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd, João Gilberto. Jesse has gone through a Brit-pop phase, Teisha's listened to a lot of jazz and country and soul singers. I can't really get away from the blues, to my own detriment. Our drummer's rockabilly, straight-up swing shuffle."

"Despite the numerous influences, After All isn't exactly eclectic. The instrumental precision and hypnotic vocals enforce a coherency of tone from the Castilian roadhouse dance-party of "Blackbird Pie" through the morphine-drip cabaret of "Et Vous." On the old Memphis jukebox ballad "Better than Sleeping Alone" Helgerson wrangles a gorgeous, deliberate melancholy aside a walking bass and steel guitar in an expansive and hopeful way. The song is Helgerson's own creation, and the band rightly views it as the album's best track."

"Everybody does different things," Weddle says. "If I was left on my own, I'd write songs of a certain type, Jesse would write songs of a certain type, Teisha would write songs. When you get together with people, you write songs for the voice of the band. When you hear a song now, it's Amelia."

Michael Ross
"Maybe it's those rainy days, but the Pacific Northwest has been cultivating a unique brand of intimate, back-porch music. But while bands like Vancouver's Be Good Tanyas lean heavily on elements of blues and twang, Portland's Amelia adds a bit of a torch-song feel. Singer Teisha Helgerson's voice is an affecting instrument that is placed right up front in the mix, revealing all of the dewy, slightly rough edges that surround its essential silkiness and power. She is aided by literate songs with heartbreaking melodies composed by her and other members of the band. Composed is the right word: the songs seem well crafted without ever descending into preciousness. Multi-instrumentalist Jesse Emerson's "All But the Sea" sounds like poetry set to music, a dangerous circumstance in all but the deftest hands. Here it works beautifully, dealing with big themes like life, love, and God, saved from pretentiousness by its sparseness of word, its melodic embellishment, and a vocal approach that pervades this album and gives it a timeless quality. At three minutes and seven seconds, the song lasts not a moment longer than it should and you are sorry when it is over. The same could be said for this CD."

Amazon.com - May 2004

"Almost easy listening
Amelia, a sultry band based in Oregon, sets up each track on its new CD like a thoughtful stroll down a sunny street, with a little rain."

"Amelia's second album, After All, is the musical equivalent of this moment ? all plucky romanticism and soft-focus guitar. The four-member band, based in Portland, Ore., is best known in the Pacific Northwest for its sultry sound, described by the group's handlers as overcast, with the occasional glimpse of sunshine." Full article available here.

Sacramento Bee - July 2003

The Portland-based twang-pop band Amelia brings its lovely blend of melancholy country, pop and soul to Davis. With a sound that recalls the eclectic sounds of classic AM radio, this quartet features the dusky vocals of Teisha Helgerson and the guitar work of Scott Weddle, a founding member of the The Flatirons, a short-lived but beloved Portland, Ore., band.

Willamette Week - May 2004

Oregonian - January 2003

Scott Lewis
Falling for Amelia with its lush, sultry debut.

Artist: Amelia CD: Somewhere Left To Fall (self-released)
Grade: A

"The buzz: Portland's most promising and pretty-sounding new band, Amelia, will perform Saturday, Feb. 8, at the Alberta Street Public House."

"Career capsule: Amelia was born when three members of Portland alternative-country favorites the Flatirons regrouped and recruited Say Uncle vocalist Teisha Helgerson to sing their sleepy, sultry songs."

"This CD: If there is such a thing as a "date album," this is one, and it's hard to imagine anyone not instantly falling for this gorgeous batch of gently smoldering, country-jazz torch songs."

"Waves of watery, tremolo and Latin-leaning guitar give these 11 songs their melting flow and are superbly supported by sedate yet steady rhythms and tasty touches of piano and other key-based instruments. There are, as well, splashes of accordion, autoharp, melodica, glockenspiel and several other elsewhere-underemployed instruments."

"Then there's Helgerson's voice?sophisticated and seductive, aged and weary yet fresh and filled with hope, clear as a bell and evocative while sounding eternally elusive."

"Placing such talents together, Amelia demonstrates a seamless union of identity, sound and purpose, and the first-rate production allows the band's beauty and brilliance to bloom in full."

Just about the only complaint to be filed with "Somewhere Left To Fall" is that it sounds too short. It's not, really?clocking in at 43 minutes, it's easily an LP's worth of wonder?but it seems to stop just when it really settles in.

"Must hear/tracks to skip: Yawning to life via an extended guitar note and getting on its feet with help from a snare-heavy beat, "Marigolds" nicely sums up Amelia's many charms. The song sounds like sleepwalking through a field of flowers?all breezy, soft and sweet?and when Helgerson spins out the line "More marigolds and maybes until the sadness comes again," she does it in a way that both melts the heart and burns it onto the brain."

"Nearly as stunning is "False Start." Though it has a similarly semiconscious feel and wears its heavy heart lovingly on its sleeve, the song subtly skips along with help from paced rimshots to the snare drum and percolating high-strung guitar that's pushed right up front in the mix."

"Things get a bit brooding and sinister during "Come Clean," the most forceful and rocking song on the album, while "Safe and Sound" conjures images of a more rural "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." "No Valentine" slinks out of the speakers with its flamenco-flavored guitar and twinkling tiple (a stringed South American instrument) playing, "Stranded" is swollen with dusty guitars and a delicious sense of distance, and the closing "Gone for Good" ranks as the album's most stark, country-influenced song."

Other music of this genre: Hazeldine, Snakefarm, Lisa Cerbone, Mojave 3, Danielle Howle, Slumber Party, Neko Case

Influences: Calexico, Cowboy Junkies, Emmylou Harris, the Innocence Mission, Eliza Gilkyson, 10,000 Maniacs

Essentials: The Flatirons' "Prayer Bones"; keeping up with the band's adventures and progress via its Web site at www.ameliaband.com

Bottom line: A lush and lovely listen from start to stop, "Somewhere Left To Fall . . ." is a beautiful and beguiling debut that's all but impossible to resist." Scott Lewis

John Chandler
Amelia trades in the twang for a torch
Portland band leaves the country behind
Amelia Somewhere Left to Fall (Self-Produced)
"You never know until you slap on the headphones.
Three-quarters of Portland's Amelia are former members of the country-rock band the Flatirons. So one would reasonably expect to hear similar fare here. But Amelia makes a clean break. This band is all about mood and melancholy. Fueled by singer Teisha Helgerson's jazz-inflected despondency, Amelia steers clear of prairie thunder and heads straight for the gypsy camp, replete with near-tango tempos and Scott Weddle's simmering guitar pluck. Helgerson, armed with Natalie Merchant-like pipes, darts gracefully around Weddle's guitar, catching us up to date on her love-life disasters on songs such as 'Wings' and 'No Valentine'."

"The band takes a slow, methodical approach in accompanying her emotional fallout. On 'Come Clean' Helgerson shifts from languid remorse to actual anger, and the rest of the musicians kick up the intensity accordingly."

"What Amelia really has going for it is a healthy sense of communication among Helgerson, Weddle, bassist Jesse Emerson and drummer Richie Cuellar. For each song, the roles are clearly defined, and the band creates effective space between each instrument. The result is something new, a kind of torch-lounge-country-jazz. It's both engaging and innovative ? ingredients currently in short supply."

Willamette Week - November 2002

Becky Ohlsen
Amelia: Caliente
"Buttery Latin-country-soul, served warm.
No, the woman you see on stage is not Amelia.
That would be Teisha Helgerson, and the word you're looking for is probably "sultry."

"Helgerson fronts the band Amelia, with Scott Weddle on guitar, Jesse Emerson on bass and Richard Cuellar on drums. The up-and-coming local outfit plays a simmering blend of melancholy pop, timeless country, Latin and soul, calling to mind hot moonlit nights in tequila-basted border towns or cool dames slinking through black-velvet nightclubs. "Picking a band name almost killed us," says Weddle. "All of our friends were trying to help, which backfired because somebody would always hate the names we picked. We settled on Amelia because we thought it worked with our Spanish/Latin tastes and with the old-fashioned, antique thing we like."

"Recorded at Mike Coykendall's Blue Rooms studio in Southeast Portland, Amelia's new album, Somewhere Left to Fall, has the burnished feel of a record that exists outside of time and trends. Though songs smolder more intensely in a live setting, the record shows off the subtleties of Weddle's songwriting and guitarwork and the richness of Helgerson's vocals. A fan of Coykendall's band the Old Joe Clarks, Weddle tracked him down after hearing he'd moved to Portland from San Francisco. "I heard his band before I ever met him and loved the music," Weddle says. The two shared a record label, Checkered Past, from back when Weddle played guitar for the Flatirons. "When I found out he had a studio, and heard how good Fernando's last record he recorded there sounded, I asked him if he would work with us." Coykendall plays on most of the tracks and lends eerie harmony vocals to one, "Come Clean." He and Weddle co-produced the record. "I have great faith in Mike's musical intuition," Weddle says. "He kept us all calm and centered and seemed to have endless patience with the process."

Oregonian - November 2002

Mark Woodlief
Amelia's opposites attract musically
"Talk about yin and yang.
Scott Weddle, guitarist for Portland quartet Amelia, is low-key and a little shy, a twang-pop songwriter with a flair for yearning melancholia. The group's sultry vocalist, Teisha Helgerson, is a self-described "lifelong ham" who once performed spontaneous lunchtime concerts with a first-grade classmate at a West Linn school. Weddle was the rhythm guitarist with twangy Portland combo the Flatirons. Helgerson also fronts the sunny-sounding outfit Say Uncle, a project formed with two of her uncles and three friends. He's a little bit country; she's a little bit rock and soul. Together, they complement one another almost perfectly as the nucleus of Amelia."

"On the group's debut, "Somewhere Left to Fall," tremolo guitars, hushed rhythms, keyboard shadings and subdued samples provide atmospheric soundscapes. A natural, easygoing musical rapport exists between Weddle and former Flatirons members Richard Cuellar (drums) and Jesse Emerson (bass). Helgerson's voice haunts with tales of loneliness, betrayal and breakups. "A patient impostor who's skilled in the art/can make off with an unsuspecting heart," Helgerson sings on "Make Believer." On "Come Clean," a sample of Indian tambura adds eerie, shimmering texture to the tune's foundations. Weddle and Helgerson met in the summer of 2000, just as the Flatirons was coming to an end. Although he'd been writing some of his own songs, Weddle grew more confident and excited about songwriting after a stint playing lead guitar with Warren Pash's band. Still, Weddle didn't want to step out front with a new group. "I don't have the sort of voice that should be fronting a band," he says. "I like the way my songs sound when they're sung by somebody that really can sing great." After meeting Helgerson and hearing her sing with Say Uncle, Weddle was convinced they should form a band. As the collaboration took root, the two agree, they learned from and challenged one another. "When I first started talking to her about singing with me and forming a band," Weddle says, "I didn't really even have a bunch of songs yet, just parts of songs and ideas. She was really patient and really understanding."

"And Helgerson appreciated Weddle's patience when it came time to record "Somewhere Left to Fall" at Mike Coykendall's Blue Room Studios. Inexperienced in the studio, Helgerson says she was able to overcome "red light fever" with a little time. "(Weddle and Coykendall) were really cool about it," Helgerson says. "It's complicated trying to understand how to communicate to the tape (vs. a live audience)." All that patience, and practice, paid off. "It was a long process," says Helgerson, who describes herself as a long-term thinker, setting the goal of becoming "a good jazz singer in 30 years." Meanwhile, Amelia has created a solid debut, and the group has grown during the process."

"I think we made a record that 'music snobs' will appreciate," Weddle says, "but that regular music fans will dig, too." Striking a balance with their first CD? What a harmonious accomplishment."

Willamette Week - November 2002

Willamette Week - September 2002

Zach Dundas
"Scott Weddle, once of the sadly shortlived alt-country band the Flatirons, writes songs of subdued, whiskey-mellow brilliance. He's found his perfect sonic foil in singer Teisha Helgerson, a sterling country-soul voice seemingly destined for great things."

Oregonian - January 2002

Marty Hughley
Somewhere Left to Fall was one of the top ten best Portland releases of 2002
7. Somewhere Left to Fall, Amelia (self-released):
"The breakup a few years ago of alt-country favorites the Flatirons was a shame, a shining promise squandered. But one of that band's songwriters, guitarist Scott Weddle, regrouped with the old rhythm section and a new singer, Teisha Helgerson, whose alluring voice holds center stage in these dusky, soulful treks to the shadow realms of the heart. A new promise is bearing fruit."

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Portland Tribune - August 2001
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Portland Tribune - August 2001

Phil Sanford
"The name is Teisha Helgerson, and it says here she's going to be a star. Knockout voice, exquisite sense of rhythm, plus a joyful presence."