Please listen to the song below as it is quite excellent and will appear on All the Pretty Things, an album from Decatur, Illinois sensation Ashley Riley which is set to be released 2/18/14. Ms. Riley hosts an open mic night in Decatur and through this she has been able to revitalize the underground singer-songwriter scene there. I was born in Chicago and I have to say that I would love to be in Decatur, a town on the prairie way south of Chicago, on a winter’s night for an open mike featuring this tune. I can just imagine stepping in out of the wind and sub-zero cold, stamping the crunchy snow off my heavy boots and sitting down for a cup of hot chocolate while listening to “Made of Dreams.” Good stuff, definitely. In Illinois, people drink “hot chocolate,” they don’t drink “hot cocoa.” The latter is an affected west-coast description of the sweet, chill-banishing drink.
Ms. Riley’s publicist describes her in this way, “With a voice that soars strong and full and hushes soft and sweet, Ashley Riley pulls you into her songs of life’s hardships and hopes. Often compared to Stevie Nicks or Jewel, her sound is something you won’t soon forget: roots-pop infused with finger-style guitar, and a subtle, dreamy hint of Mazzy Star.” I like that description because it brings in the solid, metronomic fingerstyle guitar by which the artist accompanies her singing. For a singer she has an extraordinary sense of rhythm and time. The lady’s got a wicked right hand. A Youtube video of Riley in studio shows numerous vintage microphones at the ready. It could be through the use of these devices that Riley is able to infuse the songs with nifty low-fi coolness.
