album art by Moon Dove Studio
Since the dawn of time, humans have been drawn to the night sky, looking to the starlit night with wonder.
Billions of light years away, some of these stars have already burned out, yet their memory still burns bright enough to reach us here on Earth. The night is almost like a photo book of our lost loved ones, so far away and intangible, though their memory remains.
Each song on the album aligns with a month of the year, mirroring where grief rests as the seasons change. Each track opens a door to a different dream world- moonlit castles, mermaid lagoons, glamorous movie theaters, haunted old cemeteries… Each world was created to find our lost loved ones in, mimicking how our own brains play tricks on us as while we venture through dream worlds. Charting the Stars in Her Eyes is both a gaze upward and into the past- a search for our lost in every starlit night.
The First Blooms of Spring
The first four songs of the album represent the whimsy and childlike wonder of spring. In the spirit of medieval fables and folklore, each of these songs presents a cautionary tale. Before grief exists the fear of loss itself, which these songs embody through the rose tinted pages of a fairy tale.
“The music casts spells through the speakers, as do her soaring vocals, which fly higher than an eagle. Her lyrics, meanwhile flit about and flirt with wanting more than the chaste affection a potential suitor has to offer.”
- The Old Grey Cat Blog review for “Courtly Love”
Sweet Summer Nostalgia
The following four songs of the album represent summertime- a time for first kisses, for road trips and summer blockbusters, for coming of age. Each song falls into a different vintage world, drawing inspiration from retro sounds and aesthetics to evoke a sense of longing for the past. If Spring is a cautionary tale, Summer is the actualization of tragedy. It’s within the summertime of our lives that we often experience our first brush with grief, losing friends amidst the adventure.
“Charting the Stars in Her Eyes is a deeply intentional exploration of memory, grief, and emotional growth, with each song capturing a unique moment in time, making an immersive listening experience that mirrors the natural rhythm of the year.”
- Concert Crap Album review
The Cold Mists of Fall
The stark shift from Summer into Autumn provides necessary change. The three songs of fall are each a different color of grief- regret, rage, heartache. Autumn represents life after loss in all its tenderness, spanning from the freshest of wounds to the scar that still aches. It is in this time of year that our ghosts seem to haunt us most, lingering at our doorsteps at the first crunch of leaves.
“This song wonderfully conjures the essence of the Fall and centers on a fitting creature- crows. With their dark-as-night appearance and association with death, these birds symbolize the mysticism and macabre energy of Halloween season”
- Vamp Jenn’s Corner review of “Follow the Crows”
Winter Memories Frozen in Time
Little Heart Locket is a love letter to holiday memories and the person in my world who made them so special to me. It is recognition that the baton has been passed, and it is now up to me to find magic in the world again after loss. Like the seasons of the year, the album closes at the open- “Little Heart Locket” representing the culmination of memories at the holidays, which brings listeners back home to the starkness of January with the album’s first track, “Forget Me Nots.”
“Rain’s whimsy is as infectious as her vocals, which routinely frolic amongst the stars, while the songs themselves are contagious confections that linger in the subconscious… She explores atypical topics via sweeping visages all but the hard hearted will enjoy, in other words.”
- The Old Grey Cat album review
Album Credits
Production, Mixing, & Mastering: Elliott Woodbridge
Songwriting & composition: Violette Rain
Photography & Visuals: Paul Cosby
Album art: Moon Dove Studio
Press: Angela Tyler
Wardrobe: Violette Rain
Dress courtesy of Vixen By Micheline Pitt
Wig Styling (Starshine): Audrey Stroth
Additional photography: Yellow Lamp Collective