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Amy Lee 2016

Amy Lee – 2nd Solo Album

Amy Lee 2016

At the beginning of 2014, Amy Lee announced that she and her husband, Josh Hartzler, were expecting! Their son, Jack Lion Hartzler, was born in July that year. Only a month after his birth, Amy released her first solo album, Aftermath. It was a collaboration with Dave Eggar, and all of the songs appeared in or were written for the independent film, War Story. Most of the songs on Aftermath were instrumentals, though a few also featured vocals.

Amy Lee kept quiet after Aftermath came out, but she was still working on projects. She had a few more movies lined up for which she would contribute music; she also reunited with Evanescence for a few tour dates in 2015. But was the band working on any new music? Was Amy working on music?

Early in 2016, Amy did start sharing videos and pictures on her social channels showing her recording new music. She confirmed that although Evanescence still has no plans for new music, she was working on a new project. Eventually one of her recording partners, Jeremy Hull, let slip that Amy was actually working on a children’s album. This may seem unexpected and surprising, but keep in mind that Amy has a young son. There’s no concrete timeline for the new album, but hopefully it will reach our ears before 2016 is over.

 

Indigo Grey: The Passage 

In March 2015, it was revealed that Amy was working on the music for another film project. This time it would be a short film called Indigo Grey: The Passage. The film was written by Garrett Coleman and Jason Oremus and directed by Sean Robinson. It stars Aidan Lok and the Irish dance group Hammerstep.

Dave and Chuck had previously worked with Hammerstep over the years and were familiar with the group. Amy Lee was a new addition for this short film project. Hammerstep spoke to the fansite Evanescence Crew about how they came to work with Amy, Dave, and Chuck; you can read the full interview at their website.

We have been working with Dave and Chuck for several years for a few Hammerstep projects and live touring. They are incredibly talented musicians and amazing people, and we really enjoy the organic process of creating art with them. We have always been fans of Amy’s work and her dynamic and forward-thinking artistic vision & aesthetic. While co-writing an unreleased track with her a couple years ago, we came to really respect her creative process and her down to earth nature as a person! She had expressed interest in the Indigo Grey live show, and so we decided to approach her to work on the film score as well.

Evanescence Crew also interviewed Dave Eggar about the new music; you can read the full interview at their website. As Dave described:

The score has to fit the story of the film. Like Aftermath, there are soundscapes and unusual textures but the music for Indigo Grey is more dynamic and adventurous due to the forceful movement and intensity of the story. Also because we are mixing in surround we can really have fun with special effects. Also this [soundtrack] will feature more beats as well as some strange and beautiful vocal textures from Amy. Amy, Chuck and I are really having fun with this one!

Amy Lee, Dave Eggar, and Chuck Palmer composed the film scoring for the short film. The three had previously worked together on the film score for indie movie War Story; the music was featured on Amy’s solo album, Aftermath, released in August 2014.

After premiering at the LA Shorts Festival on September 10th, Indigo Grey: The Passage was released on YouTube for all to enjoy on September 13, 2015. The soundtrack features “Between Worlds,” which appeared on Aftermath, as well as additional original score, including a piece called “Resurrection” at the height of the action in the film. The full score shares its name with the film.

The film is based on Hammerstep’s INDIGO GREY, a live, immersive show experience set to open in New York City in 2016. You can watch the 7 minute short film below:

In November, Amy Lee spoke to Rolling Stone about how she came to work on the film. You can read her full interview at their website.

 

“Speak To Me” – Voice From The Stone

On August 11, 2015, Amy retweeted a post from a Twitter account called Voice From The Stone. It appeared to be a new film, and Amy was shown in the picture they tweeted.

Soon they confirmed that Amy was working on the soundtrack for their film:

 

On October 20, 2015, Amy posted some photos of her filming the music video for “Speak To Me.” It was shot in Tuscany, Italy. There was no confirmation of when the video would be released; it likely won’t be out until the movie has a set release date, hopefully in 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

On April 11, 2016, Voice From The Stone revealed a sneak peak video of Amy recording “Speak To Me” and clips from film:

 

Rolling Stone Interview

On October 30, 2015, Rolling Stone published a new interview with Amy Lee. She talked about three US tour dates Evanescence had lined up for the end of the year ahead of some tour spots in 2016. Naturally, the question of new Evanescence music came up. While the band has no plans to record anytime soon, Amy did confirm that she is working on her own projects:

I am definitely working and making music with every intention of people hearing it at this point. I don’t know the plan with Evanescence. I don’t have any news or plans for new Evanescence, but new music for me, for sure.

Since the band’s self-titled 2011 album, Amy has been working on music for films. Her 2014 album Aftermath is made up of War Story songs she composed with Dave Eggar, and she worked on the short film, Indigo Grey: The Passage. Amy talked about these musical explorations:

It feels really good to have a lot of different things going on at once in the sense that I feel like I’m not just flexing one muscle. The point of it is just to show another side of myself again aside from what people already know about me as the Evanescence girl. It’s cool to be able to show what else I can do.

 

Recover EP (4 songs)

On October 27, 2015, Amy Lee uploaded a cover she had done of Portishead’s “It’s A Fire” to her official website. She shared the following message on Facebook:

 

On November 10th, she shared “With Or Without You” by U2:

 

On December 1st she shared “Going To California” by Led Zeppelin:

 

On December 15th, Amy shared her fourth and final cover, this time of “Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing” by Chris Isaak.

 

In 2016, Amy Lee decided to officially release her four new covers. On February 18th, she announced the release of her 4-track EP, Recover (Volume 1). It was available digitally on iTunes and Spotify. You can download the album or stream it now.

 

2016: Recording New Music

In January 2016, Amy started sharing short videos and images of her working on music. She kept things pretty vague, but it was clear the new songs are for one of her personal projects rather than Evanescence.

On January 21st, Amy shared a short video of her playing keyboard:

 

The week of February 22-27, Amy Lee was in the studio with Jake Miller and Guy Sigsworth.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCGfFnpJ-YL/?taken-by=jakealexandermiller

 

Listen to the beautiful strings:

 

This may be advanced math or it may be related to new music. Either way, the words “Love Has No Reason” at the top may be important to remember:

 

A visualization of Amy’s voice:

 

Playing harp with Guy Sigsworth by her side:

 

 

Recording with Guy Sigsworth and Jake Miller:

 

On February 25th, one of Evanescence’s original members, David Hodges, seemed to suggest that he had worked on new music with Amy Lee recently; there’s no word on when exactly that was or if this new music will appear on Amy’s upcoming solo album.

 

Revealed Info on Facebook

On February 29, 2016, Amy did a Q&A with fans on her Facebook page. They asked a variety of questions, and Amy snuck in some surprising info in some of her answers.

One fan asked Amy about new songs or a new album. Amy responded, “Making a lot of music right now in a lot of different places and ways… hot dishes comin up!”

Amy also talked about motherhood has affected her: “I thought having a baby would make me want to quit my job and just put absolutely all of my energy into being a “mom.” Instead he inspires me to work harder, make better music, make every moment count! I want him to be proud of me.”

Another fan asked about Amy’s working with Guy Sigsworth that month. Amy gave a two-part answer, first revealing that they worked on one song so far: “It was a really special experience. Sometimes you try working with someone new and it takes some real adjusting to get in the groove. I was often surprised in our process together how similarly our brains were working! We we’re hearing and wanting a lot of the same things, and that just made for a really gratifying piece of music in the end. He and his engineer Jake were so nice, we had a great time together all week! We only did one song this time, but I definitely think we will be making more music together soon.”

Amy also added, “Oh, and I’ve seen people asking so I’ll just answer this too- what we made is for me/solo, not Ev.” In an answer to a different question, Amy said, “Then this song I did with Guy, was just a one-off idea that blossomed into something I’m SO excited about… I’m very inspired right now to do more of that music.”

Amy also mentioned something very exciting about Evanescence: “We’ve also got an Evanescence vinyl boxset in the works with some unexpected surprises….”

No word yet on what this Evanescence vinyl boxset will included or when we can expect it, but it will be exciting to learn more about that in the coming months!

In addition to the highlights about new music above, Amy also answered many other interesting questions. She talked about how she wrote “My Heart Is Broken,” whether fans will ever hear the still-unreleased Evanescence track “Your Love” in full, and how she learned how to sing. Read more below :

 

A Children’s Album?

On April 15, 2016, bassist Jeremy Hull revealed that Amy was working on a children’s album! While this may seem unexpected, it does make sense given that Amy now has a young son, Jack. He will turn 2 this July.

Jeremy has since removed this post.

Amy was working Jeremy Hull as well as Will B. Hunt for this project.

 

 

 

At this point, Amy Lee has a few different musical projects going. Once the film Voice From The Stone secures distributors, Amy’s song “Speak To Me” and its music video should be released; hopefully these will see release later this year. Amy worked on a new song with Guy Sigsworth in February, and she is also working on a children’s album with Jeremy Hull and Will Hunt.

With all these musical projects started, there should be plenty more news in the coming months. Hopefully we’ll get to hear some of the new music in 2016.