Grown Unknown

Lia Ices | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 25, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jagjaguwar
• ASIN: B004DK49I2
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,677 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Lia Ices' emotionally driven and experimental pop music is both avant-garde and timeless. A natural yet refined grace permeates her work. Ices' voice floats and flutters around you, like the leaves from trees on a fleeting fall day, and the instrumentation matches that subtle dynamism. Grown Unknown is a walk in the park on a day of carnival, the most beautiful day so far this year. Appearing as a guest vocalist for "Daphne," the only duet on the album, is Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, Creative and Made for Winter January 28, 2011

By Gregory William Locke

Format:Audio CD

Probably part of some arts scene in some arts city somewhere in the U.S., singer/songwriter Lia Ices' webpage is stocked with great pieces of unique work. Songs, videos, photographs, artwork - you name it. At first, for me, the draw was Dylan Eastgaard's tasteful video for an older Ices track called "You Will." The subtle winter-friendly style of the video and song sucked me in, demanding that I look closer at this very feminine songwriter who, if I'm being honest, makes a kind of music that I very rarely listen to. Next came the video for "Half Life," directed by Simone Montemurno and Joana Bovay and also not included on Ices' latest release, Grown Unknown. Damn good. Great, even. I had to look even closer.

Ices, a striking artist who looks like a mix between a young Alanis Morissette and Joanna Newsom and sings a bit like a more delicate version of Basia Bulat, released Necima recently before signing with Jagjaguwar, who are just now releasing her first internationally distributed record, the above mentioned Grown Unknown. The initial word that came to mind while first working my way through the record's nine-song, 38-minute playlist is elegant, Ices coming off like a new age Joni Mitchell. A new age Joni, that is, if Joni floated on clouds and never befriended a slew of jazz players. Best described as an avant garde pop singer with a sultry, silencing croon, Ices (who is actually part of the forever booming Brooklyn arts scene) makes the kind of puzzle piece girl pop that fans of Kate Bush, Tiny Vipers and Tori Amos - and even more accessible artists like Feist and Bulat - should flip for.... Having trained at New York University's Tisch School, she mixes a classical background with an experimental drive, crafting string-backed piano compositions that work as something of a yin to Nina Nastasia's less-perfected yang.

That Grown Unknown was released during the coldest months of the 2011 is no mistake. Mostly quiet and gentle, these are the kinds of songs made for cold, grey days - the kind you spend reading books and grasping onto the nuances of incredibly arranged pop music. And while Ices' is surely an original, I do find little bits of influence to grab onto. For example, there are moments in the very good "Daphne" (a song that features Bon Iver's cameo-happy Justin Vernon) where I feel the spirit of Fiona Apple floating in the mix. Another influence I keep coming back to are Will Oldham's Bonnie "Prince" Billy albums. I can't help but sense that Ices has listened to nuanced masterpieces like Master and Everyone, I See a Darkness and The Letting Go plenty in her day, mirroring Oldham's knack for creating big, sweeping landscapes using tiny details. The key to Ices' success, of course, is that her music only takes in spirit - not in sound - from her influences.

Each time I listen to this very good record, which works as something of a proper introduction to Ices, I wonder how well it will do outside of places like Brooklyn, Portland and Seattle. I could see it finding a loyal following, almost for certain, but I could also see it doing more. I could see it being something of a cult record that kicks off a long, shifting career. "Lilac," a song placed late in the tracklist, will appear at a pivotal moment in a movie someday and "Love Is Won" will be on "Grey's Anatomy" or play at weddings or even hip coffee shops. The record's title track, another favorite, is an instantly memorable cut that features a minimalist, hand clap-driven arrangement that, before the song ends, builds and builds, adding a powerful string arrangement and, naturally, Ices' big (though almost always hushed) vocals. That track, I feel, is the secret to the record. Everything here, at first at least, seems quiet and subtle. But the more you get to know these songs - the more you get to know Ices - the more everything feels so big, so expansive. Not stadium big, but rumbling through the snow-covered mountains big. It all adds up to Grown Unknown, one of the first great records of 2011. Read more ›

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars one of best albums of 2011 January 25, 2011

By Lyn1979

Format:MP3 Music

A record that unfolds and grows in intensity over repeated listens. In my opinion a definite nominee for album of the year for 2011.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great March 13, 2013

By JTrembal

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

She is a great singer, the songs were amazing. Her singing style makes all of songs sound too similar but it isn't annoying. Buy it

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent music, very soothing, esp. while driving .... March 10, 2013

By mike henry

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

very uplifting & relaxing ... each song has its sense evoking mood .... beauty in sound & words ... thx

5.0 out of 5 stars Top ambient June 25, 2012

By Lou

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Ambient, complex, lenifiant, this music relaxes and gives a very good mood.
I bet it will be a blockbuster in a few months.

5.0 out of 5 stars endlessly listenable February 13, 2012

By D. orr

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is one of those albums that I can't get enough of. Amazing combination of talent, mood and accessibility. She manages to walk that line between making music sound fresh and slightly experimental while not being overly complex or egotistical.

4.0 out of 5 stars An album you will grow to love! October 23, 2011

By Jaime H.

Format:Audio CD

While listening to Lia Ices for the first time, much time is spent trying to draw a worthy and fitting comparison. Several float around, such as Florence and the Machine, Bat for Lashes, Enya, and even parts of Rasputina and Sandy Denny. However, it is during the second listen that one will give up trying to compare Ices to anyone else, because she really is a sound all on her own- and that is refreshing. That is what draws the listener most of all.

Grown Unknown is a phenomenal debut album. It is full of dream-like fragility, which is countered with confident strength. Ices is not afraid to be different and avante-garde, both of which pay off in the end, because it is clear she knows who she is and where she is going artistically. Her vocals float through the notes, weaving a story all their own, leaving the sparse, yet full, instrumentation to be a perfect complement.

Each song delivers another chapter to the story that creates the album. There are no songs that are likely to be heard on the radio, but one could expect to hear them as a part of a soundtrack, as they lend an unobtrusive, yet emotionally-stirring, sound. 'Love is Won' is the kind of song one would listen to when its sunny and warm outside, but nothing seems to be going right. 'Lilac' and 'Daphne' give an almost Brit-folk vibe to an otherwise melancholy sound.

Lia Ices gives us a taste of what she is capable of on her debut album Grown Unknown. It is clear she does not want to blend in and she knows what she wants to produce musically, and stands behind it. Ices really does take us into the unknown- and it will easily grow into a comforting familiarity.

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure music October 18, 2011

By C. Carter Holland

Format:Audio CD

Now I do count myself amongst musical snobbery with the acceptance that not everyone likes the same music. That being said, Lia's vocals brought me to tears. I instantly fell in love with her sound.

Her voice commands attention and deserves high praise in the day of manufactured sound based entertainment that dominates popular culture.

This is what music should be. I don't mean the style, I mean the emotion and evocation that artists like Lia demand from the listener. This isn't a series of singles or chart toppers, its an experience and a gift from someone who loved what they were doing.