Turns out all the hard work for the EP release not only produced an incredible packed show, but some wonderful reviews. Here are a few from the NW region!!
PORTLAND MONTHLY:
“Cellist Ashia Grzesik may sing music from the old country, wear ruffled skirts and cook borscht, but she’s no neo-bohemian gypsy-punk poser. Though she currently hangs her plumed hats in Portland, this sultry songstress hails from the old country—Wroclaw, Poland, to be exact.”
“Listening to Bison Rouge, one can’t help but hear a collage of influences. Grzesik can certainly give Joanna Newsome a run for her whimsy, she possesses the old-world charm and quirky dramatics of Regina Spector and the cello-punk instincts of Bonfire Madigan, and her voice vacillates between the throaty alto of Amanda Palmer and the ethereal soprano of Maria Callas. Simply put, she’s got a little bit of everything.”
“Though it’s hard to resist comparing her to other artists or sticking her in a box neatly labeled with an obscure hip-sounding genre name (Steampunk freak-folk? Cabaret-core?), that wouldn’t be fair. Good music sounds like other good music, and hence can seem so familiar that you can’t imagine not having heard it before—but in truth, you haven’t. Thus every fleeting moment of recognition that “Bison Rouge” reveals, further solidifies Grzesiks’ mastery of craft.”
-JULIE REPOSA
PORTLAND MERCURY:
“I’ve never heard anything quite like Bison Rouge, the new solo EP from Portland Cello Project and Vagabond Opera cellist Ashia Grzesik. The captivating opening track “Country Will Do Her Well” sounds like lieder updated for the 21st century, and it’s followed by the handsome two-step of “Rip Up Your Stitch,” then “Broken Crowns,” which sounds like a conservatory string quartet slumming with Appalachian folk before Grzesik meanders in with a vocal that sends the whole thing into outer space. I haven’t even mentioned the song that she sings in Polish. The EP’s instrumentation is almost exclusively strings and accordion, with plenty of pizzicatos alongside hints of gypsy and cabaret. Grzesik’s music is a strange and beautiful thing to listen to, and tonight’s release show—which will include belly dancers as well—should provide ample evidence of her talent and ambition.”
-NED LANNAMANN
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/ashia-grzesik/Event?oid=3351113/
SEATTLE PI:
“Cellist Ashia Grzesik is a member of Vagabond Opera and the Portland Cello Project, and has played with Cirque du Soleil. She is a three-ring slyph, a vaudeville dervish, a woman after our own hearts……
Aptly entitled Bison Rouge, it ranges from parlor popular to European avante garde. Her siren voice calls and dismisses cellos, accordion, drums, string quartets, and trumpets at a whim, whirling your ears down into your heart and out into the aether. It is beautiful.”