Sara Jackson-Holman celebrates the holidays with the release of a new digital EP. The three-song, digital-only EP, "The Very Merry" EP, featuring three holiday classics done in her style: 1. Carol of the Bells 2. Little Town of Bethleham 3. Angels We Have Heard On High
"A Very Merry" EP follows up Sara Jackson-Holman's 2010 debut, "When You Dream," an 11-track collection of melodic, sultry, thought-provoking, and imagery-drenched tracks already garnering comparisons to Feist, Adele, and Norah Jones. "When You Dream" is the result of a classically-trained musician making music for herself and a chance run-in with a record label that led to a studio album.
That chance run-in found Expunged Records' president Anthony McNamer clicking on Jackson-Holman's Myspace page after she left a comment on Blind Pilot's page, following a live performance she had seen.
"I had seen Blind Pilot and fell in love with their music," explains Jackson-Holman. "I wrote on their Myspace wall. It was a typical fan post, telling them I loved their music and asking if they were planning to come back through anytime soon. Their label was looking through their comments one day, randomly clicked on my picture, heard my music, and wrote me asking if I had a demo CD."
Surprisingly, she did not.
However, several conversations with McNamer and a few home recordings later, McNamer was hooked and signed her to Expunged Records. With only five or six songs completed by the time Expunged Records had decided to do a full-length with her, Jackson-Holman spent the summer writing the rest of the album. Then, with the songs complete, she entered the studio with Blind PilotΉs producer, Skyler Norwood, and began recording what would become "When You Dream."
"The song most affected by the production was probably 'Maybe Something's Wrong," she says. "The instruments we added gave it a darker, richer texture that I had not really anticipated when I wrote it.
"Also, 'When You Dream' took on a much emptier, dream-like state when the electronic-sounding drums were added. That really contributed to the songΉs character."
The result is an album Jackson-Holman (and everyone else who has heard it) is ecstatic about, one she is anxious to hit the road and tour in support of, and truly immerse herself in. Anyone that hears "When You Dream" will immediately wonder how this music and these lyrics could be created by a 21-year-old.
