From across the Atlantic in Spain, 20-year-old Irene Rodriguez Tremblay offers up her first collection of songs, the promising EP Cuando Termines con Todo, Habra Terminado Contigo (When you've finished with everything, it will have finished with you). Recording under her pen name, Aroah, Tremblay rushes through a tight collection (just shy of 18 total minutes) of introverted folk-pop songs, two of which she sings in Spanish. This EP surprised me in its depth. The first time I put it in the player, I remember doing so only to acquaint myself with her music. In fact, as I don't normally listen to this style of music, I was considering pejorative adjectives to describe her music before it even started. At the very least, I thought the music would provide nice soothing background for reading. But Tremblay's shy voice and her plainspoken words caught my ear, and the honest feel of the songs kept drawing me further in until I was hooked.
The arrangements of these songs are, for the most part, simple, relying on the power of her voice and acoustic guitar. I suppose I would call this folk-rock, but that title is too narrow for these six short works. Her guitar playing is much more complex than simple chord-driven folk music. True, on the opener, "Come home," and "Mi sitio está aqui," Tremblay's guitar follows a folk Piper. For the other four tunes, her guitar quietly assumes different moods, complementing the varying emotions expressed in her voice. In "320," her guitar sounds crackles with a little funk. On "Eder, Simone," it's a low-fi answer to a punk/grunge sound. But these songs are not just filled by her voice and her guitar. Spanish musicians David Fernandez and Ari and Abel Hernandez ably accompany her on five of the songs, picking up bass, drums, and the added textures of discrete synthesized sounds when needed.
Tremblay's voice is not powerful in the conventional way. It wavers through the deeper notes, and, at times, it can be overpowered by the, albeit hushed, playing of her fellow musicians. Nevertheless, Tremblay's singing is disarmingly honest and expressive. She combines this unadorned honesty with inwardly drawn lyrics to create an intimate, confessional quality in her music. It feels as if she's left her door cracked open, and, without realizing there is an audience, she sits on her bed and sings hushed and heartfelt songs of longing, experience, and loss. At its weakest, her voice merely fades into the lightly textured songs. At its strongest, as in the Spanish sung "Mi sitio está aqui," her youthful bittersweet voice has the skill to evoke vivid atmospheres of beauty and wistfulness.
Lyrically, she's not knocking down any new doors, but she's not trying to sound like anything other than honest. Her stark, stripped qualities of her voice keep her words fresh. In "Eder, Simone," she admits her vulnerability toward an intimate relation "I look across at you and pieces of my self-esteem are blown away," but then adds her own self-doubts on her choice, "I close my eyes and we have sex and I think of someone else instead." Not transcendent, but candid, and for that reason, her voice easily rises above its technical shortcomings.
In the space of 18 minutes, Tremblay realizes six songs of considerable depth and variety. What is remarkable about this achievement is that it is accomplished in straightforward, seemingly humble way. As co-producer, Tremblay (along with Abel Hernandez), gives her sound only the lightest of atmospheric touches, allowing her voice and her melodies to breathe naturally. The songs themselves are spare enough to grant her voice room to roam , even as they move beyond simple folk with tighter arrangements and more complex rhythms. Now it's time for a full-length album. Ms. Tremblay, your audience is waiting.
Delusions of Adequacy, USA

You know that feeling you get when Suzanne Vega starts singing "My Favorite Plum" and your heart leaps up and says "Me, pick me, let me be your favorite plum!" and you know of course that she's not really singing to you, that she doesn't know you and probably doesn't even care who you are, that you're just a lonely little human letting a lovely voice and a longing lyric take you away to another place that's maybe not happier than the one you're in now, but is certainly more passionate and mysterious, more velvet-lined, more infused with romance and danger and possibility? You know how that's a good feeling, even though on the surface maybe it seems a little desperate and probably a little sad? This CD is like that.
Aroah is based in Spain, but Irene Rodriguez Tremblay, the young, lovely-voiced woman behind the music, is American (I think). Her Vega-esque voice and simple guitar are backed up by generally subtle, nuanced bass, drums and occassional keyboards. The songs are melodic enough to catch your ear without really being poppy, and rely more on atmosphere than they do on hooks to keep you interested. Once that atmosphere is established, it's really Tremblay's voice and lyrics that make things happen.
Tremblay sings in both English and Spanish -- mostly English, though. Her songs touch on all the themes you might expect from a somewhat mopey twenty year old songwriter: loneliness, insecurity, sex, expectation, longing...they're all in there. But don't despair -- there's no whining here, no self-righteous complaints, no shrill accusations. Tremblay has a mellow, inviting way of letting you into her world, and it's an invitation that I find hard to resist. She doesn't seem to be bemoaning the state of her world as much as she's simply describing it, making songs out of the raw and confused and urgent feelings that are the inevitable result of being young and awake and alive.
Tremblay has a fine dramatic sense, a sweet, inviting presence and a killer voice. The English translation of this disc's title is: "When You Finish With Everything, It Will Have Finished With You". I don't think the world is finished with Ms. Tremblay quite yet.
Splendid, USA

The name of the album means "when you finish with everything it will have finished with you" and boy is that ever true. I've never heard a theme so well put in the title of an album. "Come Home" is what Tori Amos wishes she could have done these past few years-melodic calls to your inner ear. At times songs are sung in English and then Spanish for an otherworldly experience that can only be likened to some of the best performers known to the world. A lot of people may read this and think world music, but there is nothing foreign about this-we all have felt this before. "320" is an ocean of just that, experienced for a soaking 4 minutes and 9 seconds. You can close your eyes to this and invoke anything that your heart or mind may desire.
Smother, USA

There are times in your life where, no matter how much you're actually doing, it feels as if everything is spiraling out of your grasp, like you'll never get everything done. My father calls it running in "shark mode." If you stop moving, you'll die, or, more probably, fall asleep. So after sleepwalking through most of last week, I sat down on Thursday night for a bit of relaxation, fixing my blank gaze on the reds, greens, and blues of America's favorite addiction, the television.
Of course, in the land of the cable-deprived, we don't have a whole lot of choices, so I settled on the "Top of the Charts" edition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," featuring such powerhouse musical minds as Joey McIntyre and Huey Lewis. I don't know why I stopped there, but it seemed intriguing enough. What did I get out of that hour of my life? I learned that McIntyre can't count the number of vowels in a word. And I now know that Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go's doesn't know that Portugal owns the Azores. God, what a wasted evening.
Well, almost. After I extinguished the glow of the cathode tubes, I scooped a dish of ice cream (Edy's Fudge 'n' Cups. Highly recommended) and sat down in my room with Aroah. And for seventeen minutes, my evening was good. Cuando Termines Con Todo, Habrá Terminado Contigo translates to English as, "When you finish with everything, it will have finished with you." I think its meaning is supposed to be darker and more cosmic, but in my current mindset, this is a fantastic sentiment. When you're done with whatever it is you're doing, it'll be done with you. You'll never have to worry about it again. I would love it if that were true.
Aroah is the alias of Spanish-American songwriter Irene Rodriguez Tremblay, a bilingual 20-year-old who shows enormous promise for the future. Her songs are already subtle, thoughtfully layered and melodic, rendering her as a sort of modern Joni Mitchell in the making. Tremblay's intimate style and full, lilting voice are expertly complemented by the production input of labelmates Abel Hernandez and Coque Yturriaga (both members of Migala), who help create an exhausted, highly atmospheric environment for her tales of post-adolescent heartbreak and newfound independence. Despite a lot of its lyrical concerns, this is perfect music for those times when the world is just moving way too fast for you.
The fabulous "Come Home" opens things in an odd spot halfway between Mazzy Star's wasted, dust-blown psychedelia and Will Oldham's cracked folk. Mallet percussion and cymbals swell like a tide beneath the gently strummed acoustics. This is followed by the uptempo pop of "Recuerdos" ("Memories"), sung entirely en Español. It's a breezy, if all too brief excursion that serves as one of the EP's most enjoyable moments, reminiscent of Italian power poppers Plastico.
Cuando Termines's other Spanish language number, "Mi Sitio Esta Aqui" ("My Place Is Here") is even better, veering back toward Oldham territory with its sparse piano and incorporating an amusing sample of an American newscaster reporting on a fireworks celebration mistaken for a Martian invasion. "Eder, Simone" is full of gorgeous Spanish guitar that masks Tremblay's most pointed lyrics, which feature lines like, "You make me feel like shit/ I love you," and, "I close my eyes when we have sex and think of someone else." Ouch.
Throughout Cuando Termines, Tremblay deftly plays with dynamics and atmosphere, even coming close to the darkness of Slint on "320," though it avoids the dread of that band. As the lullaby of "Fade" (ahem) faded out on Thursday night, I felt that certain rejuvenation that only music seems able to provide, and damned if I didn't wake up just a little more focused the next day.
If there's any complaint I could lodge in regards to Aroah's debut, it's that it's simply too short. At the end of its seventeen minutes, I'm ready for more. That said, Cuando Termines is packed with eloquently crafted folk with roots in both American and Spanish traditions, and it speaks of an immensely promising future for Tremblay. But regardless of the future, Cuando Termines Con Todo, Habrá Terminado Contigo is a sublime experience now, and that's something we can all use from time to time.
Joe Tangari / pitchforkmedia.com

Cómprense este disco. Es lo único que se me ocurre decir. Y aunque no es un propiamente dicho un disco, en realidad es un EP de seis canciones, parece que el debut de Aroah es uno de esos discos con vocación de ser recomendado. Si quieren más razones les daré alguna. La caja es de cartón, la fotografía que la ilustra parece hecha por Talbot en algún momento indeterminado cuando aún no se sabía lo que era la fotografía, porque por fuera es tan bonito como por dentro, porque es tan barato como un EP y da más alegrías (o penas) que la mayoría de los cds que te compras cada mes. Seis momentos que cuestan un precio ridículo si pensamos en lo difícil que es encontrar canciones de esas que se acurrucan a tu lado, te hacen compañía y solo les falta solucionarte tus problemas sentimentales.
"Cuando termines con todo, habrá terminado con todo" es el primer trabajo de Irene Rodríguez bajo el nombre de Aroah, antes había grabado algunas maquetas bajo el nombre de Luge que ya la emparentaban con esos cantautores que siempre tienen una pena muy grande a la que cantar (más o menos decía RDL). Mirándose a ratos en el espejo de Will Oldham y del Bill Callahan más 'animado', a otros en el de Cat Power, en el de Beth Orton, en el de The Softies y sobre todo por ciertas inflexiones de voz en el de Heather Nova cantautora no demasiado conocida de principios de los '90. Con David (batería de A Room with a View) y Ari completando el grupo y la inestimable ayuda de Abel y Coque de Migala en la producción Aroah se convierten en la banda más esperanzadora de los últimos meses.
¿El truco? No hay truco, solo hay canciones, seis preciosas canciones en las dan ganas de grabar a alguien que quieres, ya sea en español, la más pop 'Recuerdos' o la irresistible melancolía pegadiza de 'Mi sitio está aquí'; o en ingles, mis favoritas hoy '320' y 'Eder, Simone', ayer 'Fade' y a lo mejor mañana 'Come home'. Seis canciones teñidas de una tristeza no desesperada sino cálida, envolvente y, sobre todo, emocionante. Seis canciones para dormirse con ellas y despertarse a las 7 de la mañana. Texto:
Abel Cuevas / Satelite pop

You know that feeling you get when Suzanne Vega starts singing "My Favorite Plum" and your heart leaps up and says "Me, pick me, let me be your favorite plum!" and you know of course that she's not really singing to you, that she doesn't know you and probably doesn't even care who you are, that you're just a lonely little human letting a lovely voice and a longing lyric take you away to another place that's maybe not happier than the one you're in now, but is certainly more passionate and mysterious, more velvet-lined, more infused with romance and danger and possibility? You know how that's a good feeling, even though on the surface maybe it seems a little desperate and probably a little sad? This CD is like that.
Aroah is based in Spain, but Irene Rodriguez Tremblay, the young, lovely-voiced woman behind the music, is American (I think). Her Vega-esque voice and simple guitar are backed up by generally subtle, nuanced bass, drums and occassional keyboards. The songs are melodic enough to catch your ear without really being poppy, and rely more on atmosphere than they do on hooks to keep you interested. Once that atmosphere is established, it's really Tremblay's voice and lyrics that make things happen.
Tremblay sings in both English and Spanish -- mostly English, though. Her songs touch on all the themes you might expect from a somewhat mopey twenty year old songwriter: loneliness, insecurity, sex, expectation, longing...they're all in there. But don't despair -- there's no whining here, no self-righteous complaints, no shrill accusations. Tremblay has a mellow, inviting way of letting you into her world, and it's an invitation that I find hard to resist. She doesn't seem to be bemoaning the state of her world as much as she's simply describing it, making songs out of the raw and confused and urgent feelings that are the inevitable result of being young and awake and alive. Tremblay has a fine dramatic sense, a sweet, inviting presence and a killer voice. The English translation of this disc's title is: "When You Finish With Everything, It Will Have Finished With You". I don't think the world is finished with Ms. Tremblay quite yet.
Splendid, USA

The more we hear on Madrid's esoteric Acuarela label the more impressed we are. Aroah is the pen name used by Irene R. Tremblay, a 20-year old obscure Spanish songwriter who has a stunning knack for writing tunes...and this young lady has a most engaging voice that is strangely arresting. In many ways, Tremblay's overall style reminds us of babysue favorite Ileni Mandell...because she is creating music from her own unique universe. And even though her tunes are based around an acoustic guitar, she is far from being one of those political folkies that we all know and hate. Ms. Tremblay writes quiet, thoughtful, creepy guitar lines and then layers them with softly sung lyrics. Her ideas work marvelously, as there is some strange quality to the music that is both haunting and mesmerizing. Though only six songs in length, this is a wonderful...and almost completely obscure...delight.
(Ratinng 5 out of 5)
Babysue Fanzine, USA

Nooit gedacht dat Spaanse rockgroepen een zekere cool konden hebben. Will Oldham was de eerste die de bende van het Acuarela- label ontdekte en ging met de gasten van Milaga op tournee. Onlangs speelden de kerels zonder de baardige bard in de Botanique. Ze dompelden de plantentuin onder in een laidbacke sfeer die me herinnerde aan Pavement en de Velvets anno 69, inclusief het gebrek aan repetities. Nog op Acuarela zitten de neuzelaars van Sr Chinarro. Grootstadsblues gemompeld op een wonderbaarlijke mix van trance, flamenco, wave en punk. En nu is er aroah, een groepje zonder hoofdletters. Ze hebben een ep- tje uit, Cuando termines con todo, habra terminado contigo. Het meisje van twintig achter de microfoon is de geile zuiderse dochter van Moe Tucker. Irene R. Tremblay en haar groepje noemen zich sonic- songwriters. Het meisje lijmt de scherven van haar herinnering aan katten en codeïne, de vis in haar grootmoeders tuin. De muziek is zacht, intens, breekbaar. Een schone om verliefd op te worden.
Kris V. / Muziekkrant, Bélgica