New York noir soul artist Kendra Morris recalls singers who straddled soul and rock during the early ’70s, such as Ruth Copeland and Chaka Khan. Her taste was developed through her parents’ record collection, a library heavy on late-60s and early-70s soul and funk as well as a love for the cinema scores of the same period. After touring with legendary Motown Funk Brother Dennis Coffey and releasing a series of singles that she did with longtime collaborator Jeremy Page including “Concrete Waves,” with b-side remixed by DJ Premier, Morris released the album Banshee (2012) on Wax Poetics Records. In 2013, Morris returned with a covers album ‘Mockingbird’.
Both Banshee and Mockingbird received much acclaim, a cult following and several film + tv placements. The title track “Banshee” was used prominently in the Showtime hit series Ray Donovan while her cover of Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” was featured in the trailer for major motion picture Dead Man Down starring Noomi Rapace and Colin Farrell.
2013 Morris worked on a side project band with friends Scarlett Johansson, Julia Haltigan and Holly Miranda. With Este Haim joining on drums and TV On The Radios’ Dave Sitek producing the project, they released the track “Candy” and a cover of “Bizarre Love Triangle” for AMFARs The Time Is Now compilation record.
Returning with her EP ‘Babble’ in 2016 to positive reviews and more licensing placements she continued working on music with Jeremy Page as well as began focusing her love of creating multimedia arts and finding ways to connect it to her own sonic universe. Having been collaging and doing stop motion animation a handful of years for her own album art and videos she wound up in the directors chair and animating the 2018 music video “Bomb Thrown” for the hip hop supergroup Czarface and MF DOOM record Czarface Meets Metal Face. Popular online magazine Mass Appeal cited the video as one of the best of 2018.
Early 2018 Morris released a string of singles; “Nothing”, “Playing Games” with Greg Nice of Nice & Smooth featured on the remix as well as a cover of Madonnas ‘Like A Virgin’ featuring DâM-FunK. She was recently featured on both last years Czarface Meets Metalface and this years Czarface Meets Ghostface albums and her song “If You Didn’t Go’ was sampled on the Rapsody and J Cole song ‘SoJourner’ produced by 9th Wonder.
Just releasing her first new song of 2019 called ‘Foolin’ Around’ she has a full plate for 2019 that includes a string of small tours, releasing more new music as well as animating and directing a handful of visual projects for both herself and others.
JULIA HALTIGAN
Acclaimed bombshell songstress Julia Haltigan came up on the Lower East Side of New York City when it oozed a heady mix of danger, possibility and art. She made meaning of the painful complexities of her parents’ split, her father’s incarceration, and a freewheeling life of parties and a revolving cast of street characters.
Julia emerged from it all a sensitive badass who rides vintage Triumph motorcycles and sings primal rock n’ roll with smoldering expressivity. Julia’s signature artistry evokes Brigitte Bardot, Marianne Faithfull, Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, and Lou Reed.
Her latest EP, Hot Tears, is a masterful collection, teeming with themes of heartache, images of broken bones, car chases, and nostalgia. Stunners in this set include the gritty swagger of the T. Rex-like “Money,” the 1960s James Bond ballad-esque “Burning Bridges & Breaking Hearts,” and the sleek and smoky “How To Make A Broken Heart,” co-written with songwriting legend Mike Scott of The Waterboys.
Julia has performed as a part of the Varvatos Music Series, filling the store over capacity leaving a line around the block, and live on tastemaking radio personality Vin Scelsa’s show Idiot’s Delight. She’s also shared the stage with such venerated names as Judy Collins, Steve Earle, Norah Jones, Montgomery Gentry, Rhett Miller, Nicole Atkins, and Holly Miranda, among others.
Outside of her solo career, she moonlights as the slinky Jessica Rabbit inspired jazz crooner ‘Vivian Fairchild’ in the off-Broadway hit “Sleep No More.” She also performs in the fizzy pop band The Singles, alongside her buddies Scarlett Johansson, Kendra Morris and Holly Miranda. When not onstage or in the studio, Julia’s straddling a 1970 Triumph Bonneville.
