SONG PREMIERE: Angela Petrilli Boasts Vivacious Blues Prowess On “The Voices”

Focus too hard on the vocals of Angela Petrilli and you might be taken to a mysterious blues jam where the likes of Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, and Joan Armatrading might be trading licks in a darkened room. But add in the likes of her seasoned band and the tasty guitar licks and swelling and bleeding tones that amount to a valued jam – we’re taken to the presence of a new blues talent that is sure to stay.

Glide is premiering the vivacious “The Voices” from Petrilli off her debut solo EP of the same name due out May 5th. “The Voices” is a gorgeously meandering launch pad for Petrilli’s live sets, this album version ebbing and flowing like a condensed “Dark Star”-esque Dead jam, but delivered with a gritty soulfulness worthy of The Black Crowes. As its name implies, the song is a musical and philosophical conversation, illustrated by the animated call-and-response between Petrilli’s guitar leads and Matt Lomeo’s wailing blues harp.

“With this new EP, I really wanted to write from perspectives that weren’t necessarily my own. Things I’ve observed with friends or watched on the news. ‘The Voices’ comes from having that conflicting internal conversation with the optimistic side of the ego versus the side that’s always worried the world is ending, that everything is bad. We all have that conversation with the little demon and angel on each shoulder. To me, that really illustrates the song—it’s that back and forth between being optimistic and thinking the world is going to hell. In one way or another, we all have that internal struggle,” says Petrilli.

“In the song, the characters are going back and forth with, ‘Won’t you let me go’ and ‘be there when I need you.’I wanted the music to illustrate that. That’s why the song is really quiet, and then gets big and loud and builds then comes back down. Those are ‘the voices’—that back and forth, that roller-coaster ride. The lyrics capture that, and I wanted the music to capture it as well.

“The guys in my band did such a killer job of bringing the song to life and making it sound conversational—particularly that part where me and [harmonica player] Matt [Lomeo] are trading off in call-and-response. We cut that one live at Sunset Sound—my guitar solo was not overdubbed. That was me and Matt live, looking right at each other.”