HOTEL ANTON (ALBERG, AUSTRIA) 2020
Deeply tender, sensitive singer/songwriter with guitar. Her crystal clear voice, her powerful lyrics, and her truly unusual sound captivate audiences like a thunderclap full of soul, yet also undulating with rock. This young artist exercises a charismatic fascination.

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MIROLLO (Barcelona, Spain) 2017

It is her voice that makes her powerful.  She knows how to make turns with music that suddenly have you in pieces, leave you with goosebumps, and realize how deeply you've been touched.

 

LA DECADANSE (Geneva, Switzerland)

It felt as though she was sharing secrets. Her melodies tinged with melancholy and left us in a dream.

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NOW MAGAZINA (Budapest Hungary) 2017

Erica Russo's voice was record quality, singing very clearly. The tone, melody, and performance was very expressive. Hopefully another time we'll see her charming personality again.

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ONBARCELONA (Bararcelona, Spain) 2017

Erica Russo started playing, only she, her guitar, and her music. Not a cough. There was such a respectful silence that it made it hard to breathe. It almost made me cry.

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GROUND SOUNDS, 2016

Erica Russo is an Asheville, North Carolina based singer/guitarist that blends indie folk influences with powerful lyrics. She is gearing up to release her new album Honey on September 16th and today we’re excited to premiere the title track. The song strolls at a confident pace with intriguing ebbs and flows, and Russo’s captivating vocals provide the perfect leader for your ears to follow. http://groundsounds.com/2016/08/16/premiere-erica-russo-serves-great-honey/

 

SONGWRITING MAGAZINE, 2016

Tonight’s exclusive comes courtesy of a North Carolina songwriter who has a darkly infectious style which recalls the excellent Warpaint. US songwriter Erica Russo is based in North Carolina, which is known as the “Old North State.” However, NC may soon become known for a something a little more current if Russo has her way, with the alt-folk writer set to release her excellent new LP Honey on 16 September.  Erica Russo has been likened to Regina Spektor and She & Him. We also think that her dark, dangerous and seductive melodies recall the brilliant Warpaint. Why trust us? Listen below and find out why…http://www.songwritingmagazine.co.uk/news/exclusive-honey-by-erica-russo/33518

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MOUNTAIN XPRESS, 2016
Erica Russo’s distinctive, earthy voice wades to the forefront of her latest single, “Honey,” the slow-moving title track from her third full-length album. Backed by Billy Leva on drums, Davis Collins on bass, Fanny Rose on cello and her own guitar work, she sings: “You have got my heart / under your knife / baby, please play nice.” These lyrics are straightforward enough, but the musician’s overall vibe blends the serene and ominous with haunting results. Her new album, which was self-produced and includes several band-backed recordings of previous solo songs, is the first out on fellow local artist Matt Townsend’s Eternal Mind Records. http://mountainx.com/arts/smart-bets-erica-russo/
 

LUNATIC, (BULGARIA) 2016

Erica Russo, whose unique music sounds simultaneously delicate and fierce, bathes the listener with gentle vocals and captivating melodies. She combines her dreamy folk styles with indie rock to create deeply unforgettable songs.  http://lunatic.bg/shibbi-pictures-erica-russo/

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ASHEVILLE BLOG, 2016

Asheville-based indie-folk artist Erica Russo will celebrate the release of her third, full-length album, Honey, on August 20, 2016 at the Mothlight in West Asheville. The record is being released on the new Asheville-based record label and arts collective Eternal Mind Records. The dreamy 11-track album was self-recorded and self-produced in Russo’s practice studio in Asheville’s River Arts District as well as in a remote cabin in Alexander, NC. Russo’s newest work represents a hauntingly melodic sound that combines her singularly dreamy style of folk with grittier, indie-pop sensibilities. The singer-songwriter, along with her band, will tour the U.S. extensively this August, and Russo will embark on a European solo tour this fall in support of the new record.http://ashevilleblog.com/tag/erica-russo/
 

CITIZENS TIMES, 2016

“Honey” is an 11-track self-recorded, self-produced album. Recorded in Russo’s practice studio in the River Arts District and a remote cabin in Alexander, NC. Russo’s newest work represents a hauntingly melodic sound that combines her dreamy style of folk with grittier, indie-pop sensibilities. The singer-songwriter, along with her band, will tour the U.S. extensively this August, and Russo will embark on a European solo tour this fall in support of the new record.

The album boasts Russo’s mesmerizing vocals, ranging from the most delicate whisper to raw and bone-rattling shouts. Her band provides a seamless backdrop for Russo’s intricate guitar work, with Billy Leva on drums, Davis Collins on bass and Fanny Rose on cello. The title track and first single off the album, “Honey,” is a solid representation of the record’s spellbinding combination of delicate, tender vocals with soul-piercing lyricism and driving drum beats. “Limbs” demonstrates a ragged intimacy, a minor key incantation amidst shifting rhythms, with airy guitars and a rough-edged ambience tempered by Russo’s sweet melodic voice. “Dreams” is another standout track, revealing a more intimate side of Russo’s songwriting, complemented perfectly by the haunting cries of the cello.

Russo’s well of inspiration rarely runs dry. She has been touring extensively and faithfully putting out records since she began pursuing music professionally in 2013, after the release of her first full-length album, "Little House, Little Hill." A number of tracks on Honey have been previously recorded on the solo album In "Between Dreams." Russo says re-recording the tracks with a band allowed her to open herself to new incarnations of the songs. http://www.citizen-times.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/08/19/asheville-artist-russo-releases-third-album-mothlight/88623980/

 

HENDERSONVILLE TIMES & SPARTENBURG HERALD, 2016

Car troubles once led Erica Russo to sleep in a parking lot across the street from the Tiger Mountain bar in downtown Asheville, N.C.The Rhode Island-born singer-songwriter, who had already thought of moving to the Western North Carolina mountains, was passing through town en route to a show at the famed SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. “Despite the car complications, I felt right at home in the town and decided I'd like to live here some day,” she said in an email. “The music, people, mountains, and culture felt like a place that would give me room to grow as an artist and person and that appealed to me greatly.”

It took a few more trips through town for Russo to finally move, but two years ago she left Massachusetts and settled in Asheville. “I have been happily living here ever since,” she said. “Asheville has been an easy place to live for me and has impacted my music in positive ways. I feel my writing has become less introspective and more expansive since living here.” That expansive quality shines through her newest record, titled “Honey.” Russo and her bandmates, drummer Billy Leva and bassist Davis Collins, will play a CD release show at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at The Mothlight in Asheville. Russo, who wrote the songs over the last two years and recorded them last fall, recorded her previous album by herself but took her band (including, cellist Fanny Rose) into the studio this time.

Russo, whose pop sound can be whimsical and moody at the same time, began playing music at age 8 with piano lessons and then taught herself to play drums and guitar. Her first solo show came at a friend's gallery when she was 21. “It was a nerve-racking and exhilarating experience, and felt completely right,” she said. “I began performing regularly after that.” http://www.goupstate.com/entertainment/20160817/russo-her-bandmates-to-play-cd-release-show

 

MOUNTAIN XPRESS, 2015

In Between Dreams— Top 5 local Western North Carolina albums of 2015.  In tone, mood, instrumentation and narrative, this is wildly creative but steadfastly consistent collection. Russo’s strange and wonderful voice stitches those parts into a consummate whole. https://mountainx.com/arts/top-five-local-album-releases-of-2015/

 

MOUNTAIN XPRESS, 2015

Local musician Erica Russo released her new album, In Between Dreams, over the summer. And at the end of September, she put out a video for the otherworldly track, “Dreams.” The sparse setting and mostly-from-the-back shots of Russo playing guitar and drums with two peddles adds to the song’s spooky feel.

This is a haunted collection, sometimes brushed lightly by gentle specters and sometimes anguished with lost souls. The prettiness of the album is less about aesthetic beauty and more about a delicate delivery that reveals itself — especially on songs like “Limbs” — to be raw and unafraid of rough edges. Russo’s voice is a whisper that tears into a shout, the guitar is rhythmic with cool slices of wavering melody, the percussion the a spare thump — a gritty heartbeat propelling the song forward.

“Barnacle,” drifting and pensive, finds its rhythm mainly in the picking of strings which, though electrified, feel organic and tidal. Russo’s lyrics, though simple — and delivered with spacious phrasing in which her voice is allowed to tremble, grasp and float — are also personal and revealing. “These days I never know, I never know why / These days I never say, I never say hi / These days I’m far too shy,” she sings. There’s no evidence, of course, that Russo is drawing from her own experiences. Her songs could be the emotional storyboards of fictional characters. That works, too — the sentiments still hover between odd and universal.

“Gravel Roads,” boomy as if it was recorded in the bottom of a well, could be a Southern Gothic soundtrack. The refrain, “Now it’s sunshine all the time, and my baby’s on my mind,” is especially eerie up against the minor chords and chugging beat.

Returning to the album’s original theme, “Dream Catcher” — part lulling, part terrifying — has a warm and ambling guitar part over some ghostly background atmospherics. “What happens to the plans that never get seen through, what happens to dreams that die to young to get to?” Russo asks. Her voice breaks savagely on the chorus before returning to a soft rasp. That song, from its simple construction, to its dynamic and chilling performance, to its stuttering end, is a stand out.

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THE DELI NYC, 2014

"A fascinating bundle of energy."