Saint Bernadette 'In The Ballroom' album

Though SAINT BERNADETTE's music seems born of '40s girl singers and epic '70s rock, Meredith DiMenna and Keith Saunders, the songwriting team behind the group, met through a hip hop band. One of their first shows together was an opening slot for rap legends, Run-DMC. While Keith played the bass, Meredith was pushed off the stage by one of the group's rappers when her cameo singing performance seemed to be upstaging his own.

Soon, they began writing songs together and their partnership evolved into their own recording studio. While performing regularly under the name The Saucers, the pair started an independent label, Exotic Recordings, and released albums for a variety of groups including NERVOUS SYSTEM, JASCHA EPHRAIM, PLANESIDE, DOGS OF WINTER and Meredith's brother, J. DIMENNA

In the spring of 2006, they decided it was time to record their debut full-length album. The pair had a collection of songs but still needed the right musicians to bring them to life. They reached into their own talent pool - the artists and touring musicians on their label's roster. First, they enlisted solo artist and multi-instrumentalist, Jar-e, to play bass, Rhodes and trombone. They borrowed Joe Novelli from J DiMenna's touring band for lap steel and trumpet, and finally, they took drummer Craig Sala from Planeside. They called the new line-up Saint Bernadette.

"We've always wanted to create something like Motown or early Atlantic Records," says Meredith. "Where everyone on the label collaborated and performed together."

The new line-up went north to a small cabin in Vermont to learn and arrange the songs. Inspired and invigorated by the results, they began the search for the perfect recording location.

"We knew we wanted to record it live. Because of the instrumentation, the dynamics depend on a real-time push and pull between the different elements and we felt we couldn't achieve that in an overdubbing situation," says Keith. "We really wanted the record to reflect the energy of a live show".

Recent transplants to Bridgeport, CT, Keith and Meredith found that a local redevelopment project, the historic Bijou Theatre, was hiding a large and beautiful ballroom circa 1908 on the second floor. The developers gave the band permission to use the space for five days - one each to load in/load out and three to record.

To prepare for the recording, the band played a series of live shows in New York and Connecticut with the express purpose of refining the arrangements and establishing the dynamics. At this point, they enlisted Chris Sanchez, founding member of NYC's The Fever to produce the album, and Matt Lane, mobile recording engineer to record it.

The album was recorded completely live - with everyone in the same room at the same time. It was nearly non-stop recording, except on breaks to go to the bar next door and keep tabs on the World Cup. "It was exhausting because we had to be totally focused the whole time. We all knew that this was it, we either get it in these sessions or we don't," says Jar-e. "There wasn't a lot of room for error."

When recording was finished, the next step was mixing. Keith and Meredith felt strongly that they wanted to work with Peter Katis of Bridgeport-based Tarquin Studio (Interpol, The National, Rainer Maria). "Not only is he in Bridgeport, which was important to us - we really wanted it to be a hometown effort, - but he's also really talented. Working with him in his studio was a great experience," says Meredith.

"We had to wait a few months for him because he was busy working on The National, which was so hard since we were so excited about the recording, but it was well worth the wait," says Keith.

The result is a refreshing real-time view of the band. Stripped of modern studio conventions, the band's musicianship, songwriting and musical chemistry is immediately apparent. The sonic stamp of the recording location gives the album a distinctive cohesiveness that suits the band's genre-jumping style. The album In the Ballroom has been released on October 2, 2007.

press quotes
"a group that has matured like Uma Thurman--getting sleeker, sexier and ever more butt-kicking as time progresses. Meredith DiMenna's voice bursts out with a cutting, shimmery power." --Fairfield Weekly

"They'll make you drool." --Hartford Courant

"Right off the bat, you note that Meredith DiMenna's voice is captivating - it's got a sultry heft to it, a growl . . ." -- NYrock.com

“The debut album from Connecticut’s Saint Bernadette hits the sort of notes and touches that make me weak in the knees, by expertly melding things I’m a sucker for: ballsy broads, smoke-filled jazz clubs, and, of course, the element of surprise.” -- Sentimentalist Magazine

“The music on In The Ballroom, is seductive, eclectic, sophisticated and a natural fit for DiMenna’s superlative voice.” -- Stamford Advocate

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Saint Bernadette - In The Ballroom