“Ocean Liner”
Hailing from NYC, The Icebergs consist of singer-songwriter Jane LeCroy and cellist Tom Abbs who collaborated as a duo called Transmitting for over a decade before adding drummer, David Rogers-Berry, to become the current ensemble. Their live act boasts a minimal palette: pizzicato cello, vocals, and drums. The material is grounded in the lean style of punk and the potent gravitas of northern folk. The new album, Add Vice, features electric guitar by Martin Philadelphy (Switzerland) who also contributed vocals and recorded on spontaneous writing sessions with the band. The Icebergs were also blessed with the studio addition of Brooklyn eccentric, Dave Treut who contributed organ, vocals, percussion, and clarinet on over half of the album.
There are certain works of art that endure because they offer magic healing powers of compassionate solidarity; they give strength to carry on through the hard parts. Jane LeCroy serves the Poetry Gods and has access to the curious apothecary of literary history. She chooses classic poetry that has worked through the ages against death and the broken heart. On Add Vice Jane summons will: William Shakespeare, William Ernest Henley, and Willa Cather. She takes their time-honored words and delivers them as her own special concoction. Collaborating with the dead can be just the right move to persist in life.
The album:
Recorded at Birdwatcher studios in Big Indian, NY, Add Vice is the second full-length album by The Icebergs. Half of the material was improvised by Abbs, Rogers-Berry, and Philadelphy; with Jane LeCroy singing words from her notebooks and reciting classical poetry. LeCroy interprets cannon material with a justified urgency. The other half of the material was developed by the trio of LeCroy, Abbs, and Rogers-Berry, mostly in small venues around Brooklyn and Manhattan. D. Treut takes over drum duties and adds a deadpan vocal style on a couple numbers including the title track, “Add Vice.”
