Pray to Be Free

Released on Heavenly Recordings under the name James Levy and the Blood Red Rose, Pray to Be Free is a romantic yet playful collection of jaunty pop and bruised ballads, imbued with stunning vocals and wrapped in a variety of velvet strings, suave horns and lush arrangements. Akin to the kind of classic Serge Gainsbourg recorded in the '60s with Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, or Lee Hazelwood's similarly charged duets with Nancy Sinatra and Ann Margret - long time friends James Levy and Allison Pierce deliver the vocal sparing in these sumptuous duels of love and war. Allison played an instrumental part in the making of this album, not only by choosing to cover Levy's song Glorious with her sister, but by introducing him to their producer, Coldplay's Guy Berryman. Guy loved what he heard and offered to produce Levy's album. Says Guy - "I met James Levy in New York city in the summer of 2009. James had written a song called 'Glorious' which the Pierces were recording and visited US in session. I was curious to learn that James lived in a window-less basement in Brooklyn, sleeping during the day and writing songs through the night. Alison Pierce had given me 5 recordings she and James had recorded in the basement and I immediately fell in love with the sound of their voices together - it felt classy." "The songs collected on 'James Levy and the Blood Red Rose' document romance in all it's guises; dark, twisted, hopeful and joyful. The sounds, drawing upon classic arrangements from the 50's and 60's, are melodic and lush and are hopefully a breath of fresh air in a world dominated by urban electronica."