LIGHTING THE WAY

ARIELLE SILVER IS ALL ABOUT SECOND CHANCES BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Arielle Silver had a successful music career when she just up and quit 10 years ago. After years of regional tours, and then a six-month national tour with her trio in support of her third album, she put away her guitar, moved to Los Angeles and landed a behind-the-scenes job in the music business.

After hours, she studied and taught yoga philosophy, won awards for her literary writing, got divorced, got married and performed at SoCal world music festivals as a background singer and instrumentalist. But her own music came calling. “The reason I quit and came back both came from a really deep place inside me,” Silver says. “When I stopped playing I couldn’t do it anymore. I had done it my whole life. It was the life force for me. It was just something I needed to do and loved to do until I didn’t.”

One day she woke up from a “crazy dream” and it inspired her to do something she never considered.

“It compelled me to go in the backyard and clear a space,” she says. “I didn’t know I was going to build a shed in which to write songs. I just suddenly felt I needed to clean the backyard and get back to something elemental, I guess.” As soon as she built the shed—six weeks later—she started writing songs again.

“I was feeling my gut instinct,” she says. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

Despite 10 years off, when Silver launched a spring 2019 crowd-funding campaign, she raised over $26,000 to record a new indie folk Americana album, “A Thousand Tiny Torches.” The title comes from a lyric on the album.

7KHVRQJV²DERXW¿UHÀLHVZLOG¿UHVDQGVKLQLQJDOLJKWLQWRWKHGDUNQHVV²DUH slated for release in July.

Produced by Shane Alexander, the project was recorded by Michael Gehring at Secret World Studios in the legendary Sound City complex in Los Angeles. It’s being mixed by Grammy winner Brian Yaskulka (Lisa Loeb) and mastered by Grammy winner Hans DeKline (U2). The album features drummer Denny Weston Jr. (KT Tunstall), keyboardist Carl Byron (Rita Coolidge), bassist Darby Orr (Naked to the World), steel guitarist Jesse Siebenberg (Lady Gaga, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real) and mandolinist Mike Mullins (David Grisman).

7KH¿UVWVLQJOHLV³:KDW5HDOO\0DWWHUV´ZKLFKKLWVWUHDPLQJVHUYLFHVRQ)HEruary 28. The song was inspired by the November 2018 shootings at the Borderline %DULQ7KRXVDQG2DNVDQGWKH:RROVH\DQG+LOO¿UHV7KHHYHQWVPDGHKHUWKLQN about what really matters most.

“‘What Really Matters’ emerged from my process of challenging myself to write a song a week,” Silver adds.

³$OORI&DOLIRUQLDORRNHGOLNHLWZDVRQ¿UH$ORWRISHRSOHORVWWKHLUKRPHV Thousands were evacuated. The sky was dark and ashy. That week, I wrote two

songs. One was ‘What Really Matters.’ We have our personal tragedies in our lives and then there are these cultural tragedies or local tragedies that are public. It’s terrible.”

The second single, “Headlights,” is due out this month. 6LOYHU¶VVRQJVKDYHEHHQOLFHQVHGLQWHUQDWLRQDOO\IRU¿OP796KHKDVSHUformed at venues around the country, including Club Passim, 12th and Porter, and Eddie’s Attic, with many of her favorite songwriters, including America, Elizabeth WKH&DWDSXOW.ULV'HOPKRUVW6W9LQFHQW-D\1DVK5HEHFFD/RHEHDQG&KULV Pierce.

Also an essayist and poet, Silver’s literary work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best New Poets, and has appeared in Matador Review, MoPHQW/LOLWK0DJD]LQH8QGHU7KH*XP7UHH%UHYLW\DQG-HW)XHO5HYLHZ She is slated to perform at Lyd and Mo Photography studio on May 29. “Pasadena has a lot of awesome little pockets of places supporting songwriters,” the Boston native says. “I played there a few times, like the Blue Guitar on the Arroyo Golf Course.”

6LOYHUVD\VVKHFDQ¶WZDLWXQWLOWKH&29,'FULVLVLVRYHUVRVKHFDQKLWWKH road again.

“I want to head back east to Boston to play a few shows in July,” she says. “I just restarted my career, but I’m simultaneously making long-term and mid-term plans. I’m building the house as I’m living in it.

“I’m just enjoying living in California. There are so many great songwriters here. It’s been fun digging into person by person learning about new venues, acoustic music listening rooms, and events happening in wineries and hotel lobbies. It’s GLIIHUHQWWKDQZKDW,H[SHULHQFHGLQWKH¿UVWJRDWWKLVFDUHHU´

SPRINGTIME JUBILATION Pound Cake

As a child, I wanted to be like my grandmother, having tea and pound cake. A quintessential pound cake also provides a perfect pairing for tart seasonal fruit flavors, savory herbaceous notes and indulgent gourmet infusions. My grandmother revamped her pound cake each spring and summer by adding seasonal fruits in the form of a coulis, compote, sauce, glaze or jam. I’ve inherited my grandmother’s love of baking and have since taken on the joyous challenge of creating a unique Springtime Jubilation Pound Cake. With fresh blueberries, mangoes and oranges, this cake is wonderful by itself, but I enjoy it with a slice of butter and a Lady Gray tea. STORY BY EMILY CHAVEZ | PHOTOS BY LUIS CHAVEZ

MAKES ONE BUNT CAKE | PREP TIME 30 MINUTES TOTAL TIME 1.5 HOURS 3 CUPS CAKE FLOUR 1/4 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER 1 TEASPOON SALT 1 CUP UNSALTED BUTTER, SOFTENED 3 CUPS FINE SUGAR 7 EGGS 1 1/2 TABLESPOON VANILLA EXTRACT 1 CUP HEAVY CREAM 1 ORANGE, WHOLE AND ZESTED 1/4 CUP POWDERED SUGAR 1/4 CUP WILD BLUEBERRIES 1/2 CUP MANGOES (SLICED AND DICED) 1/2 CUP WATER SPRINGTIME JUBILATION POUND CAKE

WHILE OVEN IS HEATING TO 325 DEGREES, SIFT TOGETHER BAKING POWDER, FLOUR AND SALT THEN SET ASIDE. IN A SEPARATE BOWL, BEAT SOFTENED BUTTER WITH AN ELECTRIC MIXER FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES UNTIL CREAMY AND COMPLETELY SMOOTH. ADD SUGAR IN INCREMENTS SLOWLY AND BEAT AFTER EACH ADDITION UNTIL INCORPORATED INTO BUTTER. THEN ADD EGGS ONE AT A TIME, BEATING AFTER EACH EGG AND SCRAPING DOWN SIDES OF BOWL TO FULLY INCORPORATE. ADD IN VANILLA EXTRACT AND MOST OF THE ORANGE ZEST AND BEAT. NOW ADD A THIRD OF THE FLOUR, BAKING POWDER AND SALT MIXTURE AND SLOWLY BEAT. ADD 1/2 CUP OF HEAVY CREAM AND BEAT. CONTINUE WITH ADDING THE NEXT THIRD OF DRY MIXTURE, FOLLOWED BY THE OTHER 1/2 CUP OF HEAVY CREAM AND FINAL THIRD OF DRY MIXTURE, REMEMBERING TO SLOWLY BEAT AND SCRAPE DOWN SIDES OF BOWL AFTER EVERY ADDITION. BEAT FOR ANOTHER 45 SECONDS. POUR BATTER INTO A GREASED 10-INCH BUNDT PAN AND BAKE FOR 70 TO 80 MINUTES, OR UNTIL THE TOP IS GOLDEN, A TOOTHPICK INSERTED IN THE MIDDLE COMES OUT CLEAN AND THE SIDES START PULLING AWAY FROM THE PAN. WHILE THE POUND CAKE IS BAKING, BRING TO BOIL THE BLUEBERRIES, DICED MANGOS AND WATER IN A SMALL SAUCEPAN AND THEN LET IT SIMMER ABOUT 15 MINUTES OR UNTIL THE WATER LEVEL IS ONLY A THIN LAYER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAN. TURN OFF HEAT AND LET COOL ON STOVE. SEGMENT THE ZESTED ORANGE AND REFRIGERATE IT WITH THE SLICED MANGO. REMOVE BUNDT CAKE FROM OVEN BUT COOL IN THE PAN FOR ANOTHER 10 TO 12 MINUTES AND THEN REMOVE FROM PAN. SPOON BLUEBERRY MANGO SAUCE ON TOP OF BUNDT CAKE AND DECORATE FURTHER WITH THE SLICED MANGO, SEGMENTED ORANGE, REMAINING ORANGE ZEST AND POWDERED SUGAR.