Glass Pear is singer/songwriter Yestyn Griffiths. The Welsh-born singer is the younger brother of recording artist Jem. After co-writing songs for her debut “Finally Woken” and follow-up “Down To Earth”, Yestyn sent a 4 track demo to tastemaker DJ Nic Harcourt of KCRW. Nic’s early support for tracks “Last Day Of Your Life” and “Vultures” was instrumental in getting the music heard. In late 2008 the producers of 90210 chose “Last Day Of Your Life” to end the debut episode of the new series and Grey’s Anatomy featured the track in early 2009. Aptly described by Dave Matthew’s A & R as being like “Keane but with balls”, Yestyn cites Jeff Buckley and the Beatles as influences, while echoes of early Radiohead and Coldplay are heard throughout Glass Pear’s stadium-sized sound. Asked on NPR radio for her 2009 music tips, Gossip Girl’s music supervisor Alex Patsavas said that Glass Pear “will have a big impact in the future. [He writes} beautiful, melodic, well-crafted pop songs.” In October 2009, CW series Vampire Diaries featured Glass Pear’s song “Wild Place”. Fox’s Bones followed with a prominent placing of “My Ghost” in November. The debut album “Streets of Love” is released on Yestyn’s own label WOL Records and is available digitally on iTunes/Amazon. The physical CD can be ordered from CD Baby. “Until the morning comes”, a special collaboration with Jem (www.jem-music.net) was released in December. |Why Glass Pear? Yestyn writes: “A lot of the songs I write are about the fragility and transiency of life and love. So I wanted to find a name that expressed that. Apparently the ancient Chinese believed that the pear was a symbol of immortality (pear trees live for a long time). Its also a symbol of affection in other cultures. In Chinese the word li means both “pear” and “separation,” and for this reason, tradition says that to avoid a separation, friends and lovers should not divide pears between themselves. So for me a glass pear is a pear that is fragile, breakable, needing protection, just like love.” | |
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