"Firefly" is a daring album created by singer/songwriter Ashleigh Still and electric bassist Nick Salisbury. Abandoning conventional group formats, the duo recorded eight original songs and one cover with the unusual combination of only voice and electric bass. The minimalist approach is startlingly effective, allowing Still’s intimate and mesmerizing vocals and sexy yet tender songwriting to take center stage. Without guitar, keys, percussion or programming, the arrangements are bare and yet complete, Salisbury’s bass evoking everything from Fender Rhodes to a gentle blues guitar arrangement. “Firefly” is a debut album unlike any other. "Firefly" CD Review, City Pages – Minneapolis/St. Paul: By Jeff Gage Wednesday, Apr 28 2010 Firefly, the debut album from local singer Ashleigh Still, is a work of subtle charms and private revelations. Its nine songs clock in at barely a half-hour, adding up to a collection of hushed ruminations delivered with such understatement that the music often feels as though it's about to wilt away. Within the fragility of Still's breathy performances, her friskiness reveals an inner strength and playfulness that belie the vulnerabilities she so openly puts on display. Still's soulful voice takes center stage on Firefly and she uses it to shade the songs' explorations of herself and her relationships. A single mother of two who was raised in a strict Presbyterian household, Still has a desperate desire for happiness and independence without the complication of commitment that leads to contradictory consequences. As demonstrated by songs like "Good Time" and "Just a Girl," such hopes are tinged by the tendency to inadvertently grow attached to and be hurt by others, so the grace with which Still accepts these realities adds an almost tragic emotional heft to her convictions. The interplay between Still's vocals and Nick Salisbury's bass adds a sensual tension to Firefly. Salisbury's rippling textures blend intuitively with Still's vocals, the pair's warm, interlocking tones drawing the listener in closely as if to reveal a carefully guarded secret or make a romantic advance. At times the chemistry is such that Salisbury virtually finishes Still's sentences, and on "Too Bad" the outburst of his dissonant, unhinged bass line contrasts perfectly with her outward cool. Firefly's intimacy is eventually suspended on the closing track, "Creep." Recorded live at the Dakota, the song finds Still laying her insecurities bare as she laments her physical and spiritual imperfections and longs to feel worthy of others. The audience's inclusion contrasts the song wonderfully from the rest of the album, not only in making her feelings public but also, thanks to the ovation she receives, offering the hope that Still knows better than to ever fall victim to her fears. CD review: Bass wraps vocals with musicality (Published May 27 2010) By: John Ziegler, Duluth News Tribune I’ve long admired outstanding bassists who can play the pivotal roles of both a solid foundation to whatever is layered over the top and a brilliant and melodic soloist who can match the frontline improvisers. From Victor Wooten to Ron Carter, from Les Claypool to Richard Davis, from John Pettitucci to Charles Mingus, these artists play a role not unlike a catcher in baseball: essential, often unsung, and not as glamorous as the singers and guitarists they back up. The most recent bassist I’ve come across in this category is Nick Salisbury who, with vocalist Ashleigh Still, demonstrates radar-like ears and superb technique on a brand-new disc called “Firefly.” Fresh, innovative and entirely melodic, “Firefly” is just voice and bass. No additional instruments. Nothing to hide behind. Nothing to pad tunes with lengthy solos. No overly complex arrangements. It’s just voice and bass. That takes courage and musicality. Still wrote virtually all the material (there’s a bonus cover of Thom “Radiohead” Yorke’s “Creep” as a hidden track), and it is very creative. Topics center on love (or the lack of it) and people (both real and imagined) and what they’ve meant to her through her life. She delivers her text with a tantalizingly expressive voice and good range. But even a quick listen will give evidence to Salisbury’s quixotic bass figures and liquid lines under vocals that wrap around those words like a braided chain. Salisbury has taken the tunes and single-handedly created little bass symphonies distinct from one another that complement the voice and propel the tunes from beginning to end. On “Hey There,” Still sounds like she’s paying tribute to the late Hank Williams: “Hey there, good looking, whatcha doin’ later? How’s about a little somethin’ somethin’ with me.” Salisbury’s use of double-stops cunningly navigates the changes and his ride echoes the melody inscrutably. The title track begins with bass figures that remind me of Michael Mannring’s fretless sound. Sleek legato lines elliptically create a mood before Still enters with a quietness that accentuates her look through lovesick eyes at a shining little creature that lights up the night. “She’s A Good Time” shows that this duo can rock, even if in an understated style. “Too Bad” is a strutty little gem with some bass distortion giving the tune its atmosphere. “I Remember You Well” is a clip-cloppy tale with reminiscences of someone Still wants to “run away (from) before I fall completely over the edge.” Yorke’s “Creep” is so different than Still’s own writing — with its references to being a “weirdo” and “I don’t belong here” — that it’s at odds with the rest of the disc but helps present a slightly fuller picture of this duo’s possibilities. They met at an open-mic night at a club called Plums in St. Paul. Still was playing guitar as a solo and Salisbury sat in on a tune that was in the works. They’ve been a duo ever since. “Firefly” is deceptively well-crafted. The stripped-down arrangements are its strength. Supple vocals, engaging lyrics and magically dexterous bass lines coalesce into something much greater than the sum of the individual parts. They come to town Friday night; check out the disc and the gig if you can. John Ziegler has worked in the music industry for 36 years as a radio host, interviewer, record producer and professional musician. Minneapolis Music Journalist Jim Walsh has this to say about Ashleigh Still: "I’ve taken to introducing Ashleigh Still as “the Eva Cassidy of Woodbury,” because her soul – even more so than her stunning voice – recalls the late great D.C.-area thrush’s depth of feeling. Which is to say that Ashleigh sings from a deep place informed by her hardscrabble experience as a gospel-trained, church-raised single mother of two whose fashion photos could grace the cover of either “Bust” or “Glamour.” (When asked how she knows so much about men, she recently said, “I don’t! It’s all imagination…”) But beyond her outer beauty and the wisdom that comes from the day-to-day struggle of making a living for her and her kids, there is an inner flame that burns brightly and has something to say; something about what it’s like to be a woman trying to dig out from the conformity of society, religion, and family. In that sense, Ashleigh also reminds me of Anne Sexton and Billie Holiday. Like those two express-myself-or-die classic talents, she manages to stop time when she opens her mouth/heart, and we’re all the richer for it." --Jim Walsh "....like the marriage of Ani di Franco and Carole King." --A Stranger (who should've been kissed on the mouth)