The Gingersnap Band

Caribbean Manhattan, our second album, made it's debut in the world today! It's pretty weird... you run around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to do everything, and do everything as close to right as possible, making deadlines, pushing back those deadlines, doing damage control, sending edits back and forth with mastering and cover art and press release stuff and everything else, and trying not to forget to post on social media, and then.... it's out. It's out, with all it's imperfections, with all the good and the bad, it's out. It's been made. It's been done. That feels like an accomplishment. There is something very soothing about the feeling of having made something.  Making music is pretty personal and releasing it for all to hear is exciting but scary. These tunes are a tribute to a special part of our lives that continues intermittently even now: Ships. Ships are how we met. Ships are the reason we have the music we do, why we started and what gave us the foundation to make what we make and do what we do. To be able to encapsulate that, an audio scrapbook as we are referring to it, is really the best feeling in the world to us. It is US. It shows us where we were and what we had to say. It is the opposite of hiding. It is reaching out, sharing. It is our greatest hope that some of the amazing people that have been there with us on the ships late at night, or in the crowd at some of our shows in NYC and elsewhere, or just hearing us for the first time now from the album will be somehow stimulated by these interpretations of tunes that mean something very dear to us. Thank you, thank you for listening, supporting, being there, and loving music! We appreciate you so very much. 

Press release for those of you interested in perusing: 

On an Ocean of Joy: Arjana and Ivan Spring Forth Sunny Bliss With Caribbean Manhattan

Arjana Andris and her fiancé Ivan Danylets have managed cliché-defying odds: Sailing out of the back lounge of a cruise ship, they have pulled the tourists out of the dinner line and into the hold of an intimate martini bar, harnessing en-vogue nostalgia with an organic finesse. The resulting sound: an acoustic, joyful, centering, 100% real analog tonic for the over- digital -saturated soul. 

Combining the ear pleasing familiarity of well-known melodies while inspiring  a “come again?” head tilt in the playful and curious, the duo “Arjana and Ivan” has found the “earworm melodies you’ll recognize, although it may take a verse or two, with tempo and syllabic shifts you’ll fall in love with much quicker.” as observed by blogger Jeff Bogle, OWTK who continues, “Ivan’s keys and Arjana’s voice (and electric violin, at times) dances passionately around the lounge, while offering music loving ears a fresh challenge but never at the expense of a relaxed, fun attitude.” 

Sincerity and simplicity drive the pace of this album through 12 classic pop tune selections, a tender reimagination with just enough grit. “Can’t Hurry Love”, a surprising juxtaposition in tempo and lyric gives way to a reimagined “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” showcasing a playful, yet astute, understated jab at human fickleness and fair-weather friends.  Andris possesses a rare humor and an almost blasé edge, revealing bits of theatrical flair underscoring her Broadway- baby roots in an intriguing mix of depth and darkness with just enough light to leave the listener with a sense of joyful hope. It’s a sincere cheerfulness that lives not in spite of the deeper parts, but alongside them. 

Arjana Andris, vocal, from New York City by way of Newton, MA, has meandered through a sampler platter of vocal styles and landed, squarely, in the realm of Jazz. After gracing the stage as an actor in musicals, fronting a rock band, and lending some surprising violin licks to Peruvian folk music, her personal voice has only just started to speak for itself showing its deftness, a quick turn of phrase, melodic line, and strong sense of musicality. 

Ukrainian pianist Ivan Danylets brings as much Manhattan to “Caribbean Manhattan '' as longtime New Yorker Andris. A mischievous musical jokester buoyed by a strong foundation of cover bands, orchestra pits and jazz academia, Danylets forges ahead claiming his own space to wander and discover, free to express himself wholly here.  He adds punch and panache to Andris’ lyrical power, a clear and present half to a dynamic team. 

There’s a surprising depth to this candy colored cocktail glass of an album recorded entirely live on board a cruise ship in the Caribbean Sea.  It is a personal audio scrapbook of a guy and a girl from opposite sides of the planet, who fell in love through musical collaboration and decided to create their own duo, make something new, and see how far that inspiration could go. Perhaps that’s why “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi resonates when Andris sings “It doesn’t even matter if we make it or not… we’ve got each other and that's a lot.” The song is, in essence, a love song tribute by these two themselves, two musicians in pursuit of (and actually living) the dream: creating and exploring with the love of your life. The result is a triumphant and exuberant claim of musicianship and self in a bold and timely coming out. 

Dispatch Details 

RELEASE FORMAT:Album 
RELEASE TYPE:Digital & Physical 
COUNTRY:USA 
DISTRIBUTOR:CD Baby 
RECORD LABEL:Kabaka Productions 
RELEASE TITLE:Caribbean Manhattan