Gina's latest album, Of Rapture, is the result of four years of intensive writing, studio work and simple blood, sweat and tears. As her core of fans waited eagerly for a follow-up to her critically acclaimed 1997 debut, Sacred Ground, French and her newly-assembled backing band refused to take the quick route, stretching the recording process out for as long as the songs demanded.

"It's true, I am a perfectionist," Gina says. "I tend to analyze things to death, and I have a hard time settling. There were financial reasons for the extended length as well, since I paid for this myself, but I was also not easily satisfied."

Of Rapture, lyrically and musically, is subtle shades darker and heavier than its predecessor. Electric instrumentation and full drums add a definitive live edge to songs like "Hard Way," "Break the Silence" and "Something About the Night," but Gina has no trouble raising goosebumps with just her voice and guitar on the haunting, bluesy "Only For You."

"With a band in the studio, it's more complicated laying down everybody's parts; playing and recording solo are much simpler," she says. "But, the benefit of a band is the fuller sound and the camaraderie. As a soloist, it gets kind of lonely and you can only answer to yourself."

Lighter moments like the lilting "Spring's Angel" and the Latin-pop-tinged "Spanish Lace" balance out the sensuous, atmospheric longing of "Unleash," and the album's impassioned title track is a epic crossover of rock abandon and Middle-Eastern melodies impossible not to absorb and remain unmoved by.

"The theme of "Of Rapture" has to do with living a life of color as opposed to living one in black-and-white," Gina explains. "It's about total surrender through love or an ignited passion. As the rest of the songs for the album started to unfold, I discovered that most contained a similar theme of passion or were about what drives one's soul. Most of the time, people live in quiet desperation, never taking a chance with their intuitive sense of what fulfills them. It's safer, but in the end it's absolute misery."

Gina also pulled inspiration for the title track from the 1996 Anthony Minghella film, The English Patient. "I was so moved by the stunning visuals and the powerful poetic vision of that movie. It's silky sandscapes, primitive Turkish vocals, and poignant themes about love, loss and hope, helped to plant a seed for my song, vocally and stylistically."

The new sonic and thematic depths may surprise fans of Gina's previous, folkier direction, but they shouldn't be put off by it. "Sacred Ground was a much more intimate album; stark and mainly a solo effort," she says. "I'm not really sure if any songs in this new collection would be considered 'folk.' I was very lucky to have an incredible band backing me up; the added accompaniment helped to dress my songs up in vibrant colors and broad textures. Of Rapture is definitely a rock and soul album. By soul, I mean there was a no-holds-barred attempt with each song. I didn't hold back."

Even with Of Rapture finally complete and the rigors of promotion and performances (solo and with band) ahead, French isn't ready to rest creatively.

"I'm not sure where I'm musically headed in the future; I'll probably go down a different path and experiment again," Gina admits. "It's the only way for me to grow as an artist." "Imagine Shirley Manson had a little sister with the same sneer and the same wild spirit, but with an exotic sense of romance and sensual abandonment normally found in gothic novels." - Indiemusic.com "Gina French has more soul than Al Green french-kissing Tina Turner." - Slug Magazine "Let me make one thing perfectly clear: French has the pipes and the passion to kick butt on any pop diva soulfully warbling out there today. She has great power, range and understanding of dynamics." - Muses Muse

Gina French, P.O Box 9125, SLC, Utah, 84109 www.ginafrench.net  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   'Of Rapture' can be purchased online at www.Cdbaby.com
 

A year later, her new song "Midnight Tracks" was chosen to be showcased on Summerhays Music's compilation CD Local Soundzz: Music For The Millennium, distributed throughout the state. In July of 2000, Gina was invited to appear as the local Utah opening act for The Girls Room Tour, a Capitol Records tour featuring label artists Tara MacLean, Shannon McNally, Kendall Payne and Amy Correia. One month later, she was nominated as Best Female Singer in Salt Lake City Weekly's annual music poll. In October of 2000, Gina appeared as a performer for the national Indiegrrl tour, an Internet-based network for women musicians. The song - 'Hard Way' was voted Best Female Vocals in Pop/Rock, week of 26 Apr. 2004, www.garageband.com  - Reviewer's Picks Awards. In June of 2004, French and band appeared at the Utah Arts Festival, coinciding with Of Raptures release. August of 2004, 'Of Rapture' was included in Salt Lake City Weeklys annual SLAMMy Top 50 Local CDs. In October 2004, French was a Featured Artist on Indie-Music.com. In Garageband.com's Reviewer's Picks Awards, the song 'Of Rapture' was voted Best Female Vocals #25 - All time in Jan. and Feb.of 2005. Gina was also chosen to be the Artist of the Week on the Independent music website - Music 75, for the week of March 21st, 2005.

www.music75.com. Most recently, her song, "Of Rapture", hit #1 in the KIAC Big 50's chart in October - 2005 and where some of her songs are featured on the many IAC stations, http://independentartistscompany.com/artist.aspx?id=17170 . Also, in August of 2005, Garageband reviewers chose the song, "Midnight Tracks" as "Track of the Day", and voted it Best Female Vocals for 3 straight weeks in the Blues genre - http://www.garageband.com/song ?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSkZ1SzYGw. Gina's song, "Of Rapture" was awarded a Golden Kayak award in April 2006 for the World genre.

http://independentartistscompany.com/artist.aspx?id=17170  Currently, Gina's song, "Child of War" has consistently held a spot in the top 200, on Neil Young's, "Song for the Times" section of his Living With War website.