Rebecca Sanborn’s Shadow Work

Echo Fund Alum Rebecca Sanborn Releases Ambitious "Shadow Work"

Former Echo Fund grantee Rebecca Sanborn just released Shadow Work, an eight-song, 50-minute song cycle five years in the making. The project began as late-night piano writing sessions after putting her young daughter to bed and grew into a massive undertaking involving 29 musicians and artists, funded along the way by three local arts grants: RACC, the Holler Fund, and MusicOregon's own Echo Fund.

Produced by Todd Sickafoose (Hadestown, Ani DiFranco) and recorded across several Oregon studios, the album came full circle on the track "Nadia's Lullaby," featuring guest vocals from Sanborn's daughter. It's her first solo release in 20 years, out now on PJCE Records. The album release coincided with opening night of the Montavilla Jazz Festival, where Sanborn performed with an 18-piece ensemble.

Sanborn's musical resume runs deep in Portland: she's played piano in jazz band Blue Cranes since 2004, co-founded indie-rock band Swansea, plays in Loch Lomond, and rounds out the all-female synth trio Echo Echo Echo alongside The Decemberists' Jenny Conlee. It's a story that shows exactly what an Echo Fund grant can help make possible.