Dear friends, I present to you the closing chapter for the Tangled era; My Own Shoes, a collection of the singles I've released since 2021, when I first began making music for myself and by myself as Tangled.  An end in a way - but also a beginning (see the end of this post to find out why!). 

You can find My Own Shoes on streaming services … here is a link to Spotify but it's on all the usual suspects as well as Bandcamp.  

I didn't set out to write and record an album.  This is the product of an organic process of writing songs, recording them and then - for want of anything better to do with them - publishing them.  If I had thought about it I would never have imaged that I'd do it without anyone's assistance.  But that is what I did.  I wrote, performed, mixed, mastered and released 11 songs* - enough content for an album.  Every little piece of what had to be done to turn an idea into a finished product and get these songs out into the world was done by me, alone.  I taught myself as I went.  I did the album art, I made the videos.  I learned how to programme drums and write bass lines.  I did it all with my hands (and no AI :)).  I'm pretty proud of that.   

Why have I done this?

It's a little bit of a line-drawing exercise and marks a change of musical direction and approach for me, to go along with my change of performer name.  Wrapping up what was done as Tangled into a package - to make way for what comes next.  Two things really.   I have after a long time learned how to trust again in collaboration (thanks in no small part to those listed below) after a previously not so great experience.  Plus I want to stretch my wings.  Doing everything alone, while very satisfying, is inherently limiting.  I cannot, alone, produce the guitar solo I hear in my head - or that tom groove I KNOW has to go with song so that it can be the best version of itself.  So alone, I make the version that I can make - which sometimes isn't what I actually wanted.  

So - the next thing I am going to do is make an album that is exactly what I want, not just what I can.  Or at least, an EP.  I will be working with the supremely talented Mr Nathan Gaunt to do that.

Although I've said I did it alone, I didn't do it without support.  Some of you may not have even realised how much your support meant.  So, even though I've not won an Oscar, here is my list of thank you's.

Duncan.  For believing in me and telling me you did.  Before you said anything to me, I honestly didn't think anyone else would be the least bit interested in what I was making.  To have someone I respect as a person, a player and a connoisseur of music in general say that they liked my tunes and provide the encouragement you did, meant so much.  I think my foray into original music would probably have ended without you.  Thanks matey, I owe you big time.

Ivan.  Having you travel from a place of not being keen on original music - and definitely not mine!  to saying to me that you genuinely appreciated and liked what I'd made - that made a difference.  Now you know words matter … and I know that the parts between and around the words are just as important to a song.  Win, win for both of us in our musical growth.  Thank you.

Bod.  Always honest and kind, my musical litmus tester.  Thank you for being there, my friend.  You are such a talented person.  One day we will get on a stage together again, I promise.

Patrick G.  Having someone I met through music and an accomplished musician in your own right - appreciate my stuff (i.e not just because you were a friend or family member and had to be kind!) was a new thing for me.  You have always been so kind and supportive - and full of really insightful suggestions about mixes and arrangements when I was very green and learning the ropes.  Thanks buddy.  So glad our paths crossed all that long time ago. 

The crew. I have been beyond lucky to be surrounded by a bunch of people who are just always there for me - and it, whatever I do, all the time.  You lot are a gift.  To my posse (Edgar and Denise), my Ceduna family (all of you lot, you know who you are), to Shon and my Aquino family - thank you.

I hope you enjoy these little stories I made and let loose into the world.  And please stay tuned for what's next, I'll keep you posted.  I'm really excited to see what comes of it.

___

*Apart from Beautiful Sweet, of course which is a collaboration with the awesome and talented Meg Travers.

My Dad loved Leonard Cohen.  

He played his music often and so I, in turn, grew to love Leonard Cohen. But it was my Uncle Peter who introduced me to Jennifer Warnes' album Famous Blue Raincoat, which is her interpretations of Cohen's music.  I would have been about 15 I think.  I fell in love with it.  I must have listened to it a million times. 

The album will be 40 years old in November.  How wild is that?  

Anyway, tonight I got home and put the album on - and then randomly felt like singing.  For no reason at all I sat down and bashed out a couple of covers.  

One take wonders, so forgive any blues and blips but here they are!

Fun fact, like an idiot it was only recently I joined the dots between the Jennifer Warnes who sang “I had the time of my life” and the Jennifer Warnes who sang this album.  No idea why I didn't clock they were the same beautiful voice.  Now have a whole new appreciation for that song.  

And why, I hear you ask,  am I waving a pencil around?  NFI - I wasn't even aware I'd picked it up.  

Chat later kiddies!

In this post, I bid a fond farewell to Tangled. 

I'm not a fan of literality.  I far prefer it when people have to work a little to derive meaning.  I enjoy the variety of interpretation that creates.  I stand by this - despite the fact that my friend Ivan says he can never tell what my songs are about as a result :)

So when it comes to choosing an ‘operating name’ as an artist, it seems dull and obvious to choose to use my ‘actual’ name.  But friends, that is exactly what I have chosen to do.

If you're interested, this blog post talks about why I chose Tangled as an artist name for my original work. At some point if I get sufficiently philosophical I'll maybe talk about why I've now decided to use my actual name in another post. 

But the main thing to know now, I guess, is that it's happening - now.  And a few things are changing as a result.  

I have a new artist profile on Spotify and Apple Music.  All the music I've released thus far is now available under my name and Tangled is no more.  Other things changing as well - Facebook is changing.  Instagram is changing, Soundcloud is changing.  I have a shiny new bandcamp profile and a YouTube channel which (YouTube gods being willing .. ) will hopefully soon become a YouTube music channel.  This website also has a new domain. 

All this means - of course - is that if you had been kind enough to follow me on Spotify or add me to a playlist I would really love it if you'd follow me again as Tanya Aquino, put me back on the playlist, have a listen and so forth.  I'll stick a little list at the bottom of this.

And that is enough for this post I think.  But.  There are more things to come, quite a lot.  I have made this change for a reason after all!  Stay tuned, friends.

Thanks for being here and reading this - I appreciate you!

PS:  Here is a list of links to all the new things!  

Spotify | Soundcloud | Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube | Website | Facebook | Email |

For <reasons> when I first started making music for and by myself, I decided I needed an artist name to operate under.  So I picked the name “Tangled” as a play on my nickname*.  

But now - it's time for Tangled to be laid to rest.

Why?  Because Disney. Well, mostly but not entirely. 

You can imagine.  If I appear at all in a search on social media - or even Google - it's at the very very very bottom of a really long to the point of unscrollable list of Disney and Disney-adjacent content.  Not to mention the covers of “Let it Go” that kept landing in my artist profile and I had to keep requesting be removed! 

So anyway.  I had a lot of chats about this with people.  Had some quite good suggestions for a new artist name (Untangled was one - which I quite liked - from my friend Lily).  But in the end, I am going to just use my own, actual name - Tanya Aquino.  Why?  And why now?  Well, that might be the subject of a blog post another day :) 

OK it's late where I am, and I have a day job to go to so I must away to bed.  Have a lovely day or night whatever time it is you're reading this.  Go forth and be happy.  As my friend (and awesome drummer) Andrew said to me today (and it made my day) - I appreciate you. 
___

* My nickname, if you're interested, is Tang and it was given to me by my dear friend Jason, who passed away suddenly, quite recently.  I miss him. And I won't go into how I got it, because it's not family friendly ;)