“Singer-songwriter Brenda Xu’s “Flying” is a gorgeously serene, impressively multi-layered, inspiring performance in which one remembers never to give up hope.”
Pop Matters – “Flying” music video premiere (January 2018)
“Overflow is much more than a musical charm, it would rather encroach on the intimate areas of confidence, the subjects tackled there are serious and personal, so comparable to our preoccupations that we surprise ourselves to feel less alone.” (translation)
Stay Curious Over – Overflow album review (October 2017 – France)
“Without ever falling into the trap of drama or tragedy, the composer writes her odes as others would note poems in a diary, with the ambition to change things through the purity of words and harmonies … “Overflow” is a conversation with Brenda Xu, between light and shadow, between look at oneself and admiration of the other.” (translation)
Indiemusic – Overflow album review (September 2017 – France)
Anchorage KNBA 90.3 – live in-studio (August 2017)
Fairbanks Daily Newsminer – feature about Overflow tour & Alaska tour (July 2017)
Ondarock (Italian webzine) – Overflow album review (April 2017 – Italy)
Ondarock (Italian webzine) – Interview with Brenda (Italy)
KEXP “Music That Matters” podcast – featuring the second single from Overflow, “Officer” (April 2017)
“… Brenda Xu’s “Overflow” shows an artist really finding her niche and running with it. If the words fragile, emotional, organic and folk spark your musical interest – you’ll love what she has in store for you.”
Higher Plain Music – Overflow album review (April 2017 – UK)
“This is the sound of one human grappling with the mess of the moment. You’ll find it hard not to relate.”
KEXP’s Song of the Day (March 2017)
KEXP “Music That Matters” podcast – featuring the first single from Overflow, “Lovely Storm” (March 2017)
“An ethereal, roughly twenty eight minutes, seven track album, that holds the listener in rapt attention from opening to close …”
Emerging Indie Bands – album review & track feature (March 2017)
Triste Sunset – Overflow album review (March 2017 – Italy)
Northwest Asian Daily – Interview about the making of Overflow and musical background & journey (March 2017)
“…every song I have heard by her is a mini masterpiece.”
Bearly Ramblings – Overflow album review & feature (March 2017)
“Brenda Xu builds up “Overflow” in a gorgeous way, letting the restrained chamber pop come into a beautiful burst of color. “
Beach Sloth – Overflow album review (March 2017)
Music Won’t Save You – Overflow album review (March 2017 – Italy)
Exquista Ignorancia – podcast featuring the track “Flying” from Overflow (February 2017 – Mexico)
“There’s compelling tension in Brenda Xu’s “Lovely Storm,” and it rises from the dark space between the song’s gentle beauty and its ominousness. Taken from Xu’s upcoming album Overflow, the whole package conveys a heavy mood—and City Arts is proud to premiere it today.”
City Arts Magazine – premiere of “Lovely Storm” music video (February 2017)
Single of the Week “Lovely Storm”
L’Attimo Fuggente – podcast (February 2017 – Italy)
“Brenda Xu presents her new album, Overflow, at this show. She’s folky, impeccable, bringing in strings à la Nick Drake, a rich and sinister ambience throughout.”
The Stranger (30 Best Concerts in Seattle February 2017)
Interview about the Kickstarter campaign for the new album, Overflow, politics and social issues.
The International Examiner (Seattle, WA) December 2016
“Brenda Xu’s album “For the Winter” is like listening to snow falling down on a music scale and tracing the patterns within. It’s a gentle and beautiful affair and one that really stuck with me long after.”
Higher Plain Music (UK)
“The restrained refined beauty of Brenda Xu’s “For The Winter” is wonderful. Her ability to balance many different approaches from folk to ambient to classical makes it a piece of art to be admired.”
Album Review by BeachSloth December 2014
Interview with Unsigned & Unleashed about the making of “For The Winter.”
Live videos with band filmed in Los Angeles, CA during our “For The Winter” 2014 tour by Thomas Lee of The Frontloader
“I must say that most folk music serves as a soundtrack to my journey to Sleepy-Time Land; however this album proved that folk can get as dynamic and interesting as the artist wants to push it. ”
Titan Internet Radio, Cal State Fullerton
“…beautiful music that can calm the most savage beast.”
The Frontloader
“Xu’s abilities as a vocalist on this album appear to be wide-ranging, if not boundless.”
Justin Roberts, San Diego City Beat – Album Review of “For The Winter”
“Many fledgling artists are often forced to conceal an unrefined vision and lack of experience behind youthful exuberance…still, every once in a while someone emerges with an album that manages to tap into an unexpected groove and bring a surprising glimpse of fruition to the latent present. Witness Brenda Xu, who has managed to achieve this with ‘It’s True’…despite being sonically sparse, this less-is-more EP is ominously intense.”
Simeon Flick, San Diego Troubadour
June 2011 article/interview in San Diego Acoustic
“Xu’s rich songwriting skills are evident in every track on A Little Illusion. With a country lilt that sneaks in when you least expect it, Xu opens with a driving beat underneath a velvety-smooth, Suzanne Vega-esque voice and transitions into a captivating combination of acoustic guitar with an ethereal production that sounds almost as if it were being played in reverse. Leaving behind her delicate nature from previous songs, she tears a hole in the album with the standout track, “Count to Ten,” in which she growls under a slapping percussion with a voice seemingly influenced by PJ Harvey. Xu’s abilities as a vocalist on this album appear to be wide-ranging, if not boundless. And joined by the talented musicians with whom she’s surrounded herself, Xu has found a combination that will undoubtedly lead her to success…”
Justin Roberts – March 2010 album review of A Little Illusion in San Diego Citybeat
September 2009 interview in San Diego Reader
November 2007 article/interview in San Diego Reader