PORTLAND MAINE MC PUSHES MUSICAL BOUNDARIES ON HER SECOND FULL LENGTH ALBUM, STEEL YOURSELF, DUE FOR RELASE NOVEMBER 20TH

From the first seconds of listening to her album, you can tell that this is not your average hip hop CD. Sonya Tomlinson, aka Sontiago, lives in Portland Maine, is down with the Anticon family, is Married to JD Walker, is touring with an indie rock singer, but swears her music is more straightforward than you think. Steel Yourself, her second full length album, is a fusion of styles combining graphic lyricism with folky indie rock and sampled beats.

Sontiago has been involved in music for almost her whole life. As a child in suburban Pennsylvania she sung in church choruses and played piano. She began her writing career in high school and started her first hip hop group while she was in college in North Carolina. Her first professional recording as solo artist, Abuse My Adoration, was done after she relocated to Portland Maine.

By that time Sontiago’s hip hop taste was going through a major transformation. To that point in her life she describes herself as listening to the upfront hip hop of Doug-E-Fresh, Tribe Called Quest, Outkast and Jay-Z. Her first re-action to the Maine hip hop scene came after she was given a mixtape at an Anticon showcase; “This is fucking weird.”

The avant-garde style of Maine and New England hip hop has undoubtedly had it’s effect on Sontiago’s music but it is not the only contributing factor to her sound. In addition to her former hip hop groups, Sontiago has been a member of a pop-rock group, a 10-piece Funk Band, and spins a regular Dub night.

Since recording her last album, Sontiago has been working with former Cerberus Shoal member Dilly Dilly, who appears on four tracks on Steel Yourself. The two are scheduled to tour together this coming fall to promote the release.

Steel Yourself deals with weighty subject matter. Domestic abuse, personal anxiety, Hurricane Katrina and the death of a Portland woman in the relief effort are part of a wide variety of topics covered in the album. “I have to be connected to the subject of the song,” says Sontiago, “I’m a genuine person, I remain who I am on stage and off stage, I try to be a good person to people and I try to use my music as a message.”

Steel Yourself will be available in stores Nov 20th, and Sonya will be touring the North-East, Midwest and Canada through the month of October.