book actress

he most impressive thing on Class Actress’ debut full-length album Rapprocher is the voice of Elizabeth Harper. Her rich, powerful, not to mention thoroughly enchanting vocals give the retro-synth pop sound a strength and impact that eludes most bands who chart a similar musical course. Of course, without songs and a decent overall sound, an amazing voice is just an amazing voice. Luckily, the songs and sound are up to the challenge and Rapprocher turns out the match of nearly any synth pop album of the last few decades.

Harper and her bandmate Mark Richardson create a sound that nods to the past but is totally modern at the same time. The synths are clunky like like they were in ’80s, but are also atmospheric and fuzzy like the chilled bedroom practitioners of the 2010s. Richardson conjures plenty of emotion from the simple melody lines and washes of sound, and the beats he comes up with are never less than perfect. Those aforementioned melodies are hooky and memorable, filled with melancholy grace and radio-friendly, singalong choruses. Quite a few of the tracks here (“Weekend,” “Hanging On,” “Need to Know”) would sound right on a comp of forgotten gems of the ’80s, a few would count as greatest hits of the era. The highlights here are the stunning “Love Me Like You Used To,” a close relation to Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps,” with Harper sounding nearly as destroyed and raw as Karen O (which is really saying something); “Limousine,” which has a decadent Glass Candy feel, but with even more rain spattering on the windshield, and the heartbreakingly insistent “Keep You.” Above it all is Harper’s voice. The amount of emotion and pain she can put into a single line of lyrics is enough to twist even the coldest new waver into a lump of tears, and the occasional glimpses of happiness that creep in will keep you glowing for hours. She is a singer to treasure, and even a lousy album that featured her would be worth hearing. All the better that Rapprocher is such a perfect blend of vocals, music, and songcraft. You’d have to go a long way to hear a better synth pop album, no matter what decade you examine.

The release of an Iranian actress sentenced to 90 lashes and a year in prison after appearing in a banned film highlights the need to release other detained filmmakers in Iran, Amnesty International said today.




Marzieh Vafamehr, who was arrested after starring in the Australian film My Tehran for Sale was released Monday night. One scene in the film shows her without the head-covering Iranian women are required to wear, while she appears to drink alcohol in another.

The actress seems to have been released after an appeal court reduced her imprisonment to three months and overturned the flogging sentence.

“In recent months an increasing number of filmmakers and actors have been targeted for persecution in Iran. While the release of Marzieh Vafamehr is a welcome development, it is deeply worrying that three filmmakers are still being held in Tehran’s Evin Prison," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa

“Their continued detention illustrates the Iranian authorities’ desperate efforts to stifle any form of dissent. These people have done nothing except sell their documentaries to a foreign broadcaster or make a film about a banned director.. They should be released immediately and unconditionally,” she added.

Three documentary directors - Hadi Afarideh, Naser Saffarian, Mohsen Shahrnazdar ; and producer and distributor, Katayoun Shahabi were arrested on 17 September 2011. All four are believed to have sold their films to a variety of broadcasters, including the BBC’s Persian service.

The Iranian authorities say filmmakers cannot cooperate with foreign satellite channels without permission.

Cooperating with the BBC or the Voice of America is particularly controversial. Police chief Esma’il Ahmadi-Moghaddam recently said it was tantamount to working with enemy security services and will be treated “seriously”.

Three of the group - Hadi Afarideh, Naser Saffarian and Mohsen Shahrnazdar- have since been released on bail, but Katayoun Shahabi is thought to remain in custody.

Another film director, Mehran Zinatbakhsh, is also believed to have been arrested in September and is being held in Evin Prison. The exact charges against him are not known.

Documentary director Mojtaba Mir Tahmasb also remains in prison after being arrested on 17 September 2011. He was jailed after making the documentary This is Not a Film, about the life of banned film director Ja’far Panahi.

Panahi was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in December 2010 after being convicted of “acting against state security”” and “propaganda against the system”. He was also banned from travelling abroad and talking to domestic or international media,

Another internationally celebrated director, Mohammad Rasoulof was given a six year jail term at the same time as Panahi after being convicted on similar charges. He later had his sentence reduced to one year on appeal. A travel ban against him was lifted in May this year.

Both Panahi and Rasoulof remain free awaiting the implementation of their sentences.

Amnesty International considers all these filmmakers to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression in their work.

The right to freedom of expression includes the “freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media”.