Musical Language:The Songwriting Circle with Emm Gryner,Matthew Barber, Louise Burns and Ann Vriend

And You!

Read more ›

Ann Vriend

Ann Vriend: Where Dolly Parton and Aretha Franklin Meet “Ann Vriend's [newest] album-- her first as a producer-- defies narrow genres. Each of the 12 tracks manages the rare feat of sounding at once comfortably familiar and intriguingly original.... veer[ing] effortlessly between straight-ahead, quiet country, to soul-wrenching blues, to folk-inspired storytelling.... Don't miss her.” --3.5 of 4 Stars, Toronto Star “...a collection of polished, adult songs.... you wonder how no one thought to put notes together in that melody” --3 of 4 Stars, Winnipeg Free Press Ann Vriend (pronounced Vreend) was born in Vancouver, BC.  When her parents discovered their 3-year-old could play nursery songs on a Fisher Price xylophone, they encouraged her musical development by enrolling her in violin lessons.  At age nine, when Vriend sought to accompany herself as a songwriter, she took piano lessons from an elderly woman down the street who charged $5 per visit.  In high school, in order to be able to do submit her home-made recordings for a school project, Vriend was coerced into performing 3 of her compositions at the school talent show.  Accolades from her fellow students evolved into projects with older students in bands, interest from record labels, praise from critics, and loyal fans around the world. Vriend has headlined at festivals as far away from her hometown of Edmonton as Berlin and Australia and sold over 13,000 albums off the stage, independently.  “Easily one of Canada’s greatest unannounced singers.... Her strengths as a pianist and lyricist means Vriend is the complete package” (A n E Vibe Magazine).  First, the voice: “Soulful, inspiring, brave and bluesy” (Rip It Up, Adelaide) with a “vocal range from vulnerable delicacy to blasts of soulful power” (Halifax Chronicle) Vriend's vocal sound has been described as an enchanting cross between Dolly Parton and a young Aretha Franklin and as “almost confronting” by The Sydney Morning Herald.  Besides this, Vriend's songs possess a natural knack for melody, garnering her hits on both independent and commercial radio stations -- including Gold rotation for her tune “Feelin' Fine” -- and have charted on college stations as far away as Germany and the Netherlands.  Vriend has been commissioned to write songs for organizations such as the Canadian Tourism Corporation and the Commonwealth Games, and her music has been featured in a U.S. DVD release of “Party of Five.” As a balance between her intensely performed songs, “Vriend is fantastic in concert – a very, very, funny woman that tends to belt out her songs in between her most entertaining comedic intervals” (4 of 5 Stars, A n E Vibe Magazine).  Her rapport with her audience can be heard on her live album, “Closer Encounters,” released in 2009.Vriend's latest release, entitled “Love & Other Messes,” “has critics drooling over her stylistic and lyrical qualities.  Impossible to categorize, Vriend’s unique style brings together elements of soul, pop, country, jazz, blues and gospel and so, as many critics agree, it sounds both familiar and strange at the same time” (The Weekend Telegram).  Recorded in May 2010 with a stellar 7-piece band, including two-time 2010 East Coast Music Nominee Coco Love Alcorn and 2009 Emerging Artist of the Year Chloe Albert on background vocals, the album has a live and vibrant organic feel while maintaining a polished performance quality, described as “a retro look at old pop records of the ‘60s, with Vriend playing the country diva, the Amy Winehouse of the prairies. Sometimes she’s channeling Dolly Parton or Blossom Dearie doing early Loretta Lynn and Aretha Franklin” (Ottawa Sun). With a stack of rave reviews now under her belt, and an increasing confidence as a writer and performer, Vriend is making fans in each town she plays.  “Wherever Vriend takes her music next it will be in the right direction,” states The Daily Telegram.  And Drum Media gently urges: “If she makes another visit soon, you'd do well to go along.”  Stated more forcefully by Toronto Star: “Don't miss her.”  

Read more ›

Emm Gryner

Emm Gryner – Northern Gospel (2011)   In my heart you’re north of the border Shining down like the aurora I still dream of you like a restless explorer – “North”   When you get a little older, a little wiser, you begin to truly understand the concept of home. Loves lost and found, lessons learned and hard-won, the past and the present: all form a path towards that place to call one’s own.   Many a great songwriter has been inspired by the Canadian landscape, attempting to capture its majesty through poetry and melody.   With Northern Gospel (her 13th full-length album to date), Emm Gryner places herself firmly in that grand tradition, all while continuing to hone the characteristically poignant sound that resonates deeply with anyone who hears it.   Since her earliest beginnings as a fledgling artist in the 1990s, Gryner has forged both her own path and her own sound – one album, one effortlessly tuneful song at a time.   Refusing to become a casualty of the major-label system, she turned the tables and founded her own label, Dead Daisy Records, to record and release her albums on her own terms – leading the indie revolution long before doing it yourself became the new music-industry paradigm.   15 years into a uniquely diverse career, the Ontario-based singer-songwriter has chalked up an enviable list of accomplishments: vast discography aside, Gryner has performed as a backing vocalist with rock icon David Bowie; been hailed by U2 frontman Bono for her indelible ballad “Almighty Love”; appeared opposite Joshua Jackson in indie film One Week; and on top of it all, last year she took on perhaps the most important role of all: first-time mom.   Clearly the road to Northern Gospel was paved with many grand adventures, including much time abroad – after her passport filled up with stamps and the road finally came to an end, she came to fully appreciate that old truism: There’s no place like home.   “I travelled nonstop in 2009, so when my son popped out and my passport expired for a while, I felt more than happy just to be at home here in Canada,” Gryner recalls. “If I never saw another airport again, I'd be happy!”   And thus the inspiration for the album began to take shape. Produced by longtime Gryner cohort Stuart Brawley and engineered by Joe Corcoran, Northern Gospel brings together some old favourites and some new gems, all stitched together with a common thematic thread: it’s never a Gryner album without a little heartache, but with a whole lot of hope thrown in for good measure.   Recorded in Algoma, Ontario over the spring and summer of 2011, the songs on Northern Gospel were largely written in recent months at home as Gryner tended to her son, a brand-new source of inspiration in her life as a songwriter and artist.   “My heart has been resuscitated as a result of becoming a mom,” Gryner explains. “I want to be honest, and even if that’s scary, I know it’s worth it. So I face some of my demons on this album – whether they are old or new, I look them in the eye and ask them to teach me what they know, ask them to preach their gospel to me. And then I make nice melodies out of it all.”   Longtime Gryner fans will immediately recognize two previously released tunes that make a welcome return on Northern Gospel: “Fast Exit” first appeared on The Great Lakes, a limited-edition release from 2005, and “A Little War” goes back to early b-sides collection Dead Relatives. Gryner, who often produces her own work, jumped at the chance to once again collaborate with Brawley, who helped give the songs new life with fuller treatments and dynamic production.   The ten-song collection centres around one of Gryner’s classic ballads – “North” is indeed a love song, but not simply in the typical sense: set against the backdrop of the splendour of the Northern Lights, this paean to Canada serves as a love letter to the place Gryner calls home, taking inspiration from the musical greats who also saluted our nation through song.   “Songs about Canada make me really emotional,” Gryner notes. “We live in a phenomenal place in a crazy world – there is a naive, jubilant spirit here, and I treasure that. ‘North’ refers to where I live, and that settling back in Canada these past few years has been a real personal education for me. I've grown up, so to speak. A little late, but better than never!   “‘North’ is the most personal song on the album in some regards,” she continues. “It's about giving up petty fights, and bad romantic habits – hanging up the lovelorn boxing gloves.”   Perhaps it’s unsurprising that ‘North’ evokes the feeling of looking up at an immense expanse of sky, as the other nine songs on the album shine like a constellation of stars, throwing light on the vagaries of the human condition: Gryner’s silvery voice weaves through tales of life and death, love and regret, the past and the future.   “The gospel is a lesson – or at least it was meant to be that when I was falling asleep during mass as a youngster,” Gryner quips. “So instead of a reference to anything to do with an organized religion, the title has more to do with what I've learned from where I am – geographically, emotionally, or otherwise.”   Gryner has carved out a career from putting such life lessons into song – given her knack for giving voice to both the joys and sorrows that make up a life well lived, it’s hard not to want to sing along. Call it her own particular brand of gospel.  

Read more ›

Louise Burns

Louise Burns Mellow Drama   He definitely wasn’t thinking about Buddy Holly when the composer Chopin wrote the words, sometime in the late 19th century, “Simplicity is the final achievement.” But it’s Buddy Holly who comes to mind, and Chopin’s wise aphorism certainly applies, when you hear the relentlessly cheerful yet hurting songs of Louise Burns, the album “Mellow Drama” from a distaff Western Canadian gunslinger who’s already an industry veteran at the age of 24, and whose solo debut has been too long coming.    “What Do You Wanna Do” is the first single off the record, with a Holly-meets-Joe Meek vibe, all slathered in tambourine and acoustic guitar, then marshaled with a woodsy sounding snare drum. A restrained solo and upbeat-yet-plaintive vocal complete the picture on this instant classic, which happens to be its author’s favourite track on the record.    “It’s exactly what I wanted to do,” says Louise Burns; a desperately sought bassist who co-founded all-girl, twice Juno nominated rockers Lillix at the age of 11 and who has played ace wing-person to a slew of Vancouver bands ever since, most notably for her blood-sisters in the Blue Violets.      “I’m really obsessed with ‘50s and ‘60s pop music and rock ‘n’ roll - that’s my favourite thing in the world,” she continues. “There’s no bullshit. They didn’t have access to all these whistles, bells, and autotune, and no matter what you do with it, it’s just a good song.”     She applies this principle across the board on Mellow Drama, an album that weds ringing clarity to emotional truth over 11 Burns originals and one gorgeously wrought cover. Even in the circling, endlessly recursive swirl of the Mazzy Star-esque “Clean” or the minatory shoe-gazey ballad “Ocean Grey”, Burns and her production cohorts Dave Ogilvie and Kevin James Maher keep it trim.   With their handsome remake of Leonard Cohen’s “The Gypsy’s Wife”, the trio strike up a gothic folk feel that’s equally uncluttered, even with sonorous cello and piano parts. The mood is carried over into “Island Vacation”, with Burns implacably sinking beneath her own vocal range as she describes macabre dreams and nosebleeds, investing the song with a sweetly honest performance.  Equally, “Sea Song” could be a folk standard, or an outtake from The Wicker Man soundtrack with its slightly dissonant chorus. In all cases, there’s a splendid absence of fuss.   Burns allowed Mellow Drama to percolate for a long time, only hitting the studio in late 2009 between school and juggling “at least four bands”, and then after a protracted process of “finding who I was, as an artist” – although she squirms a little at the statement. “That sounds like the worst sentence ever,” she sighs, “but it’s honestly how I feel. I had to take a break and reevaluate music in general.”    She puts her artistic overhaul down to the demands she faced with Lillix during its stint on Madonna’s Maverick label, explaining, “Basically we were trained to write for radio, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can really fuck with your ideals and what you think is good and what you think you should be writing. That tremendous pressure just ruins it for you. I hated music for so long after that, and I hated the idea of writing. But at the same time I’m really grateful for the perseverance that I developed. Now I have a really high standard, before I even show anybody a song. I am grateful for that part of it.”    Burns grapples with what she calls “emancipating myself from that world of uncertainty” on the wonderful “Chinook (Sing From the Valley of Doubt)”; a chunk of nostalgic pop-country built on the dual poles of Burns’ tremulous voice and a thick, sure bass part. It was composed while horseback riding through the mountains in Cranbrook, BC.  “I wrote a lot of songs that way, because I’m a hippy,” she chuckles. “It’s about waking up every morning with a sense of dread and a sense of doubt, because I’m nervous of the idea of not doing music, and that if I keep doubting myself it’s going to prevent me from doing it.”    It seems unlikely that anything would ever stop Burns from making music. She plays nearly every instrument on Mellow Drama. It’s a pure expression of musicality and talent, and not something you could ever put a lid on. More importantly, Mellow Drama finally opens the book on a personality that was submerged during the artist’s long apprenticeship years, ringing with all the influences Burns breathlessly lists – “The Pixies, Neil Young, Nick Cave, Johnny Cash and June Carter, Harry Nilsson, Sam Cooke, The Shangri Las, and the Smiths, too many to name, had a massive impact on who I am…”  - but never at the cost of her own voice.     Folding so much into a crisp statement that she’s only waited more than half her life to make might be Burns’ final achievement with Mellow Drama. And she makes it sound like simplicity itself. www.lightorganrecords.com  

Read more ›

Matthew Barber

The latest offering from Toronto-based singer-songwriter Matthew Barber is a self-titled and self-produced collection of songs that marks a winter’s worth of work in his ramshackle basement home studio.  By playing all the instruments as well as handling the recording and mixing duties, Barber has made somewhat of a return to his roots on this, his sixth release.  “It’s the first time I’ve made a record by myself at home since the record before my first official record, if that makes sense, “ jokes Barber. Over a decade has passed between the early 4-track experiments as a philosophy student at Queen’s University and his latest eponymous effort (available now on the Outside Music label).  In the meantime, Barber has become a seasoned songwriter and performer with five albums, numerous tours across Canada and around the world, a handful of record deals, a Juno nomination and an award-winning musical to his credit.  “I’d like to think my recording chops have improved a bit since then,” adds Barber, “and I’ve collected a few more odds and ends to play with in the studio.” However these odds and ends may have been deployed, the result is a disarmingly honest record of charming simplicity.  Melodic instrumental hooks weave in and out of the tastefully spare arrangements, providing an engaging musical setting for Barber’s signature vocals and neatly-packaged lyrical turns about love, lust, longing, disillusionment, injustice, hope and the modern experience. Barber’s passion for the throwback sounds of the late 60’s and early 70’s is again clearly evident on this record, which was captured entirely on an analog 8-track machine.  “ I read Keith Richards’ autobiography as I was beginning the recording process and I was excited by his statement that 8-track was his preferred format for recording,” says Barber.  “It forces you to make choices as you go along and keep the arrangements lean, which suited the sort of record I wanted to make.  I also got an iPhone around that time and the only album I had on it for months was Beggar’s Banquet, which became a reference point sonically.” Astute listeners will surely notice nods to 20th century masters like The Beatles, The Stones, Dylan, The Band and Paul Simon – but the voice at the heart of each song – both as songwriter and singer – is singularly Matthew Barber.  “The heart of the record is about being in a long-term relationship, trying to make sense of all that goes along with your life becoming more deeply entwined with that of another person and how that influences both your outlook on the world and your understanding of yourself.”  

Read more ›