Photo par Caroline Desilets

ECHO Songwriting Prize winner Katie Moore

Article par Kerry Doole | samedi 24 dcembre 2011

Les traductions pour les articles avant l’automne 2013 ne sont pas disponibles pour le moment.

She recently won SOCAN’s prestigious 2011 ECHO Songwriting Prize, but that certainly hasn’t gone to Katie Moore’s head. The self-deprecating, Montreal-based, roots songstress says « it’d be sad if I thought ‘Wake Up Like This’ was the best song written in Canada this year, ‘ca>use I’m sure it’s not. »

But that tune, taken from her current, highly-acclaimed sophomore album Montebello, does, in fact, showcase Moore’s compositional craftsmanship, as well as the pure vocals that are her trademark. Moore does call the ECHO victory (over such strong contenders as Arcade Fire and Handsome Furs) « very flattering. I’m in the process of trying to become a good songwriter, so it’s nice to get this nod of encouragement that I’m on the right track.”

Her potential was apparent on 2007 debut album Only Thing Worse. Moore’s records seamlessly incorporate elements of folk, bluegrass, alt-country and Americana, while she’s also found herself in demand by artists working outside these genres, including Patrick Watson, Socalled, Gonzales, and Plants and Animals.

« Gonzales and Socalled are always making me do things I think I can’t do, » says Moore. « If I only played by myself, I don’t think I’d grow at all, so that’s been instrumental to my musical growth. » She calls this outside work « a good complement… Mostly, it’s just great to be busy all the time. »

Usually the melody and lyrics come at the same time. »

Moore likes varying her songwriting methods. « I try to find different instruments, » she says. » The song ‘Montebello’ was written on a ukulele I’d bought when I was on tour because it’s a little instrument. I got a piano about two years ago so I started writing on that. Mostly it happens on the guitar. I don’t have any real musical training, so I just fumble around with chords until I sing a melody. Usually the melody and lyrics come at the same time. »

The singer laughingly recalls that her first writing experiments consisted of « taking people’s melodies, changing a word or two, and thinking I’d made a major artistic achievement. I re-wrote the words to a Rod Stewart song because I was madly in love with him. I felt a huge surge of emotion from doing it. Maybe that’s when I caught the bug! »

Track Record
• Moore grew up in Hudson, Quebec, just outside Montreal. She knew fellow Hudsonian Patrick Watson from an early age.
• The $5,000 ECHO prize money has already been earmarked for the recording of her third album. « As an independent musician I always need to come up with ways to finance a new album. I don’t have to this time! » she says.
• She is now working on writing songs in French. « I’m proficient in French but not creative in it, so it’s an interesting challenge. »

Photo par Mat Dunlap

David Myles tries something different

Article par Meredith Dault | dimanche 25 dcembre 2011

Les traductions pour les articles avant l’automne 2013 ne sont pas disponibles pour le moment.

Though he’s already got four full-length albums under his belt, David Myles says that in many ways his most recent, Into the Sun, feels like his first.

“I feel like it’s uniquely me,” he explains enthusiastically, describing a songwriting and recording process that was far more intuitive and organic than in the past. “Before, I didn’t know the studio well enough. I wasn’t confident enough to take risks,” he says.

But with a significant handful of accolades now under his belt and experience playing to larger and larger audiences, Myles, who hails from New Brunswick but is based in Halifax, now stands confidently on his musical feet.

His 2010 album Turn Time Off won the East Coast Music Award for Folk Recording of the Year, while his song “Need A Break” was named Creative Group Single of the Year. In 2010, he won the Nova Scotia Music Award for Male Artist of the Year, and, in 2009, his song “When It Comes My Turn” won first prize in the Folk/Singer-Songwriter category of the International Songwriting Competition.

So when it came to making Into the Sun, Myles decided he was ready to try something different. He decided to avoid his folk and jazz inclinations and head into the studio with an eye towards creating something more experimental. Instead of having the songs pre-written and arranged, as before, he started to think in terms of how he wanted the album to sound.

“I’d been listening to albums from Brazil and West Africa from the ’60s and ’70s,” says Myles, explaining that he wanted to find a way to incorporate the same kinds of rhythms into his own music. He began working closely with producer Charles Austin, and the two started layering vocals and adding rhythms to his newly-penned songs, while staying open to surprises. “If you close all the doors before you go into the studio, you aren’t able to get that stuff,” says Myles, who’s very happy with the results of keeping the doors open.

“I think it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done.”

Track Record
• Myles didn’t begin to make music a career until 2004, after he completed a political internship at the Ontario Legislature.
• His 2011 album Live At The Carleton was made during four consecutive shows in Halifax, though at the time he had no idea they were being recorded.
• Myles wrote and sings the chorus on « The Day Doesn’t Die » by hip-hop artist Classified, who returned the favour with a remix of Myles’ « Simple Pleasures. »

Sous les projecteurs: Shawn Hook

Article par Tiana Feng | lundi 12 dcembre 2011

Les traductions pour les articles avant l’automne 2013 ne sont pas disponibles pour le moment.

Shawn Hook (formerly Hlookoff) is a seriously talented guy. At 27, the former resident of Nelson, B.C. is already an accomplished songwriter, producer and musician. He has seen his songs appear on hit national TV shows, he runs his own charitable organization (called Live 2 Give), and he even held a Guinness World Record (for standing on an exercise ball for the longest time). What could be next?

“I still have the dream and the passion that I had when I first started playing music” says Hook. “It’s always been to create music and engage a global audience, just like the bands and artists I looked up to as a kid”.

He is currently working with producer Jon Levine (Philosopher Kings, Nelly Furtado, Esthero) on his first full-length album, entitled Cosmonaut And The Girl. Featuring the lead single “Every Red Light,” the album is due out in the New Year. Expect big things from Shawn Hook.