Photo par Asli Alin

Great Lake Swimmers’ organic sound, new energy

Article par Nicholas Jennings | mercredi 13 juin 2012

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

For Tony Dekker, recording – like real estate – is all about location. The Great Lake Swimmers frontman has made a habit of working in unusual settings, beginning with his Toronto-based group’s 2003 self-titled debut, recorded in an abandoned grain silo. Since then, Dekker has opted for churches, legion halls and even an historic castle in the Thousand Islands to commit his atmospheric folk-rock songs to tape.

With its fifth album, New Wild Everywhere, the Great Lake Swimmers chose what was, for them, an exotic location: a real recording studio. “It was a new challenge for us,” laughs Dekker. “We’ve been so used to all the work that goes into putting together these location recordings. Andy Magoffin, our longtime engineer who produced the new album, was really excited to hear what we’d sound like in a so-called proper studio.”

Recorded at Toronto’s Revolution Recording, New Wild Everywhere benefits from the freedom to focus on music rather than location logistics. It’s also enhanced by the group’s current lineup. Says Dekker: “We developed great chemistry touring the last album [the Polaris Music Prize-nominated Lost Channels] and that’s given us a really natural, organic sound.”

Songs like “Cornflower Blue” and “Fields of Progeny” (along with its French counterpart “Les champs de progéniture”) are slow waltzes steeped in the rural sounds of Dekker’s youth. But the spirited title track and the rousing “Easy Come Easy Go” are easily the band’s most uptempo songs to date.
That new energy is another byproduct of the confidence that comes from lengthy touring. Dekker, who started Great Lake Swimmers as a solo project, has long been hailed for his fragile songs and ethereal voice. Now he has a solid band to stretch out with. The use of a string quartet, with arrangements by Higgins, has further enriched the sound.

As with all of Dekker’s writing, New Wild Everywhere deals largely with spirituality and nature, especially the elements of wind and water. “I love the kind of harsh reality that underlies the natural world,” says Dekker. Growing up in a rural location will do that. So, too, will studying the works of Walt Whitman, William Faulkner and Henry David Thoreau, as Dekker did.

One exception to his rural-world focus is “Parkdale Blues,” a song set in the Toronto neighborhood that recalls Bruce Cockburn’s brand of urban reportage. Another is “The Great Exhale,” which was recorded in Toronto’s unused Lower Bay subway station. Clearly, Dekker couldn’t resist the chance to make at least one location recording.

“It was a very nocturnal session, because we had to record when the trains above weren’t running,” he explains. “And because it’s like a ghost station, that gave it some amazing ambience.”

Track Record
• Great Lake Swimmers’ current lineup is guitarist and banjo player Erik Arnesen, upright bassist Bret Higgins, drummer Greg Millson, and newcomer Miranda Mulholland on violin and backup vocals.
• Tony Dekker grew up on a working farm in tiny Wainfleet, Ontario.
• He’s also earned a literature degree from the University of Western Ontario.

Photo par Todd Jang

Arun Chaturvedi keeps up with the Kardashians

Article par Errol Nazareth | vendredi 15 juin 2012

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

If trying to get played on mainstream radio is a challenge for independent musicians, you can imagine what a gargantuan task it is to get their music placed in popular films and television shows.
Winnipeg producer Arun Chaturvedi, who won Producer of the Year honours at last year’s Western Canadian Music Awards, never expected to write for TV, but the singer-songwriter is now working on one of the hottest reality shows in the U.S.

« I was in L.A. promoting my [self-titled 2010] solo album, and Manitoba Music arranged a dinner with various music supervisors, » he says. « The restaurant had a grand piano so I played and sang a few songs. One of the guys from Keeping Up With The Kardashians ended up placing a few of my songs, and a little while later he asked me if I’d be interested in composing some custom music for the show. »

Chaturvedi has been providing music for the show for about a year, and explains how he composes music for it.

« The Kardashians definitely have a sound that they go for, so I stay true to that,” he says. “It’s sort of pop/hip-hop but the characters often get into some crazy antics so the music reflects this. For example, I often do ‘sneaky’ or ‘comedic’ sounding cues using the xylophone, timpani, and violins with a pizzicato articulation. And sometimes, I’ll compose instrumental rock music for high-energy transition scenes. »

Chaturvedi has been writing and producing since his early teens, but only professionally for the last seven years. Having a great ear, being able to write songs and play different instruments in a variety of styles are all marks of a good producer, says the former frontman for Driver, an indie rock group.
« It helps, of course, to know the technical ins and outs of recording and mixing music, » he says. « But, the most important aspect is being able to interact with people, and draw the best performance out of them. I can usually get a track sounding good pretty quickly, and that puts artists at ease. I’d like to think that after only a few minutes of working with me in the studio, it’s clear to them that I get it. »
Chaturvedi says he doesn’t follow a template when writing.

« I like to start with a premise or a title, and lyrics are important to me,” he says. “Other times, I have a melodic-harmonic framework and I add words to it later. Once in a while, songs seem to flow out naturally – melody, lyric, chords all at the same time. It’s a gift when that happens, because a lot of times I have to roll up my sleeves and put some elbow grease into it. »

Track Record
• Chaturvedi’s former indie rock group, Driver, had a hit in 2005 with the single “She Laughed at Me.”
• To date, he’s worked with artists such as James Struthers, Don Amero, Luke McMaster, and Little Hawk.
• In addition to Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Chaturvedi’s film and TV placements include Bad Girls Club, Pretty Little Liars, Being Erica and Casino Jack.

Sous les projecteurs: Jenna Andrews

Article par Tiana Feng | lundi 11 juin 2012

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

With her striking good looks, powerful and seductive voice, and honest, truthful songs, Jenna Andrews is the whole package. She grew up surrounded by music, and began to play and perform and a very young age. Struggling as a young singer in Vancouver, her soulful voice and powerful lyrics caught the attention of Island Def Jam’s chairman, Antonio “L.A.” Reid (now also famous as a judge on The X Factor). She was soon signed to release music with Island Def Jam, and snatched up by prestigious management company Chris Smith Management (Nelly Furtado, Fefe Dobson).

Suddenly, she was working with high-profile pop music producers like Kenneth « Babyface » Edmonds (Whitney Houston, Madonna) and Max Martin (Britney Spears, Pink, Carrie Underwood). Expect her debut album in 2012.