Each week, Gordy the moose reviews some of his favourite new submissions to the Roots Music Canada virtual mailbox. Here’s what stood out for him this year.
Brooks and Bowskill – Blissful State of Mind
Jim Bowskill and Brittany Brooks had the beginnings of a tasty little sound going on their 2023 full-length debut, Too Many Roads.
Now, a year later, all those ideas have marinaded into one hell of a musical dish on Blissful State of Mind, an album drenched in the sounds of ’60s and ’70s flower power but full of surprises in terms of how those influences manifest themselves.
It’s a hell of an evolution given how quickly it follows their debut, and it’s a particularly impressive achievement given that Jim and Brittany also found the time to get married in that time.
Rachel Kane – “Follow You Down”
Rachel Kane! Where have you been all these years?! You seemed to come out of nowhere back around the turn of the millennium, and then you just kind of disappeared again.
But I still remember that debut of yours, Groundwire. Damn, what a great album that was.
So wow, am I ever excited to hear you’ve got a new record coming out, Holler at the Wind, due March 14.
And this single – exquisite!
The songcraft is wonderful. The lyrics are pithy and poetic. Your voice is rich and resonant, recalling artists like Eliza Gilkyson and even a touch of Lucinda Williams.
And the production by your son, Beatox, is so cool – combining rootsy guitar and banjo with hip hop percussion.
Sarah Jane Scouten – Transmutations
Sarah Jane Scouten released Transmutations on Remembrance Day, and that’s no doubt because the EP is really a vehicle for its one new song, “Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry,” a song about a woman who nearly dies giving birth, only to become a worker in a munitions factory while her son fights and dies in the First World War. […]
You don’t have to be a mother or patriot to feel your hair stand on end listening to this. The song is at once sweet and devastating, transporting the listener back to an era we often think of as a simpler time, but one marked by unimaginable tragedy.
Me:She – “Sweetie”
If you’re looking for an arty song to expression your cynicism about late-stage capitalism, look no further than “Sweetie,” the new single from Me:She, a.k.a. Meshe Mooette, a.k.a. Michelle DuMond.
“Sweetie” is dripping with sarcasm toward society’s acceptance of gradual enslavement. But like some of Me:She’s previous singles, notably “Nebulous Cloud,” it has a chaotic, carnival-like feel to it. This time drums serve as the lead instrument with piano and horns farther back in the mix. There are all kinds of things going on vocally — Me:She raps, talks, sings, acts, layers her vocals and calls in friends to help her drive home certain phrases, while adding distortion here and there for artistic effect.
Sue Decker – Keeping Time
Sue Decker launched herself into our consciousness this past March with a single that sounded like something straight off Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.
“The Lost Ones” is about the growing rates of homelessness, addiction and street violence in our communities, and the complex feelings of fear and helplessness that arise in response.
It’s honest, mature and gritty, and it left us wanting to hear more.
Well the album that song was drawn from – Keeping Time – is out, and wow, does it ever live up to the promise of that lead-off track.
Cherie Camp – Love and Blood
Cherie is a force of nature in the songwriting department, and the Siberry influence is everywhere on this album – from the unexpected melodic twists and turns to the impressionistic lyrics, which transport listeners to the contemplative emotional landscapes of midlife and beyond.
“Angels are moving furniture tonight, crocodile tears are shed, for the ones who don’t like changes, they like constancy instead,” she sings on the opening single, “Fits and Starts.”
And then there’s the revelatory interpretation of Anna McGarrigle’s “Heart Like A While,” a rendition that takes minor liberties with the original melody and phrasing to reveal the song’s emotional complexity like never before, updating it for the 2020s in the process.
Gillian Hay – Magnolia Baby
Possessed of an elastic voice, formidable songwriting chops and a command of several genres, including country, soul and punk rock, Toronto’s Gillian Hay makes quite an impression with her debut EP, Magnolia Baby, the follow-up to just a couple of singles released since 2018.
It opens with “Dancing Shoes,” an absolutely killer mixture of folk-pop and soul with Motown-style choruses and “Shoo-bop-bops.”
Much of the rest of the collection has a country-pop feel – with the Motown nods returning on the closer “Things are Going to Get Better.” …
This is an auspicious debut from an exciting new talent.
Natasha Roldan – Ya No Estoy Aquí
[T]he real character in these arrangements comes from the vintage-sounding trumpet passages by Marie Goudy (Michael Buble), from the clarinet on the opening title track, and from Natasha’s powerful, luminous vocals, which contain just a hint of the melancholy suggested by the album’s theme.
Ya No Estoy Aquí is about migration, revolution, love and the Colombian conflict, and it’s dedicated to the conflict’s survivors and to migrants and displaced persons.
It is at once wistful – such as on “Migrante” and “El Perdon” – and hopeful, notably on “Revolucionaria,” and it showcases Natasha’s growing sophistication as a composer.
It’s an auspicious debut — if an album 10 years in the making can really be called a debut.
Jay Gavin – Road Ready
Road Ready – due for release May 3 – is only Jay Gavin’s sophomore full-length solo album but nobody should conclude from that that Jay is some kind of novice.
Count him among the ranks of retired punk rockers and metalheads who now find themselves drawn to the raw authenticity of southern musical styles like blues, old-time, and, in Jay’s case, outlaw country.
And goddam can he write a song.
Road Ready is filled with catchy numbers about ramblin’ and hurtin’ — with melodic passages that evoke classics such as “Lucille,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Mommas Don’t Let You’re Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” and “Country Roads.”
Lori Yates – Matador
Lori Yates has been around the Americana scene since well before we started calling it Americana – as a member of 80s country rockers Rang Tango, a solo artist, and recently, a member of the supergroup Hey Stella with Bazil Donovan, Michelle Joseph and the dearly departed David Baxter.
She did some time as a major label Nashville recording artist, co-writing with Guy Clarke and others and putting out a pretty glitzy Steve Buckingham-produced record in 1989.
But in my opinion, she’s at her best when she keeps the arrangements simple, as she did on 2007’s The Book of Minerva, and edits herself enough to showcase only her best work, of which there is plenty.
By those standards, her new album, Matador, is among the best she’s ever put out.
