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Open Horizon (REVIEW: EXCLAIM.CA)
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Kaya Fraser
Open Horizon
By Rachel Sanders
With jazzy interludes and melt-in-her-mouth vocals,...Kaya Fraser
Open Horizon
By Rachel Sanders
With jazzy interludes and melt-in-her-mouth vocals, Kaya Fraser's first full-length release is a journey of considerable emotional range. Daughter to Canadian songwriter Allan Fraser (of '70s psych folk duo Fraser and DeBolt), the Victoria, BC-based musician has built upon the foundations she laid with her 2007 EP, the elegant Tremor and Slip. With Open Horizon, she offers a diverse collection of songs that explore passion of every variety, from the blissfully upbeat "Good To Be Home" to the achingly brief and emotionally wrenching "A Hundred Days." Other highlights include the banjo-licked "Made To Mend" and the brooding, Al Purdy-inspired "Cariboo Horses," which highlights Fraser's rich voice and her ability to create vivid moods within her songs. Produced by one-time Blue Rodeo guitarist Kim Deschamps (who also contributes pedal steel, dobro and banjo), the album flirts with soul and blues, jazz and country, but ultimately, hangs together as a beautifully cohesive and promising debut. (Independent)
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Music: Kaya Fraser
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(By Bess Hamilton)
Tremor and Slip is Kaya Fraser’s debut recording. Return to that sentence afte...(By Bess Hamilton)
Tremor and Slip is Kaya Fraser’s debut recording. Return to that sentence after you’ve listened to the CD (and you must listen to the CD) and read it again until it sinks in. You should do this because you will not believe that it is a debut. Her album of melodic, literate songs is such a tight whole that you would be forgiven for thinking you’ve been missing out on the career of a seasoned pro. Fraser says that she “wanted the record to have the continuous feel of a well-structured album.” Once you hear it, you’ll agree that she succeeded.
Like many Londoners, Fraser is from
somewhere else. She was born in Toronto, but grew up in Montreal. Ostensibly, she’s here to pursue a PhD. in Canadian Literature at UWO, but she admits that her “music is becoming almost a full-time job at this point.” London is fortunate to be the launching pad of a strong new Canadian singer/songwriter. Her album is a London product, recorded at a local studio, Willyboy Recordings. As well, Fraser credits the London Music Club with playing an important role in career. Fraser is
generous with her thanks to those in London’s music community, including Alexandra Krakus, Jonathan Davis, Jason Hakin and Will Haas. They “were very encouraging and inspiring.”
Music is a family tradition for Kaya
Fraser. Her parents are both singers and she started playing guitar at 13. Throughout school in Montreal, she studied music and
she received vocal training through her participation in choirs. However, Fraser’s first career choice was academics. While pursuing her graduate studies, she put music aside for a time. As she says, though, “the things you love find a way of sneaking back into your life” and over the past year
and a half, she began focusing on her music again. The last year or so has been a busy one for Fraser as she’s been writing songs, recording her album and performing throughout Canada.
When I asked Fraser about her songwriting process, she admits that she still considers herself a beginner and feels that her process is still evolving. Again, I would refer you to her CD. If this is a beginner’s work, just wait until she really gets going. Fraser starts with “a mood, a feeling, a sentiment, and maybe a phrase or two.” She then moves to the rhythm of those phrases which is the foundation upon which she builds the music. Craft is important to her because even though she initially writes the song quickly to capture it, she continues to work at honing it. The good songs, according to Fraser, are always unfinished because it’s possible to discover something new each time she plays them.
Her influences are varied which is reflected on her album. Although the songs work together and there’s a smooth movement from song to song, you can hear various genres coming together. Fraser mentions Al Green, Otis Redding, Bonnie Raitt, Aimee Mann, Paul Simon, and Wings as sources of inspiration. Her literary influences include Leonard Cohen and Michael Ondaatje. Of course, her parents (her father was a member of the 1970s folk band Fraser and DeBolt) have had the most influence on her musically. She has even played the same stage, 40 years later, as
her father did at The Yellow Door in
Montreal.
A few reviewers compare Kaya Fraser to other Canadian female
singer/songwriters such as Sarah Harmer, Sarah McLachlan and Jann Arden. Fraser enjoys that she’s considered to be in the same category as “extremely talented,
dedicated artists who don’t sell b.s.,” but she feels that it’s too convenient for some people to class all female artists together
despite the fact that they do not all sound the same. However, Fraser does say that she cherishes the review (her first) in which Dave Clarke at Scene Magazine compared her to Lucinda Williams and Carlene Carter.
Fraser began performing her songs live before she thought about recording. She decided to record her CD when people began asking her if she had one available. However, live performances are an
important of Fraser’s music. She says that “writing [songs] is only half of it.” For her, songs come to life when they’re performed for an audience. She gets energy from the
audience when she feels that they are responding to her music. “It’s almost addictive,” Fraser states. Her (potential) addiction is a good thing for her audience because it means that chances are we’ll
have plenty of opportunities to see Fraser perform.
Buy Tremor and Slip and get out to
Fraser’s upcoming performance at
Fanshawe College’s Forwell Hall on March 26th at noon as part of a Songwriter’s Circle. That way, when Kaya Fraser is a famous singer/songwriter, you can say that
you saw her when.
(PDF Version of article available at http://www.londonsource.com/uploads/assets/minisites/artscape/pdf/200803.pdf)
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Tremor and Slip (REVIEW: THE RECORD)
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KAYA FRASER TREMOR AND SLIP (WILLYBOY RECORDINGS)
Kaya Fraser is pursuing her doctorate in Canadi...KAYA FRASER TREMOR AND SLIP (WILLYBOY RECORDINGS)
Kaya Fraser is pursuing her doctorate in Canadian literature at the University of Western Ontario. If she ever tires of academia, she could easily turn to music full-time.
Born in Toronto, raised in Montreal and now living in London, Ont., Fraser applies her love of language to intelligent folk-pop which she expresses through sultry vocals that bring to mind Leslie Feist.
Tremor and Slip is Fraser's debut recording and it heralds a talent of great promise. Produced by Jason Hakin, who handles guitar and bass along with drummer Jonathan Davis and cellist Kathryn Sarkany, the album keeps Fraser's voice and acoustic guitar where they belong -- front and centre.
- Robert Reid, Jan. 31 2008
http://news.therecord.com/arts/NightLife/article/302661
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Coming Full Circle to Song
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Coming full circle to song
T'CHA DUNLEVY
The Gazette
Thursday, January 31, 2008
I ...Coming full circle to song
T'CHA DUNLEVY
The Gazette
Thursday, January 31, 2008
I get CDs sent to me all the time by artists and bands I've never heard before. Most are good, but not great. Every once in a while, something really stands out.
Introducing Kaya Fraser, a former Montrealer currently living with her husband and her dog in London, Ont., where she is finishing a PhD in Canadian literature and somehow finding time to make music.
Fraser's independently released seven-song EP Tremor and Slip is shockingly good. Her voice is intimate, arresting and mature; the songs are moving; and production is polished enough to sound professional without sacrificing authenticity.
For quick reference, think Joni Mitchell or Sarah McLachlan. At such an early stage in her career, Fraser has the potential to one day hover in their midst. But don't take my word for it, check out her website, or, better yet, see Fraser herself, live and direct, when she performs Saturday at longstanding local folk shrine the Yellow Door.
I was well enamoured with Fraser's disc, and my four-star review had already gone to print when my colleague, Gazette film critic (and former music critic) John Griffin informed me of her lineage. She is the daughter of Allan Fraser, of the notable Canadian folk duo Fraser and DeBolt.
"I've lived with my dad's music all my life," she said, reached by phone this week. "As long as I can remember, his songs were around. I know them without ever having learned them. It's weird."
While Fraser is following in her father's footsteps, it took time for her to come around. "I resisted for a while," she said. "It was the reverse (in our household) - if I became a musician, I was conforming to what my parents wanted. Anything else was an act of rebellion. But it was inevitable that I would catch the bug. I think I inherited skills from both my parents - musicality, a sensitivity to language."
Her mother, Donna Louthood, is a singer, too ("and a visual artist," Fraser added).
Fraser was raised in the country, "an hour outside of Montreal, 10 minutes from the U.S. border, in a tiny town called Havelock - basically, an intersection. We grew up in a log cabin on a hill. But when my siblings (one brother, one sister) hit adolescence, it was time to move to the city, where there were better schools - we were artsy types."
Fraser, coincidentally, attended my old high school, F.A.C.E. (also once home to Rufus Wainwright, Melissa Auf der Maur and oui, Mitsou), graduating in 1987. She went on to study English at McGill, where she discovered a passion for Canadian literature.
"(With help from) some key professors, I had the sudden realization that Canadian literature was talking about things that happened right here," she said. "I imagined Leonard Cohen walking around McGill campus. It was so present and tangible. It got me really inspired."
While pursuing her postgraduate studies in London, Fraser has found music "creeping back into my life. I'm aspiring to let my literary training infuse my music in a natural way. The real challenge is time commitment. I'm at the turning point now. I'm starting to have to think about which path I'm going to devote more time to. I haven't decided. Music has been taking off, lately."
She made her EP with help from some enthusiastic collaborators in London's "nice, warm, congenial (music) scene," Jason Hakin and Will Haas. In two weeks, the trio recorded, mixed and mastered seven songs, each of which not only each hold up on their own, but that flow together into what Fraser calls "an emotional narrative."
And what does dad think of her music? "It's tricky," she said. "He has been delicate. He's extremely supportive. He says he really likes what I'm doing. We try not to get into any serious critiquing. He's happy being the proud parent."
Kaya Fraser performs Saturday at the Yellow Door, 3625 Aylmer St. Tickets cost $8, $5 for students, at the door. For more, go to www.kayafraser.com or www.myspace.com/kaya
fraser or www.yellowdoor.org/concertlisting.html
tdunlevy@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008
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Tremor and Slip (REVIEW: MONTREAL GAZETTE)
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Here's a great example of a diamond in the rough, and not so rough at that. Former Montrealer Kaya F...Here's a great example of a diamond in the rough, and not so rough at that. Former Montrealer Kaya Fraser -- now living in London, Ont., and pursuing a PhD in Canadian literature -- has put out this seven-song EP independently and it is very, very good. Her voice is mature and seductive, and these rootsy gems are yearning to be heard. Elements of country, soul, and sultry acoustic pop are combined with sophistication and polish. Fraser's moving songs don't really need anything more, except to be discovered. [Four stars]" -T'Cha Dunlevy
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The Anti Hit List (Dec 22 2007)
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"This London, Ont., based artist distinguishes herself from the school of singer-songwriters matricu..."This London, Ont., based artist distinguishes herself from the school of singer-songwriters matriculated by Joni Mitchell with jazz-inflected phrasing that allows her to navigate this waltz-time rumination with admirable agility. The title refers to a geological phenomenon involving "non-earthquake, tremor-like seismic signals," which turns out to be a fertile metaphor for all manner of instability."
-John Sakamoto, The Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/287448
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Letter Perfect
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In the spirit of the season, Arts & Entertainment Columnist James Reaney provides London-themed yule...In the spirit of the season, Arts & Entertainment Columnist James Reaney provides London-themed yule treasures from A to Z.
COLUMN: Letter perfect
James Reaney
Sun Media
December 15, 2007
This selected gift list by Free Press Arts & Entertainment Columnist James Reaney follows the alphabet, with all of the items tied to London. As in its past editions, the list directs the shopper to small, independent retailers, where possible. We're all reminded to think about charities at this time of year.
JAMES REANEY
[...]
T: Tremor and Slip by Kaya Fraser is, well, it's so good that here is what my esteemed colleague John (the Razor) Sharpe of Scene magazine says about the London singer-songwriter's EP: "It's a lovely piece of work, beautifully recorded at Hyde Park's Willyboy Studios." Grooves. $11.
[...]
http://lfpress.com/perl-bin/publish.cgi?x=articles&p=218932&s=shopping
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Tremor and Slip (REVIEW: SCENE)
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With this being a rather mediocre year for music, I'm very pleased to report that some of this year'...With this being a rather mediocre year for music, I'm very pleased to report that some of this year's best recordings have come out of London. And you can add this new release from Kaya Fraser to that growing list. When I first heard Tremor and Slip I literally stopped working and checked to see who it was, it's that ear-catching. A great voice with great songs, with performance and production that is first rate. Fraser's voice is warm and engaging, displaying the sexiness of Carlene Carter with a bit of the world weariness of Lucinda Williams in her delivery. The songs are killer with "The Thing Is," "Tremor and Slip," "The Only Exception" and "Home Remedy" being my faves. But they are all winners. Fraser is an exciting new voice that deserves a listen. Performance: A+ Production: A+
--Dave Clarke
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Fraser balances music & academic life
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Fraser balances music & academic life
Western grad student launches EP in midst of dissertation
...Fraser balances music & academic life
Western grad student launches EP in midst of dissertation
Desiree Gamotin
Friday, November 23, 2007
ENGLISH TA BY DAY, SINGER/SONGWRITER BY NIGHT. Western grad student Kaya Fraser uses her Canadian Literature studies to write folksy acoustic songs.
Western boasts some of the most talented students in the arts. This week, local singer/songwriter and Canadian literature TA, Kaya Fraser, takes the spotlight.
One question most English students are asked is: what are you going to do with your arts degree? English grad student Kaya Fraser chose to write music.
Currently in her last year of her PhD program in English, the Canadian literature TA is carefully balancing her academics and musical career. Between her album release show this Friday and her dissertation due date, Fraser admits it’s a tricky feat.
After attending McGill University for her undergrad, Fraser came to Western to do her master’s in English. Once she came to London, she began focusing on music.
“Part of it was that I started connecting with some of the musicians here in town and London has a really lovely music scene in that, in my experience, people are so open and welcoming and friendly. It’s not a sort of closed shop the way some music scenes are ... so it was very easy for me to get my foot in the door.”
Recording her EP, Tremor and Slip, however, wasn’t as easy as she thought. As a perfectionist, Fraser admits it took an incredible amount of patience before she got the right sound.
“It can be very trying no matter how good you are or the musicians you’re working with — there are always moments when you just feel like tearing your hair out, saying, ‘Why does anybody ever bother doing this!’” Fraser says with a laugh. “But it’s worth it ... and for every moment where you want to tear your hair out, there are 10 moments where you just think, ‘I am so lucky to be doing this.’”
The result is a debut album with a combination of genres, including everything from the funky jazz, disco-influenced song, “The Only Exception,” to the folksy, roots rock title track, “Tremor and Slip.”
One of the songs she was most delighted by is “The Stars.” It started out as a very quiet, finger-pick style folk song, but digressed from its ballad personality with the addition of drums and the cello.
“It’s especially surprising when a song changes quite a bit from how it was when you were sitting on your living room floor and writing it to how it sounds on the CD,” Fraser explains.
With a range of influences from Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell to old ‘70s soul crooners like Al Green to more contemporary singer/songwriters like Aimee Mann, Fraser was indecisive about the musical direction she wanted to pursue.
“I loved all these kinds of music but I couldn’t figure out how to synthesize them into my own style. But I guess what’s been happening more recently is that you don’t have to really think about it. At a certain point, all the music that you love will combine itself in the work that you’re doing. It’ll find its own combination.”
Fraser’s “burst of songwriting creativity” over the past 10 months has snowballed her musical career. Aside from being broadcast on CBC Radio 3 and being a prizewinner of Western’s “Original and Unplugged” singer/songwriter competition last March, Fraser has also performed at shows in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal and received a Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Records (FACTOR) grant to make the CD.
As thrilled as Fraser is with her success, she hasn’t abandoned her academics. In fact, she feels that her two fields, music and literature, aren’t as far apart as they may seem. Canadian literature has enabled her songwriting and has given her confidence to perform publicly.
“Studying literature has almost made me hyper-aware of language and that really helps with songwriting. I feel like telling my students, who are aspiring poets or songwriters, that this is really worth it because just going through an English degree makes you aware of the way language works.
“Part of my philosophy as a teacher is [that] those elements to my students’ lives can and should come into the classroom. It makes the classroom a more diverse place ... all these elements can enrich the process of learning because someone will always know more than you.”
Kaya Fraser is playing at Aeolian Hall tonight at 8 p.m. as part of her CD release show. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.
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Fraser, Hakin team up on Aeolian stage
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Fraser, Hakin team up on Aeolian stage
By JAMES REANEY, SUN MEDIA
A year in the musical li...Fraser, Hakin team up on Aeolian stage
By JAMES REANEY, SUN MEDIA
A year in the musical lives of two London singer-songwriters ends happily on a new indie label at Aeolian Hall tomorrow night.
At 8 p.m., Jason Hakin launches his CD, Writing Home, while Kaya Fraser launches her seven-song EP, Tremor and Slip, which Hakin produced. Both are on the Saturnine label. Hakin and Fraser also worked closely with London engineer and studio owner Will Haas.
"Will and I spent countless hours in the studio poring over every detail . . . we spent a year in the studio making it and it sounds like we spent a year making it. It's full of all sorts of little bits to keep you entertained for hours. Crazy stuff . . . like french horn and banjo playing together or violin and glockenspiel," Hakin says.
The singer and guitarist is also heard with the Ace-Tones and the Northern Strugglers. He's backed Fraser on her EP and some gigs.
Fraser heard about the London scene's creativity in an earlier era from her father, Allan Fraser, who was in the 1970s Canadian folk duo, Fraser & DeBolt. Her projects with Hakin, Haas and others are part of that scene's 2007 match.
"It's the culmination of a nearly frenetic year of musical discovery and development for me," she says of Tremor and Slip. "I'm very, very happy with the results that my producer (Hakin) and engineer (Haas) helped me achieve -- a kind of tasty, poppy sound with a rootsy core, if that makes any sense."
IF YOU GO
What: Concert by London's Jason Hakin and Kaya Fraser. Cambridge, England singer-songwriter Paul Goodwin is also on the bill. Check www.jasonhakin.net
When: Tomorrow, 8 p.m.
Where: Aeolian Hall, 795 Dundas St.
Tickets: $10 advance (Belle Air Music, Grooves, Village Idiot), $15 at door
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/ThursdayTicket/2007/11/22/4675569-sun.html
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Fraser loves creative atmosphere
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Here's the inescapable conclusion about UWO's English department these days.
It rawks.
The d...Here's the inescapable conclusion about UWO's English department these days.
It rawks.
The department's grad students include at least three of London's best singer-songwriters. One of them, former Montrealer Kaya Fraser, is in action tonight at the London Music Club.
The other two are Vancouver's Alexandra (Alex) Krakus, who has played a LOLA event at Museum London among other places and has fine CDs of her own, and Etobicoke's Basia Bulat, who has been just about everywhere -- Europe, Ottawa, Guelph -- this year.
"The trilogy is complete," Fraser joked when I met her recently and mentioned I'd also been happy to meet Krakus and Bulat in my travels. It is impressive that the department -- home to Shakespeare in the summer, a student who just won about $150,000 from a foundation that honours the legacy of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and much more -- should also have three such talents in alt-rock at one time.
"It's a pretty funny coincidence, isn't it? Well, first of all the English department is a very big one, and it's one that has a whole lot of creativity simmering away in it," Fraser says. "As soon as you start asking around, it seems like there are artists, writers and performers around every corner in University College, some of them very, very talented."
It's a small world, too. Krakus has been an instant friend and ally. A few years ago, an undergrad "bright light" in a course Fraser's husband "was TA-ing at the time" turned out to be Bulat.
"I'd say that each of us has an individual style, so I wouldn't necessarily say that we're a 'trilogy' in the sense of doing quite the same kind of music, but it's a wonderful thing to be in an environment with so much creativity in the air," Fraser says.
She has heard about the London scene's creativity in an earlier era from her father, Allan Fraser, who was in the 1970s Canadian folk duo, Fraser & DeBolt.
"When I started playing around town, (he) shared some fond memories of coming to play in London in the heyday of psychedelic folk," Kaya Fraser says. "After my BA at McGill, I came here to do my MA at Western, because they had a very good program that is and has long been strong in the area of CanLit. I liked it when I got here, and so I decided to stay on to do a PhD."
Influencing her music -- and study of literature -- is Leonard Cohen. Which is not a bad place to start in either area.
"I got into studying Canadian literature largely via Leonard Cohen, whose music had already captured me before I went into university at McGill. I was a young, artsy Montrealer who played guitar, so Cohen was a natural role model. I've never worked on Cohen formally, but the love of language that was instilled in me by song lyrics like his first led me into Canadian poetry and then into fiction. "
Her own made-in-London music has been shaped by the creative spirit and spirits she has met here.
"Alex Krakus and I met when she came here to do a PhD two years ago . . . her talent and enthusiasm just triggered something in me, and I started to write. She's a musical force to be reckoned with," Fraser says. "We started jamming together last fall and immediately felt a musical affinity. I am indebted to her for helping to kick-start an unprecedented creative period I've been in over the past eight months or so."
Fraser, 27, wrote most of the songs for her new record during that time. Krakus also introduced her to guitarist Jason Hakin and drummer Jonathan (Johnny) Johnny Davis, the crack London team -- "my new little band" -- who join her at the Colborne Street club tonight.
Hakin, Davis and Fraser became friends and the two London musicians worked on her recording. Hakin is the producer.
"If you haven't heard Kaya's songs yet, (tonight) is the opportune time to catch this amazing local songwriter. Kaya is fantastic and not to be missed . . . plus you'll get to see Johnny and me in posh suits," Hakin says of the gig.
The band's name is Lazy Dynamite, which fans of Sir Paul McCartney -- like Fraser and her allies -- will recognize.
"Our shared love of Paul McCartney's solo work led me to the name Lazy Dynamite, which is a song on the album Red Rose Speedway. I love the paradoxical idea of something totally easy or relaxed and incredibly intense and dynamic all at once -- that's the kind of feeling I want to create, if I can, with my music," Fraser says.
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IF YOU GO
What: Club show by London singer-songwriter Kaya Fraser with Lazy Dynamite. James Hummel is also on the bill.
When: Tonight, 9:30 p.m.
Where: London Music Club front room, 470 Colborne St. (north of Queens)
Details: $5. Check www.kayafraser.com and www.myspace.com/kayafraser or call (519) 640-6996.
Good to be Home (Open Horizon, 2010)
