Jenn Grant

Artist Information

Biography

Love was a battlefield, but with Honeymoon Punch, Jenn Grant raises the white flag high. It’s time for peace, but not for quiet. Honeymoon Punch is a spiked Love Potion No. 9, a frisky concoction of spirited, synth-sweetened songs balanced with muted, natural elements – between “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” and Radiohead’s In Rainbows.

On the shore of Lake Deception, Nova Scotia, producer and beau Daniel Ledwell (In-Flight Safety), and a cast of familiar characters made an album that explores the ups and ups of happiness. Exchanging misery for ecstasy in matters personal and musical, Honeymoon Punch drives the dark clouds away.

Songs from both previous records have been heard on Grey’s Anatomy, Mercy, Shattered and Heartland. Jenn has performed across Canada, the US and Europe, with Hawksley Workman, Martin Tielli, Barenaked Ladies and others. Her albums have received East Coast Music Award and Music Nova Scotia award nominations.


- “Jenn Grant’s newest CD comes out of nowhere and lays you flat with the sweet science of its sugary hooks and upbeat pop ambiance.” - The Chronicle Herald

- “An impressively cohesive album. **** ” - Eye Weekly

- “An exciting flux of styles. Disc of the Week.” - The Globe and Mail

Instrumentation

David Christensen - Vocals, keyboards, Tenor Saxophone, Tenor Sax, bass clarinet, flutes and wind instruments
Micheal Belyea - drums and percussion
Andrew Sisk - Guitar, keyboards, singer.
Tavo Diez de Bonilla - Bass

Discography

Honeymoon Punch (Six Shooter Records, 2011)

Echoes (Six Shooter Records, 2009)

Orchestra for the Moon (Paris 1919, 2007)

Jenn Grant and Goodbye Twentieth Century EP (2005)

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter
• Photos
• Videos

Audio

• Getcha Good
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• Oh My Heart
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• Paper Airplane
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• Heartbreaker
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• Everybody Loves You
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• Baby's Been Away
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• Paradise Mountain
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• All Year
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• Getcha Good
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• Parliament of Owls
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• Heart of Sticks
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• Walk Away
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• Stars to Waves
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Lyrics

• Blue Skies
• White Horses
• In A Brown House
• Make it home tonight
• Dreamer
• BRIT & KIP
• You'll Go Far
• Heartbreaker
• Paper Airplane
• How I Met You

Video

All Year

Getcha Good

Photo Gallery

Press

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Well, it's bad news for many smitten Canadian males, but very good news for her music: Jenn Grant is...Well, it's bad news for many smitten Canadian males, but very good news for her music: Jenn Grant is hopelessly in love and eager to share her joy with the world on her latest — and best by a mile — album, Honeymoon Punch.
  
  Where 2009's striking, but relentlessly sombre Echoes wandered in romantic misery, Honeymoon Punch mostly lives up to its title, opening with effusive praise for a new beau (“You look like a movie star from this angle”) and an invitation to “tell me all your dreams and let's get wasted” over a giddy, guitar-pop trot on “Oh My Heart” and generally keeping the proceedings upbeat and more “rock 'n' roll” in the classic sense than we've ever heard Grant before for the dizzying 35 minutes that follow.
  
  There are flashes of '50s girl-group innocence and horn-powered, old-school Motown oomph on the tingly “All Year” and “Heart of Sticks.” “Parliament of Owls” is an unexpectedly Go-Gos-esque New Wave sugar rush. The churlish “Walk Away,” all sinister synths and sawing cellos, verges on prog-rock. And the glorious single “Getcha Good” — already the cutest CanCon video clip of 2011 — is a joyous dance party worth of Nancy Sinatra.
  
  So, yes, Honeymoon Punch is a pronounced departure from Grant's winsome folk-pop roots, but it's not at all jarring if you're at all acquainted with her slightly daffy, good-humoured stage persona. (She'll be at the Horseshoe on Feb. 19 if you care to find out for yourself.)
  
  This is, in fact, arguably exactly where Jenn Grant should be musically, and she's been guided attentively and with consistently imaginative arrangements by her longtime bandmates and producer Daniel Ledwell of In-Flight Safety, who also happens to be her fiancé. Methinks they belong together.

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  The night was going well until the dog disappeared. Outside, the first blizzard of the year rages...The night was going well until the dog disappeared.
  
  Outside, the first blizzard of the year rages, but Jenn Grant's kitchen is warm. The house used to be a crack den until Daniel Ledwell, Grant's fiance---and producer of her new album, Honeymoon Punch---bought it. After a year of renovations, the place is pretty and snug. Grant puts it more simply: "We had to get the crack out!" she says.
  
  She sets a carafe of wine on the table. The new Frederick Squire album record plays in the background, and then she puts on Beach House. The phone rings, but Grant waves it off. "It's not important," she says.
  
  After the 10th ring, she picks it up. Her voice rises with a terrible urgency. "What? What do you mean, he's gone?"
  
  She returned to the kitchen, looking stricken. "My dog's lost," she says.
  
  It turns out Grant's mom---who shares her dog, Charlie---had tied him up on Agricola Street while she chatted with a friend. When she looked back, he was gone. Grant begins searching for the number of the SPCA on her laptop, her eyes wet with tears.
  
  Then the phone rings again.
  
  Grant answers it and races to the front door. A man stands in the doorway, holding the scruff of the soaked terrier's neck. He found Charlie wandering around the bottle depot and saw the phone number and name on his collar. He'd even started asking people where Jenn Grant lived.
  
  "Everyone knows you, but no one's related to you!" he says. It is both a weird and entirely perfect thing to say.
  
  Grant throws her arms around him. "I love you," she says.
  
  The evening's drama is more or less over now. Charlie snores on the couch and the carafe of wine is drained. These days, all signs would point to Jenn Grant's life being generally drama-free---she's got a dog; she's got a house; she's getting married. The heartbroken siren of Echoes is no more, the critics say. Honeymoon Punch is pure bliss.
  
  Still, the month of December was not without its trials. Before the holidays, Grant fell down a flight of stairs and put her hand through a window, slicing tendons in her wrist. She spent the holidays recovering from surgery. The cast was removed in time for the "Getcha Good" video because it was too bulky beneath her mitten, but she still can't play guitar. A thick scar snakes down her wrist.
  
  Then, on New Year's Eve, Grant learned that her longtime violinist, roommate and "go-to gal" Kinley Dowling was offered a contract to play with Hey Rosetta! full time. (Share's Andrew Sisk will be taking her place.) Grant is happy and proud of Dowling, but admits she is mourning the departure.
  
  "When you have a friend you can play music with and make that your business, it's the best feeling ever," she says. "If it wasn't going well [at a show], we would look at each other and just know. It felt like we were in grade eight, that's what we would say. She has a lot to do with the album---a lot to do with my joie de vivre."
  
  Changes and tumult aside, Honeymoon Punch is certainly a happy production. In typically Jenn Grant fashion, the album's video EPK shows all the album's talented players---Ledwell, Dowling, Sean MacGillivray, David Christensen and Mike Belyea--- at a lakeside cabin during a seemingly endless string of sunny days, making music and having a time. This is how albums should be made.
  
  But there's also sophistication in these songs, and a sense of assurance. The song "How I Met You"---described by Grant as "a dark twisted story I made up"---has a romantic, faintly grind-y edge that's reminiscent of Cat Power going electric on You Are Free, while "All Year" has an austere poppiness that feels Pitchfork-ready.
  
  You can hear bits of the Jenn Grant who lost her dog this evening in the kitchen--- emotive, charming, generous, but also the type of woman who will pause an interview to sternly admonish a flickering lamp: "Stop that---we have company!"
  
  It feels real. Like her.
  
  Grant says that with her last album Echoes, "My heart was smashed. I love it, but it was therapeutic, it was something I had to do. I didn't feel like I found my ground until we did this record. I knew the sound I wanted. I knew I wanted Danny to produce, because he knows me better than other people do. I want to make something that was not expected for me and not the easiest thing for me.
  
  "I want to feel like me, and not another version of me," Grant says. "And I finally got who I wanted behind me, backing me up."

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Canadian singer-songwriter Jenn Grant has a new musical style on her third album, shaking off the br...Canadian singer-songwriter Jenn Grant has a new musical style on her third album, shaking off the broken-hearted tone of her last disc and stepping into the upbeat groove of true love.
  
  "I decided to do everything differently, really," says the Halifax-based musician, who expanded her following with the sweet, sad songs of her last album Echoes.
  
  "That whole thing was talking about being heartbroken. I was getting so bored of talking about it," she says, adding that she felt the same way about the old-school recording techniques she used. "By the time it was done, I was like, 'ugh, whatever. I just want to make a pop record.'"
  
  Happily, she fell in love with a fellow East Coast musician/ producer, In-Flight Safety's Daniel Ledwell, who helped make that happen. After buying and renovating a house in Halifax together, she figured he could handle the production duties.
  
  "We spend so much time talking about music," she says, describing their ideas as very aligned. "And we renovated our house for a year so we're good at working together. This is another medium."
  
  Both were inspired by the fresh sound of the Grammy-winning Phoenix album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. "I just like that kind of powerpunch sound where you want to get up and dance and have fun," Grant says. "It's the complete opposite of what I was doing before. I think I wanted to make stuff that was catchy."
  
  She fulfils the mission with songs like Oh My Heart, which sounds like Feist, the crisp rockers How I Met You and Getcha Good and the newwave synth that drives Walk Away. To play the new songs live, Grant is touring with a five-piece band that includes Ledwell, her hubby-to-be.
  
  JENN GRANT WITH HOODED FANG
  
  When & where: 8: 30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25-26, Black Sheep Inn, Wakefield
  
  Tickets: $15 advance, plus surcharges, available through Ticketweb, www.ticketweb.ca and 1-888-222-6608.
  
  On next month's tour schedule is a couple of days at Austin's South By Southwest music conference, part of the master plan to expand Grant's fan base.
  
  "I know it's challenging but I'm looking forward to playing more international markets," says the 30-year-old singer-songwriter. "Which I've done but I need to do that more. I'm just going where the music takes me, I guess."
  
  Born on Prince Edward Island, Grant moved to Halifax with her mother and later studied fine art at college. Deterred by stage fright, she didn't jump into music until she was well into her 20s. Her first full-length album, Orchestra for the Moon, established her as an exquisite-ly talented songstress, with a flair for melancholy and romance. The followup, Echoes, explored the same ground, and several songs found wide exposure on prime-time TV shows, most notably Grey's Anatomy.
  
  Her recent collaborations with Buck 65 on his 20 Odd Years project have also been fruitful. In a recent interview with a Halifax magazine, the East Coast artist/broadcaster calls her one of the best singers in the world and praises her innate musical ability. Their work together has resulted in a songwriter of the year nomination in the East Coast Music Awards. Grant is also up for two fan choice awards, for best video and entertainer of the year.
  
  But her focus for this year is on touring. Although Grant admits she'll miss her newly renovated home and her dog (who's being looked after by her mom), she is keen to spend time on the road with her band. "I'm looking forward to playing and connecting with audiences, and trying to discover new markets and travel," she says. "It's a six-piece band: we're really rocking it."

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Occasionally she makes a literal foray to a strange place, as in All Year, which we discover in the ...Occasionally she makes a literal foray to a strange place, as in All Year, which we discover in the second verse was written or at least sketched in a motel near the coast of New York State. At that moment, a punchy horn section elbows its way to the front of the band, and a whiff of mid-sixties Motown comes into the music, which suddenly feels like it could use some synchronized dance moves and big hairdos. The lyrics tell us she’s missing home and the man waiting there for her, but the music is urging: Go, girl, do this thing! And she does, tripping for much of the album through an exciting flux of styles that are at least a day trip away from her rootsy ground-zero.
  
  All Year is exceptionally free-range, starting as it does with a folky acoustic opening, before drums and bass put a soft habanera kick in the beat – sly preparation for that horn invasion later on. In Baby’s Been Away, Grant’s dreamy melody about sweet separation floats over a glowing arpeggiated guitar line and some tight rim taps, till Grant reaches the line “walked up and hit a nerve” – at which point everything drops out, and a few hard smacks from the whole band delivers that shock in real time.
  
  Getcha Good jumps with both feet into a vintage rockabilly atmosphere, with a touch of reverb in the vocals, guitars jangling and barked interjections from the horns. Grant’s beautiful voice and liquid singing style sometimes efface her inner rock grrl (as I recall telling her once over drinks), but here she has it both ways, as also in Parliament of Owls, a breezy rocker that features some of her best lyrics.
  
  How I Met You and Walk Away bring in grainy synthesizers and a more basic style; the latter is essentially a Grant melodic fantasia stapled to a flat-footed harmonic grid. They’re not my favourites among her songs, but there’s an ear-worm lurking in each one, which could give these tracks (How I Met You is the first single) some lethal mainstream potential.
  
  Some of her stylistic modulations feel a few steps from ideal. She’s been playing Heart of Sticks in concert for years now, and it can be a very touching song, but the mid-sixties urban flavour of the recorded arrangement doesn’t quite gel with the home-cooked melodic line. Stars To Waves runs much of its course in an intimate setting with acoustic guitar, then blows up into an extended instrumental coda that almost sounds like a Broken Social Scene picnic. The song would be just fine without it. And I would recommend losing the brief, disconcerting splashes of Radiohead’s very distinctive guitar sound, behind a verse of Oh My Heart and in the spacey bridge of Getcha Good.
  
  All in all, this is a very smart and assured album (produced by In-Flight Safety’s Daniel Ledwell, with a tight band of seasoned Grant cohorts) from a musician whose career has really blossomed since her Echoes disc of 2009. And did I mention that she’s a wonderful singer?
  

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Jenn Grant's latest is a splash of ice in her cocktail. Honeymoon Punch feels like a stiff martini b...Jenn Grant's latest is a splash of ice in her cocktail. Honeymoon Punch feels like a stiff martini but tastes like an Amaretto sour.
  
  The album opens with the fantastical "Oh My Heart," and Grant begins with a confession: "You look like a movie star from this angle." It's a lyric penned by Grant's left hand gal and violinist Kinley Dowling and Greg Denton, and evolves into a pop anthem of dreams, dancing and crushes backed by an electro dance beat.
  
  "How I Met You" takes it up a notch. Kick up your heels new lovebirds: this one is for you. The catchy chorus and stellar guitar riffs perfectly accent the eclectic lyrical love story. It feels like a night out at the drive-in, lip-locking by the big screen beneath the stars.
  
  There's a newfound confidence in Grant, one where she flirts, teases and taunts with her coyness. She's no longer a heartbreaker. She's sewn up the holes in the quilt of her heart and is all love and warmth. Honeymoon Punch is an album for anyone who loves old '50s songs, Beach House and The Submarines.
  
  "Baby's Been Away," co-written with her fiance and producer Daniel Ledwell (In-Flight Safety), is a lovely ode for longing and awaiting the one you adore to return home.
  
  There's a sense of sass and playfulness throughout the album. Grant's "Getcha Good" is sure to inspire wild nights on the town, dance parties in bedrooms and the horn blowing freedom of a good kiss. "Parliament Of Owls" is an ode (and cover of Christian Ledwell's song) to anyone who loves that '90s east coast style — lovely, gritty and full of indie hearted swoon.
  
  "Stars To Waves" bookends the album with a fantastically explosive cacophony of instrumentation featuring the most darling telephone storytelling by Isabel MacLellan, the bright-eyed daughter of Grant's friend and fellow lady of song, Catherine MacLellan. It truly doesn't get any sweeter than Honeymoon Punch.

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Jenn Grant's music has always mirrored her emotions. Orchestra for the Moon, the Halifax, NS-based s...Jenn Grant's music has always mirrored her emotions. Orchestra for the Moon, the Halifax, NS-based singer-songwriter's debut, showed us her spunky, wide-eyed naivety. Then, her 2009 release, Echoes, brought us to a heavy place filled with heartbreak, loneliness and mourning. Now, with Honeymoon Punch, Grant is ready to pull us out of the depression that Echoes left us in and show us the goofy, happy friskiness associated with cuddling a loved one on a couch. Yup, this whimsical sweetheart is totally drunk on cupid's scotch. The record kicks things off with the groovy, up-tempo "Oh My Heart"; you can tell by the growl in her voice that she's smitten. The jazzy, sultry, bold woman she unleashes via her playful lyricism is completely contagious, tickling every mischievous bone in your body. "How I Met You" and "Walk Away" toy with synthesizers, marking a departure for the folk artist, but they work beautifully with each song's get-up-and-dance attitude. This lovebird's real portrait is painted by "Getcha Good," where she kicks off her boots and wraps herself in her favourite patchwork quilt while smiling coyly at her significant other: "I'm your lady/I'm your fire/Catch me if you can/I'm wild for you." Rawr.
  
  How would you sum up the time that's passed since you released Echoes two years ago?
  Making [Echoes] was a very personal journey and I think that after that was completed, I wanted to move on and make something that would really lend [itself] to a fun live show. Since then, I basically feel like I've been doing the regular thing like touring, but also I got engaged, bought a house, got a dog and I went to Egypt for a month. I was kind of doing a lot of things.
  
  Was it a conscious decision to make it more upbeat?
  I did feel like I wanted to make something… I felt ready to make something happier and fun. But that's just because that's how I feel; I'm really happy. I have a really wonderful partner and great stuff going on, personally. I think all of my records to date are little reflections of my life's journey. Like Orchestra for the Moon, it was pre- any type of huge relationship when I wrote that album and it was kind of starry-eyed. And then Echoes was "Aww, I'm sad," going through heartache and stuff. And this record, I feel confident, self-assured and really happy. I know where I'm going; I just feel like I can stomp my feet on the ground a little more.
  
  When did you start writing material for the album?
  It was when I went to Egypt, which was March [2010]. I just went there because my best friend lived there for a year. I went over there and wrote "How I Met You" and "Getcha Good" in her apartment in Cairo. Most of the other songs I wrote throughout the year. There were a couple I wrote before that. "All Year" I wrote before going away to play some shows in the States while having this premonition, a feeling that it was going to be difficult to go over there and play; I'm psychic! But that song kind of changed over time. This is the first time we made a record and sat with it. We went to record at the cottage the last week of May. [Beau, In-Flight Safety keyboardist and album producer] Danny [Ledwell] and I had the record all summer and just kind of tweaked things, worked on things, listened to it and let it sit. We didn't work on it all the time, but kind of let it sit and we'd go back and listen. Usually, I feel frantic and I want to record now and put it out right away, but it was nice because there was no pressure. We were also listening to music a lot, Danny and I. We had a lot of time together at home, working on our house together, our garden and cooking and stuff. We would listen to records like Phoenix together and talk about music so much that it just seemed like, "Why would I work with anybody else other than my boyfriend?" who is my producer and knows me better than anybody. It just seemed like all the arrows were pointing to that. But I also wanted to be really careful with that, to make sure that my relationship was in game before the career stuff. But as it turned out, it was the most fun working experience everywhere; it was such a good fit.
  
  Do you feel like this album is you drunk on love?
  Yeah! Yes.
  
  
  Was it all pleasant working with Daniel or did it have its trying moments?
  No, we didn't really have any moments; we would seem to come to the same conclusions as we were discussing stuff. I mean, we both went to art school and it was almost like a way of working that we enjoy, just discussing and being open and creative. And then when we went to the cottage ? it was very important to me that I found the right place to do it. I looked for a while and finally found this beautiful, really big cottage in Nova Scotia on Lake Deception. You had to drive three hours away from home through the woods on this long, winding road, you couldn't see any houses anywhere and then you'd finally get to this place on this beautiful lake. We took the band there; it was really a group effort. I also wondered how it would be, now that my boyfriend was the producer of my band; I didn't know if the band would be used to it, but he's really good at giving direction and they're all good at taking direction, so it was a nice community feeling. On Echoes, we did it really organically and played it all live-off-the-floor, most of the time, but it was so tiring on my voice that I wanted to do the opposite this time. This time, we did it in layers and built upon tracks, which I hadn't really done. Working with Danny was definitely the highlight of my career; it was the most fulfilling thing to be in a relationship with someone and be able to make something so personal.
  
  How personal would you say this record is compared to Orchestra and Echoes?
  I would say just as personal. I mean, in some ways I feel like I made Echoes and I just wanted to let go of it, put it out there and be done with it. I still play songs from it and everything, but I just felt like I needed to do that. It was almost like a therapy. But for this one, I wanted to make a record because I like making records and I just wanted to make a fun record for the audience; I'm really happy with it. I don't feel like I'm letting go of it; I feel like I'm really enjoying it. [All my records] are personal ? that's the way that I work: I take what's inside of me and put it out. This is what was inside me, at the time.
  
  Lyrically, did you find yourself touching upon certain themes or ideas as you were writing?
  Well, "How I Met You" is kind of a made-up story in my head. Some of them, like "Getcha Good," stem from a happy place where I can write a fun number instead of being like, "I need to sing about something that is afflicting me and let it out." This is more about feeling a beat inside of you that's different because you're excited and want to share that good feeling. I'm in such a different place than where I was when I made Echoes; I don't have any heartbreak anymore. It's over and I'm really happy and free.
  
  One thing that I noticed when I heard "How I Met You" is you use synthesizers. It's such a huge change in your sound. How did you end up experimenting with them?
  Kate Bush was one of my influences, as was Phoenix. I just really wanted to get away from that organic sound. At first, I was consumed with "the album with the organic sound that I made on a farm," but a couple years after that you're just like, "I want to shake it off and do something fresh." I know, all of a sudden my band have, like, five keyboards and I don't even know when that happened. We didn't really notice and then we played a show in Halifax and during sound check we were all just like, "Wow, look at all these keyboards. Where did they come from?"
  
  I noticed that there are only ten songs on the record, while Orchestra and Echoes both have 13.
  We decided that we wanted ten because we started saying "power punch ten" all the time, and we also noticed that all of the records that we loved had ten songs as well.
  
  Were there more songs that came out of the recording process that ended up getting cut?
  Yeah, I guess there were lots more that just ended up getting chopped, but they didn't even make it to the band. Things were kind of floating around and these were the ten that I decided to focus on. Once something makes it to the band, it's pretty much "we're going to do this."
  
  When you look back at Honeymoon Punch, in what ways have you grown since you started as an artist?
  In a lot of ways, actually. Every time I make a record I feel like I'm finding my voice again. It's fun to be able to push yourself and find new pockets you haven't discovered yet. I don't even think that I knew that was something I cared about when I started making music; it was more like a release. Now, I have this audience that comes to shows and I think about them more now when I'm making stuff. Like, if I change my sound, is that okay with everybody? I recognize more that what I make now is a permanent thing that I want to put out into the world, and when I put it out it will be there forever. So, what I say matters. This time, I wanted to make something that brings people happiness ? that's my goal for this one. If that's possible, great.
  

• Echoes [+ Show ]
  

  Jenn Grant is one of Canada's most exquisitely talented new singer-songwriters, her voice an instrum...Jenn Grant is one of Canada's most exquisitely talented new singer-songwriters, her voice an instrument of rare and delicate beauty.

• Jenn Grant - Orchestra For The Moon [+ Show ]
  

  “It’s rare that an album is as immediately arresting as Jenn Grant’s Orchestra For The Moon, and eve...“It’s rare that an album is as immediately arresting as Jenn Grant’s Orchestra For The Moon, and even rarer that it remains so right through to the last sweet, quivering note. But the Halifax-based Grant has a voice like raw silk and songwriting skills to back it up. Her poignant folk pop is as unique as it is enthralling, combining vintage music box appeal with modern pop sensibilities. It even features a duet with the illustrious Ron Sexsmith; “In A Brown House,” is an elegant heartbreaker of a tune that would stand out for its melancholy beauty if the album wasn’t already jam-packed with loveliness.” - Rachel Sanders

• Jenn Grant - Orchestra For The Moon [+ Show ]
  

  “Some singers can get to you without a word. They make a sound and twist it this way or that, and yo...“Some singers can get to you without a word. They make a sound and twist it this way or that, and you know what they're telling you even though you can't say it either. The best of them make it seem as if they're just feeling out loud, and that's the kind of singer Jenn Grant is… .Record stores will probably treat her album (which also features cameos by Jill Barber and Matt Mays) as roots or folk or some earthy subdivision of pop, but it's really just magic that's heard and not seen. Listen as close as you like, but by the end, you won't know how she did it.” - Robert Everett-Green

• Jenn Grant - Orchestra For The Moon [+ Show ]
  

  “Most singer-songwriters never dream of being as lushly backed as Jenn Grant is on her debut album, ...“Most singer-songwriters never dream of being as lushly backed as Jenn Grant is on her debut album, produced by members of Halifax’s the Heavy Blinkers. Fellow Canadians pop up throughout the record, contributing all manner of baroque embellishment. “White Horses” features a full band and soaring string section, while “In a Brown House” is a spooky duet with Ron Sexsmith. Such bells and whistles bring us right into Grant’s willowy singing and pastoral lyrics. Grant comes out adorable but never cloying, somewhere between Rosie Thomas and Jenny Lewis. At her best, a single line lands like a knockout punch: “Sound of the thunder/Well, it was comin’ from the west/And it hit you like a heartache in a light blue dress.” On paper it’s okay; sung by Grant with eerie confidence, it’s golden.”

• Jenn Grant - Orchestra For The Moon [+ Show ]
  

  “There is no denying that Jenn Grant's voice has its designs on you; its seductive qualities might r...“There is no denying that Jenn Grant's voice has its designs on you; its seductive qualities might remind you of the first time you heard Cat Power or Jolie Holland. Orchestra for the Moon is a terribly accomplished album: affecting and rough-hewn songs that are polished up real shiny and laid out comfortably in the alt-country-lite sounds of pedal steel and violin.”

• Jenn Grant - Orchestra For The Moon [+ Show ]
  

  “I am absolutely in love with Jenn Grant's awe-inspiring voice and amazing lyrics. I only discovered...“I am absolutely in love with Jenn Grant's awe-inspiring voice and amazing lyrics. I only discovered the Eastern Canadian songstress this morning and instantly went on an odyssey to find every bit of information I could find about her. Her new album Orchestra For The Moon is one of the strongest collections folk pop I've heard in quite sometime. The tunes are simply gorgeous. I have a feeling it's not going to leave my stereo for quite sometime.”
  

• Echoes
  

  "Grant's voice is an unpredictable instrument adept at conveying real ache." - Arts Cover story

• Echoes [+ Show ]
  

  "Halifax's Jenn Grant comes across like a jazzier version of Aimee Mann..."Echoes" features Grant's ..."Halifax's Jenn Grant comes across like a jazzier version of Aimee Mann..."Echoes" features Grant's smoky vocals over well-constructed, carefully crafted songs."

• Echoes [+ Show ]
  

  On Jenn Grant's gorgeous new album, she glows in the light and bleeds dark...Echoes is a more unifie...On Jenn Grant's gorgeous new album, she glows in the light and bleeds dark...Echoes is a more unified experience, more exploratory.

• Echoes [+ Show ]
  

  ...Grant proves to be more than just a pretty voice...Penultimate number "Everybody Loves You" even ......Grant proves to be more than just a pretty voice...Penultimate number "Everybody Loves You" even offers the tantalizing prospect that Grant may yet follow the largely neglected lead of cult songwriter Mary Margaret O'Hara into even further uncharted territory.

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Jenn Grant is on an upswing. The Halifax-based pop singer/songwriter sounds positively peppy on her ...Jenn Grant is on an upswing. The Halifax-based pop singer/songwriter sounds positively peppy on her third album, which is full of charming melodies, playful arrangements and electro-tinged dance beats that leave her folk roots in the dust.
  
  Grant seems to be writing with an audience in mind, a departure from the introspective broken-heartedness displayed on 2009's Echoes. She adds some grit to her overwhelmingly pretty vocals on How I Met You, a horn-punctuated Motown chorus to All Year - just one of the album's many standout choruses - and sinister synths on Walk Away that prevent a saccharine overdose and suggest and entirely new direction.
  
  The ability to pull off such fearless variety - softer, intimate folk also makes appearances - is a sure sign of a songwriter who has come into her own.

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Jenn Grant's sugary-string voice isn't particularly unique: it's been drawing comparisons to Feist a...Jenn Grant's sugary-string voice isn't particularly unique: it's been drawing comparisons to Feist and Sarah Harmer since her 2005 debut. She combats the resemblance with playful aesthetic quirks and exercises in genre teasing: on earlier albums with jazzy elements and piano quips, and now by adding poppy horns and country strumming to Honeymoon Punch, easily her most upbeat album. The thing is, she really doesn't need to add anything at all. For all their eccentricities, the track on her fourth release from and impressively cohesive album, but the embellishments can distract from the consistency: despite its vintage brass and catchy drums, "Getcha Good" becomes excessive too quickly. Conversely, the straight forward pop-rock tune "Oh My Heart" is easily captivating and, along with the best songs of Honeymoon Punch, proves that Grant's creative use of her voice is the album's most charming oddity.

• Jenn Grant taps the chemistry within music [+ Show ]
  

  Honeymoon Punch sounds like an adventure in creative mixology, but Jenn Grant was more interested in...Honeymoon Punch sounds like an adventure in creative mixology, but Jenn Grant was more interested in human chemistry with her third CD, trying to see how music can affect the brain and induce euphoria with just the right formula of melody and harmony.
  
  We can all consider ourselves subjects in this grand experiment, and so far the results of the Halifax singer's scientific method are shown to be sound. Just check out the video for the first single Getcha Good, where people are seen to spontaneously burst into dancing in the streets not far from her north-end home. What more proof do you need?
  
  For those who doubt Grant's eligibility for a Nobel Prize in musical science, you can hear for yourself when she launches Honeymoon Punch at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax on Saturday at 8 p.m. as part of the In the Dead of Winter Festival, and be amazed at tunes that float like butterflies and sting like a B-sharp.

• Punch Drunk Love [+ Show ]
  

  So much for the theory that great albums only come from miserable hearts: Jenn Grant's Honeymoon Pun...So much for the theory that great albums only come from miserable hearts: Jenn Grant's Honeymoon Punch (Six Shooter Records/Warner Music Canada) is as accomplished as it is full of high spirits. Appropriately enough, the Halifax-based singer-songwriter became engaged to her producer, Daniel Ledwell, just after its recording, and her contentment comes through as clearly as her lovely voice. It's quite a change from her last record, Echoes, a moving but much darker work that explored heartbreak and loss. "I'm just trying to write from a personal perspective," says Grant. "I think Echoes is beautiful, but this is different. I'm in a really good spot now, happy and secure."
  
  Grant took Ledwell and her band to a remote cottage on the intriguingly named Lake Deception, in Nova Scotia, to make Honeymoon Punch. Their relaxed recording process apparently contributed to the album's sunny vibe as well as its generous musical variety: It incorporates folk, a bit of orchestral rock and even synth-pop in "Walk Away," and earthy spin on New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle." "Dan and I talked about music we love for a year and a half before deciding to make this record together," she says. "We had ideas about what direction we wanted for the songs, but I like that my band still had a lot of freedom with what they played."
  
  Grant has suffered from stage fright in the past, but she's actually looking forward to touring this winter. "I feel more at home onstage now than I do in most other situations." she says with a laugh. "And I'm going on the road with the whole band, because it's important to me that they play the record they made." She also wants to pass her positive attitude on to her fans. "I really wanted to make a happy record because I wanted to put on a happy live shoe for my audience," she explains. "I feel like they're ready for some good times."

• Echoes of the future [+ Show ]
  

  The 30-year-old Jenn Grant knew that her third album was going to lead her in a new direction, She'd...The 30-year-old Jenn Grant knew that her third album was going to lead her in a new direction, She'd already been a blues singer and a folk star, but on Honeymoon Punch, the Prince Edward Island-native felt like she was finally ready to rock.
  
  "When I was recording Echoes, I was writing about being broken-hearted and after two years of supporting that, it was like, 'Oh my God, kill me now,'" Grant stays with a laugh from her Halifax home. "I want to portray something more vivacious, immediate and lively and I think this record is a etter reflection of where I am today, which is stomping my feet around and sharing something with my audience that's fun and bright."
  
  It;s not like Grant needed a change in direction. The singer won the best new artist award at the 2006 Nova Scotia Music Awards and her lyrical, wistful pop songs have been featured on such TV shows as Grey's Anatomy, Flashpoint and Heartland. However after falling for her producer, Daniel Ledwell, who also made records fro In-Flight Safety, Grant found herself listening to vinyl and falling in love.
  
  "Danny and I bought this little house and renovated it, and this record was literally born by me just strumming away in our kitchen," says Grant, who plays keyboard as well as guitar on her new album. "Phoenix made my favourite record of the past year I love how when people came over and I played it, everyone started dancing. It had this joyous, I-don't-gave-a-s--t attitude, like, 'Why can't I make a record like that?'"
  
  The record is still and immediately recognizable product of Grant's infectious lyrics and vocals. Upbeat, though at once lush and haunting, it references everything from Joel Plaskett to Bruno Mars, and finds the performer ably pushing into territory where she's never been before.
  
  "I remember performing for the first time at 16 and being so freaked out by the attention the my voice and hands were shaking, and even though I wanted it so badly, I couldn't go on," says Grant, who had originally decided to battle her stage fright by becoming an artist, and graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. "In Halifax, I'd spend five nights a week in the clubs and I fell back in love with music and performing. I saw Tegan and Sara when I was 24 and I loved it so much, I recorded my EP the next year."
  
  Grant has gone on to record with Matt Mays and Ron Sexsmith and says that any reluctance she once had with performing is gone. Her new album was recorded in Nova Scotia at a place celled Lake Deception, and she says she can't wait to take her new band - and her fiance - on the road.
  
  "I feel like this record is definitely more me than the last record or anything that I've done before," Grant says. "This is the sound of me ripping up floors, making pizzas and falling in love."
  
  Jenn Grant begins her tour on Jan. 29 at Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax. For complete concert listings, see jenngrant.com.

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Halifax's Jenn Grant gets ready to spread the success around with Honeymoon Punch Does the kind of ...Halifax's Jenn Grant gets ready to spread the success around with Honeymoon Punch
  Does the kind of record you put out influence what kinds of venues you want to play in support of it? According to Halifax-based chanteuse Jenn Grant, absolutely it does.
  Last week, while Grant and her band were trundling their way into Toronto for a gig at the Horseshoe Tavern, she and I were catching up by phone. Around the time someone in her van was cursing a blue streak at some unfortunate (and probably deserving) Toronto driver, we were discussing how the ‘Shoe was a perfect place for her to play.
  "This record is a lot more…," she starts, then trails off. "For Echoes, we were doing a lot more [old] theatres and stuff like that. This record is [different]. I still want to be able to do that but I definitely want to be able to put on some rock shows, some really energetic live shows."
  Translation: Yes, the Horseshoe is the perfect place for me to play this record.
  "This record" is Honeymoon Punch, Grant’s first release since the aforementioned Echoes gently coaxed audiences towards more thoughtful and sombre moods in 2009. Comparatively, Honeymoon Punch is a manifestation of happiness, joy and maybe even freedom. If we are to read into records the way we read into other artwork – which is to say we can glean something about the artist’s temperament from the work’s tone – this one seems a pretty clear pronouncement that everything is A-OK in the life of Jenn Grant.
  Many writers have recently made the somewhat easy connection between Honeymoon‘s vibe and Grant’s engagement to In-Flight Safety’s Daniel Ledwell, who produced the album. That point goes something like "she’s happy, so she made a happy record." When coupled with the exuberant, good-spirited and colourful video for Getcha Good, it seems to make a lot of sense.
  Except that’s not the whole truth.
  "I just feel more involved in this project," she admits. This isn’t her smack-talking Echoes, her first release for Toronto-based Six Shooter Records, mind you. Rather, it’s to celebrate maturing as an artist (and maybe even those SSR folks).
  "[Echoes and Honeymoon Punch] are very different projects and this album is a representation of myself when I’m feeling like I’m starting to figure out at this point of my career what I want to create musically and what I want to give to my audience," she explains in a longwinded, stream-of-consciousness style I am, while taking notes, growing to love.
  "I’ve been doing this for seven years and this time around I felt like I was in a very good place personally, and ready to take some risks and change some things. Because Echoes was such a different record than this one; after performing and [living] that record for a couple years I really wanted to change everything."
  THE FADING ECHO OF ECHOES
  Anyone who’s spent a significant amount of time with Echoes can commiserate. While beautiful, that record requires a considerable emotional commitment to listen to. One suspects it exacts a certain toll on the performer as well.
  "It’s not like I regret anything about Echoes," Grant continues. "I feel very proud of that album too. It’s just a completely different thing. I feel completely removed [from that]." Then, later, on the same topic: "I try not to be very aware or conscious when I’m making music. I’m not trying to tie albums together."
  What she was consciously aware of, years ago, was finding a home in the industry. Six Shooter became that place, and still is, I’m guessing, because it’s among the only labels going where I’ve witnessed artists treated like family.
  Grant agrees, just more poignantly. "I felt really connected to them and really like I wanted to do good things for my career and myself and my band. But I wanted to do good things for Six Shooter as well. I wanted my successes to be their successes."
  With all of that – love, engagement, the old record and the record label – in her mind, Grant’s formula this time around was pretty simple: "With this one, I was just like, basically, ‘Fuck everything. I’ll just do it exactly how I want it.’"
  A big part of that was enlisting Ledwell to produce it.
  "Asking Dan to produce the record is a huge part of why it sounds the way it sounds," she explains. "I asked him to produce it because I knew that he understood my feelings and thoughts about it so well. We spent so much time kind of discussing music and listening to it, and felt like we were on the same page.
  "This is the most self-assured I’ve ever felt about a recording process, or creating something and being super proud of it."

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Everything’s coming up Jenn Grant. Two years after her heartbreaking sophomore album, Echoes, the Ha...Everything’s coming up Jenn Grant. Two years after her heartbreaking sophomore album, Echoes, the Halifax-based singer-songwriter tucks her heart safely into her sleeve and dances forward with the newly released Honeymoon Punch – a new chapter following what felt like Echoes’ mourning.
  
  “It feels like Echoes was the divorce, and now I’m on my honeymoon,” says Grant, laughing over the phone line from her north end home.
  
  “I wanted to do something…that would be more kind of fun and gutsy and striking,” she later adds. “You know, a little bit different.”
  
  That striking gutsiness finds itself in Motown tones and more rock ‘n’ roll and pop sensibilities; Grant credits the latter two to fiancé and Honeymoon producer, Dan Ledwell (of In-Flight Safety). There’s a confidence in Grant’s voice that holds its usual gorgeous tone, while it moves away from a normally folk aesthetic into get-up-and-dance territory.
  
  “I’m very comfortable with changing things around completely, and so I really wanted to just record it in a total opposite way and it just, you know, it just kind of lends itself to that naturally I guess.”
  
  Grant’s recently released video for Getcha Good, an ode to her neighbourhood that Grant wrote with Nancy Sinatra in mind, lays it all out. An uncharacteristic electric guitar riff (until this album, that is) opens to Grant, clad in rain boots, a pink coat, white scarf and mittens, running from door to door grabbing friends for a street dance party. There are glimpses of fellow Haligonians Ledwell, Tanya Davis and Aaron McKenzie Fraser dancing in a quasi-flash mob, choreographed by Kym Butler. It’s jellybean colourful, relaxed and, above all, fun.
  
  Grant’s smiles in the video are infectious, but she has journeyed to get to this point. Her referenced divorce album, Echoes, came out of a painful, ending relationship. While it gave her exposure – the track Everybody Loves You was featured on Grey’s Anatomy – Grant says the following time was difficult, including eight months she didn’t tour because everything was too heavy.
  
  In December, Grant fell and punched her hand through a window; after surgery on cut tendons in her wrist, she was able to take the cast off just in time to shoot the Getcha Good video at the beginning of January.
  
  Hovering between 2010 and 2011, Grant’s violinist – and friend – Kinley Dowling accepted a contract to tour with Hey Rosetta!, leaving Grant down a band member just before Honeymoon Punch took off (the din in the background of this interview was the sound of Dowling moving out). In addition to Kinley, the talents of Ledwell, Sean MacGillivray, David Christensen and Mike Belyea make up the album’s players.
  
  But Grant is on her honeymoon, and there’s no stopping her. Long-time friend Andrew Sisk has replaced Dowling, Grant is able to play post-injury and a certain fiancé is keeping her from heartbreak. The end of January brought more good news for Grant: three East Coast Music Awards nominations, including Fan’s Choice Entertainer of the Year, Fan’s Choice Video of the Year (You’ll Go Far) and SOCAN Songwriter of the Year (with Buck 65 for Paper Airplanes). None of these are for Honeymoon Punch, so the ECMAs will be seeing more of Grant next time around.
  
  Through it all, Grant is patient. She says touring internationally is on her list of things to do, hinting that Germany and Australia hold the most allure. But she’s not rushing. Album release dates fill her current schedule, and Grant is excited to let things unroll, as they will.
  
  “I’m excited for that to happen, when it happens,” Grant says, of dipping her toes into different markets. Her smile is audible.

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  For those who have been following Halifax-based singer/songwriter Jenn Grant’s progress over her fir...For those who have been following Halifax-based singer/songwriter Jenn Grant’s progress over her first two albums and have pegged her as a moody balladeer, her latest release, Honeymoon Punch, is sure to raise some eyebrows. While her previous album, Echoes, simmered with breakup angst, the new one lives up to its title with its musical adventurousness accurately reflecting love in full bloom.
  
  “This is the most time I’ve ever had to sit with a record, so I feel very happy that we knew what sound we were going for and that it was achieved,” she says. “But at the same time it all felt very spontaneous. It was very liberating to take control and go in a different direction, and as a result I feel like I made something much more representative of who I am really am and who I’m trying to be as an artist.”
  
  The most obvious shift is the amount of keyboards on the record, which Grant opted to use in her writing process, rather than guitar, for the first time. The incorporation of synthesizers especially adds to the Honeymoon Punch’s overall playful feel.
  
  “I think that [the track] Walk Away was exciting for me because I wrote it on keyboards,” she says. “I had a vision of that song and was listening to a lot of Kate Bush at the time—and [producer] Danny [Ledwell] was really able to direct the band and myself to get to that place.”
  
  As far as the nuts and bolts of adding the keyboards to her sound goes, Grant says that it’s been more fun than challenging. “Playing with new sounds and breaking away from the organic has breathed new life into the music for us all. We didn’t notice that there were so many synths until we performed in Halifax in November and all of a sudden we were like, ‘where did all these keyboards come from?’”
  
  Grant’s show in Guelph on Feb. 16 will be the first taste of her new sound that fans in this region will get. From there she and her band, anchored by Ledwell, will continue crisscrossing the eastern half of Canada up until her appearance at the East Coast Music Awards being held this year in her hometown, Charlottetown, PEI.
  
  However, touring outside of Canada is at the top Grant’s to-do list for 2011, a necessary component of accomplishing her other main task of broadening the scope of her stage show both emotionally and visually. It’s all part of her realization that, now with three albums under her belt, she’s in the music business for the long haul.
  
  “I think it’s expected that there are always highs and lows when it comes to any artist’s career,” Grant says. “If I wasn’t making music I would be very unhappy. So I’m in it for the long run and am just hoping there will be more highs than lows this time. My main goal is to make people happy.”

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Two years ago, PEI born/Halifax based singer Jenn Grant started our year with a record – Echoes – fu...Two years ago, PEI born/Halifax based singer Jenn Grant started our year with a record – Echoes – full of sadness, heartache and regret. An unintentional breakup record, the honest admissions showed fans that Grant was not only growing as a songwriter, she was undoubtedly writing to help heal the hurt. Beautiful, slow and heavy, Echoes found Grant leaving the wide eyed naivety that dominated Orchestra for the Moon behind. Considering how essential Jenn’s penchant for playfulness was, that the shift could have been jarring for fans, but leveraging the musical connection she shared with her band made for a completely natural progression.
  
  Now it’s 2011, Grant’s heart is full and an unbridled happiness overflows into her songs. Whether it’s finding true love, or simply the desire to present a world that helps her fans, her band and her friends smile, Honeymoon Punch is a transformation roughly akin to Edmond Dantès (albeit, one not based on revenge). She’s moved on from her past, leaving behind the innocence and heartbreak and returned with a confidence and charm that only her closest friends could have predicted or recognize. Grant is no longer singing for the people in the bar with the heart torn to shreds. No, she and her band want the crowd to forget, move on and start living again.
  After two years of singing Echoes, I was ready for a change. I love performing, whether it’s a sad song or a fast, fun or gritty one. but after so many sad songs about broken heartedness, my heart healed. It fell into love and happiness- so that’s what i wanted to and was able to give. I also felt that me and my audience were ready to kick up their heals a little after the last journey together.
  
  I think the band was ready for a change too, and it was wonderful to be able to change and grow with the people who have supported me over the years… to give them new spaces to go to, too. I think they were excited about the new direction we wanted to take with the songs, but still felt free to be creative and come up with their own ideas. There seemed to be a nice balance alongside a healthy friction to the process in which we discovered the sound we were making.
  From the first notes of “Oh My Heart”, it’s obvious that Grant and her band wanted to build efficient melodies that deliver maximum impact. Floating dreamscapes are replaced by snares as tight as Larry and Balki and introduce electro back beats to the equation. Sure, Grant still delivers some trademark, slowburning emotional numbers – the beautiful bended notes that start “All Year” (before the song breaks into a carefree skip) and “Paradise Mountain” could have easily appeared on any of her previous releases – but there’s no loneliness in these tales. The slow moments feel as intimate as shared touches between lovers and when the band hits full strides, you hear unfiltered moments of pure bliss that we so rarely get to experience (let alone relive through song). The arrangements are crisp, inclusive, modern and dance ready, and the fact producer Daniel Ledwell was familiar with the aural collages the talented players were trying to develop certainly helped the end result.
  Danny influenced me in many ways, and I knew – after a few years of collecting vinyl in a home we made, and exploring the many patterns of what we like musically- that a large part of our lives revolve around creating music and deciding what we want to lend to this world. I felt like we were meant to make something special together. He was able to lead me in the direction I wanted to go – and it helps that we’re inspired by the same albums too. Phoenix, Laura Veirs, Camera Obscura, Sigor Ros, Coconut Records, Fleet Foxes, Beach House. They were the sountrack to our most recent history.
  Admittedly, these names might not be the names you’d expect to influence Grant, but inspiration – as we see with every sounds-like band – is only a small piece of the pie. On Honeymoon Punch, opting to add more modern support to the melodies (the backing harmonies on the surprisingly muscular “Parliament of Owls” are a discreet tip of the cap to Robin Pecknold and his band and the textures that fill the frame on “Heart of Sticks” could easily appear on any of Stuart Murdoch’s latest records. “How I Met You” ventures close to the style trademarked by two of Canada’s most famous musical twins and even the beautiful closing track, “Stars to Waves” finds Grant exploring an almost Doiron-like vocal delivery before the band takes over) is a new twist, but it’s Grant’s shockingly honest pen and timeless vocals that escalate the arrangements and prove her talent. The punchy horns and soulful feel of “Getcha Good” and smile-inducing strings/percussion of the delightfully simple “Walk Away” would sound good with any vocalist at the helm, but it’s Grant that makes the songs explode out of your headphones.
  
  Undoubtedly, Honeymoon Punch marks a change in Jenn; personally and musically. Will it alienate some of her fans pining for her beautiful voice to float over top of jazzy arrangements or revert to a country charmer like Dolly or Loretta? Probably, but at a time where everyone promises change and new beginnings, a record that pushes the singer, the band and listener to find that happiness and true love we all want, well, I’m not sure you could start your 2011 any better.
  
  I could go on and on and try to find some clever way to tie in the sagely wisdom of Cyndi Lauper or carefree spirit of young Sarah Jessica Parker/Helen Hunt, but Grant sums up her transformation much better than I ever could;
  I found myself since Echoes, sitting in my kitchen, writing and singing with more joyful expression. I didn’t over think it – I’ve just been following my heart – and sometimes I think of my audience, who I truly adore, and my band and I’ve been thinking of how I want everyone to feel good. There is a time for joy and a time to be sad, and it’s nice to have the opportunity to be able to build on a collection of songs that represent different times, in all of our lives.

• Honeymoon Punch [+ Show ]
  

  Jenn Grant's music has always mirrored her emotions. Orchestra for the Moon, the Halifax, NS-based s...Jenn Grant's music has always mirrored her emotions. Orchestra for the Moon, the Halifax, NS-based singer-songwriter's debut, showed us her spunky, wide-eyed naivety. Then, her 2009 release, Echoes, brought us to a heavy place filled with heartbreak, loneliness and mourning. Now, with Honeymoon Punch, Grant is ready to pull us out of the depression that Echoes left us in and show us the goofy, happy friskiness associated with cuddling a loved one on a couch. Yup, this whimsical sweetheart is totally drunk on cupid's scotch. The record kicks things off with the groovy, up-tempo "Oh My Heart"; you can tell by the growl in her voice that she's smitten. The jazzy, sultry, bold woman she unleashes via her playful lyricism is completely contagious, tickling every mischievous bone in your body. "How I Met You" and "Walk Away" toy with synthesizers, marking a departure for the folk artist, but they work beautifully with each song's get-up-and-dance attitude. This lovebird's real portrait is painted by "Getcha Good," where she kicks off her boots and wraps herself in her favourite patchwork quilt while smiling coyly at her significant other: "I'm your lady/I'm your fire/Catch me if you can/I'm wild for you." Rawr.
  
  How would you sum up the time that's passed since you released Echoes two years ago?
  Making [Echoes] was a very personal journey and I think that after that was completed, I wanted to move on and make something that would really lend [itself] to a fun live show. Since then, I basically feel like I've been doing the regular thing like touring, but also I got engaged, bought a house, got a dog and I went to Egypt for a month. I was kind of doing a lot of things.
  
  Was it a conscious decision to make it more upbeat?
  I did feel like I wanted to make something… I felt ready to make something happier and fun. But that's just because that's how I feel; I'm really happy. I have a really wonderful partner and great stuff going on, personally. I think all of my records to date are little reflections of my life's journey. Like Orchestra for the Moon, it was pre- any type of huge relationship when I wrote that album and it was kind of starry-eyed. And then Echoes was "Aww, I'm sad," going through heartache and stuff. And this record, I feel confident, self-assured and really happy. I know where I'm going; I just feel like I can stomp my feet on the ground a little more.
  
  When did you start writing material for the album?
  It was when I went to Egypt, which was March [2010]. I just went there because my best friend lived there for a year. I went over there and wrote "How I Met You" and "Getcha Good" in her apartment in Cairo. Most of the other songs I wrote throughout the year. There were a couple I wrote before that. "All Year" I wrote before going away to play some shows in the States while having this premonition, a feeling that it was going to be difficult to go over there and play; I'm psychic! But that song kind of changed over time. This is the first time we made a record and sat with it. We went to record at the cottage the last week of May. [Beau, In-Flight Safety keyboardist and album producer] Danny [Ledwell] and I had the record all summer and just kind of tweaked things, worked on things, listened to it and let it sit. We didn't work on it all the time, but kind of let it sit and we'd go back and listen. Usually, I feel frantic and I want to record now and put it out right away, but it was nice because there was no pressure. We were also listening to music a lot, Danny and I. We had a lot of time together at home, working on our house together, our garden and cooking and stuff. We would listen to records like Phoenix together and talk about music so much that it just seemed like, "Why would I work with anybody else other than my boyfriend?" who is my producer and knows me better than anybody. It just seemed like all the arrows were pointing to that. But I also wanted to be really careful with that, to make sure that my relationship was in game before the career stuff. But as it turned out, it was the most fun working experience everywhere; it was such a good fit.

Setlist

Our set list varies from night to night and usually consists of all original material. A typical night when I have a band and I am sharing the stage with others sees us play one set of 45-60 minutes. It is the same for me as a solo performer. Sometimes I do cover songs, but only one or two that fit with the rest of my songs. When playing with my band I like to change up the configuration so that sometimes they are all on stage, sometimes a smaller number and one or two solo performances to add to the visual eye candy of the evening.

Basic Requirements

Calendar