Biography
(indie folk-based pop artist)
Karyn Ellis sings acoustic folk-pop ballads about bittersweet stuff. Her songs are delicate and raw - filled with "intelligence...poetry" and "gentle humour"; she delivers a vocal performance that is unmistakable and sweet. Karyn "can envelop you in the warmth of that voice and break your heart at the same time."
This October marks the release of her third album, a full-length CD entitled EVEN THOUGH THE SKY WAS FALLING. She will be touring across Canada and Europe to support the new release fall/winter 2009 and throughout 2010.
Born in the suburbs of London, England, Karyn was brought to Canada as an eighteen month old babe in arms. She settled in with her family into a household steeped with jazz and classical music piping through the stereo. Other than a brief period living in New Jersey while she was in high school (where she played trumpet in the marching band), Karyn has continued to live in Ontario. Two years of opera training at Queen’s University and a lifetime of singing along to records by her favourite artists such as Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie have shaped her musical sensibility in a way you can’t quite put your finger on. But it is instantly recognizable – Karyn has taken all of these influences and melded them into a sound that is distinctly and memorably hers.
In 2003, Karyn released a six song EP called Bird, an album that basked in its low-production values – Karyn recorded the album on a four-track in her bedroom and in the basement of Toronto audio recording school. While simple in its production, the album introduced Karyn to the music scene as a determined McGuyver; she painstakingly hand printed and assembled 900 copies of the CD’s cover before declaring that edition “out of print”. The effort did not go unnoticed: a mere five days after Karyn lovingly hand addressed a package containing her CD and mailed it out to hosts across the country on CBC (Canada’s national radio network), Karyn’s album received its first national radio airplay. Bill Richardson, then of the nationally airing afternoon show Richardson’s Round Up, aired the title track Bird simply commenting, “It’s lovely”.
Bird set flight for her second full-length album, and in 2005 Karyn released Hearts Fall, which was essentially recorded live one afternoon during the winter of 2005. She, band mates Tom Howell and James Thomson, and engineer Ian Gibbons manning a portable recording station took over a 85-seater Hamilton theatre during down time and recorded what was to become an eleven song album. Back in the studio Gary Craig, one of Canada’s renowned drummers who has played with such artists as Bruce Cockburn and Kathleen Edwards, overdubbed delicate drum tracks to fill out the arrangements. Mixed and Mastered by James Paul (Rogue Studios), Hearts Fall maintained its live ensemble feel offering simple arrangements of her songs that stayed true to her solo singer-songwriter vibe. She toured the album across Canada on several occasions, doing the coffee house and small theatre circuit and sharing stages with Jill Barber, Geoff Berner, David Celia, Annabelle Chvostek of the Wailin’ Jennies, Ndidi Onukwulu, Roxanne Potvin, Claire Jenkins Avec Band, Justin Rutledge and Madison Violet, among others.
Hearts Fall saw even greater CBC playlisting than Karyn’s first EP both nationally and regionally on programs such as The Vinyl Café, Bandwidth, Here and Now and Radio International. It spent six months on various campus radio charts across Canada including five weeks on CIUT Toronto top-30 topping at 3 and reaching the national monthly campus Top-50 and folk/roots/blues Top-20 charts. Karyn’s music has appeared on playlists as a far as Australia and all across Europe, and Hearts Fall received high praise in several of Europe’s online music magazines as well as a Top-Ten DJ pick for album of the year in 2006 from a prominent alt-country website in the Netherlands.
In fall 2009, Karyn releases her third album, (her second full-length record) entitled Even Though The Sky Was Falling, which is being produced by Karyn Ellis and Don Kerr. Don Kerr is known for his work with Ron Sexsmith and the Rheostatics, both as a producer and as a top-rated drummer. The ten original songs on Karyn’s new album include an assortment of arrangements and instruments including piano, banjo, glockenspiel, vocal harmonies, a small string section arranged by Karyn and Don as well as understated orchestral horns arranged by Creaking Tree String Quartet’s Brian Kobayakawa.
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WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT KARYN...
"...eloquent and original..."
(Tandem Magazine)
"Ellis can envelop you in the warmth of that voice and break your heart at the same time.... I've never heard someone sound so childlike and so sensual at the same time.."
(Indie-Music.com, US)
"What a refreshing new voice!"
(NewMusicCanada.com, CBC online affliliate)
... ABOUT HER CD HEARTS FALL
"This album is sheer indie delight....there's intelligence and poetry in the lyrics, not to mention gentle humour. This is not a happy record. But it is one where misery is beautiful, raw and crisp. 8 out of 10. "
(Americana-uk.com, UK)
"You simply have to delight in Karyn Ellis' fragile and sometimes oddly girlish voice. Her high tones and jazz-like melodies are reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, but minimal instrumentation and unexpected musical turns in otherwise straightforward songs are just as connected to the contemporary sound of free-style folk."
(Kindamusik.net, Netherlands)
"Hearts Fall is a first rate record that grows more splendid with every listen ...without a doubt one of the finest in its genre."
(Rootstime.be, Belgium)
"On this, her first full-length release, Toronto's Karyn Ellis surprises and delights. A unique combination of rustic musical textures (stand-up bass, honky-tonk piano stylings, etc.) and a dead-on modern lyrical approach, Hearts Fall hits all the marks beautifully."
(Scene Magazine)
"...such bittersweet pleasures. You can hear Welch, Waits, Amos, Brickell, Peyroux, the Cowboy Junkies and the Be Good Tanyas all rolled up in that one tiny body, that one mournful voice. Superior late night stuff!"
(CtrlAltCountry.be, Belgium)
"[Karyn's] voice is lovely, the arrangements are simple & clever, and there's an almost rustic quality to the record-likely from being recorded live off the floor-that makes it extra sweet."
(Amanda Putz, CBC radio 1)
... ABOUT HER EP, BIRD
"A beautifully organic piece of work...delivers dig-your-heels-in rootsy pop peppered with delightfully quirky lyrics."
(RisMixLive.com)
"The songwriting carries through to a strong finish. No throwaways, no fillers, no sign of running on creative empty.... I strongly recommend checking it out. She could seal the disc in Saran Wrap and still make something magical out of it"
(Indie-Music.com, US)
"Lovely!"
(Bill Richardson -- CBC Radio 1)
"I'm sad [Bird] is only 6 songs. I would love to hear more from Karyn Ellis. She's a unique, interesting artist. [The CD] is so artistic and unique that I might just keep it on permanent display in my office."
(CollectedSounds.com, US)
HEARTS FALL CHARTING
Top 20
#18 on CKUA Radio Network (province wide Alberta, Canada)
#3 on CIUT (Toronto, ON)
#11 on CHUO (Ottawa, ON)
#15 on CKXU (Lethbridge, AB)
#3 on CFBX (Kamploops, BC)
#10 on CKLU (Sudbury, ON)
#16 on CKMS (Waterloo, ON)
#20 on CFRU (Guelph, ON)
Top 10 Folk/Roots/Blues
#4 on CILU (Thunderbay, ON)
#2 on CKXU (Lethbridge, AB)
#1 on CKBX (Kamploops, BC)
#10 on CJUM (Winnipeg, MB)
Instrumentation
Various configurations of top musicians join Karyn at her shows to create unique live arrangements... they don't always sound like the record, but they always feature at the focal Karyn's charismatic performances and the strength of her songs.
She is available solo or with band depending on the call of the occasion. Please inquire.
Discography
2009 – EVEN THOUGH THE SKY WAS FALLING – full length CD
2009 - Kerri Ough; Michael Holt - back up vocals
2007-8 – Low Fidelity, Treasa Levasseur; Life & Limb, Rob Szabo; Night for Day, Chris Warren; Small Theatres, Evalyn Parry – back up vocals.
2006 – What is Indie (Stand Alone Productions, NFB distributed) – compilation, which accompanies documentary by same title, includes song, “Rain”.
2005 – HEARTS FALL (Mathilde’s Home Productions) – full length CD
2003 – BIRD (Mathilde’s Home Productions) – 6 song EP
FILM/TV PUBLISHING
2008 – Happy Fridays (Gareth Griffiths) – [Cannes Film Festival in Short Film Corner series, May 2008]
2007 – Robson Arms (Omni Productions) – [CTV series. Season 2 episode 13 “Texas Birthmark”. Also aired on Bravo and Comedy Network]
2006 – Rigoletto in Blue Grass (Robert Swales) – cameo live performance.
2006 – What is Indie? (Dave Cool/Stand Alone) – interviewee in feature documentary.
2004 – Queer Grit (Rowan Crowe)
Links
| http://www.karynellis.com |