Music
Press
"On Friday, I was knocked out first by Amy Bronson's picking prowess on the guitar, not to mention her quirky sense of humor and unusual stream of consciousness lyrical flow, all of which were on display at her CD release party at the Slice.
A full house of her friends and family applauded appreciatively as she wound through the songs from her debut CD, "I'm allergic to this deodorant." as well as some new ones. You have to love a girl who can not only sing a song about the nitrogen cycle, but can make it work. Bonus points for throwing deodorant (organic, not the mass-produced stuff she is actually allergic to) into the crowd, much like a bride tosses the bouquet.
Bronson has a unique musical style which is represented very well on her new, very professional-looking CD, combining superb finger picking, a touch of percussion, and lyrics touching on feminism, the environment, and a lot of creative imagery. Some of my favorites are "Montreal song", "my head", "songs of the buffalo and people you don't know" and "the Nitrogen Cycle Song". She recorded it in town with Aaron Bay.
She reminds me somewhat of Toronto folkie Nancy White who had a CD a few years ago called "Stickers on Fruit", mainly because they share similarly quirky sense of humor. " - Richard Amery-Lethbridge Sun Times
Amy Bronson
I'm Allergic To This Deoderant
By Claire Marie Blaustein
The debut album from folk singer Amy Bronson tells the story of her life… maybe. Bits of first-person narrative throughout the spoken-sung delivery of these text-heavy songs about love, politics, the zoo and laundry give us glimpses into a persona that is at once fiercely intelligent and pervasively odd, telling a story in bits and pieces that may be true, or may be just a grand metaphor for something we can’t quite grasp. Repeated listening bring out particular moments of wry humour (like the pseudo-chorus in “Montreal Song”: “It’s never been one of my ambitions to run a butter churn/I prefer to eat vegan anyway”). Moments of poetry (“We inhale, we exhale, we say oh take off, just set sail and inside our smoky chests we hide our tender warrior hearts”) give way to strict literalness — “The Nitrogen Cycle Song” is a description of the movement of nitrogen molecules through the environment. Witty repartee and biology study guide — what more could we ask for? (Independent)
http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=124&csid2=852&fid1=32696 - Exclaim! magazine
Discography
The current album is "I'm allergic to this deodorant." It has 11 tracks, and is independent release.
100 copies of 6-song EP version of "I'm allergic to this deodorant." were released in November, 2006.
Photos
Bio
As a small child, Amy Bronson often accompanied her father, a large animal vet, to ranches and feedlots. (Amy Bronson was born in Calgary, spent some childhood time in Cochrane, and is now from Lethbridge, Alberta.) There, they would spend much time dissecting cattle and determining their causes of death. (Her first independent album, I’m allergic to this deodorant, is a haphazard collection of eleven songs about the heart, Alberta politics, laundry, and biology.) She would put on gloves and try to feed her dog lungs. At about the age of 9, poetry began to replace her agricultural pursuits, and by 12 years old, she decided she’d also write guitar songs.(Amy was a finalist in this year’s Calgary Folk Festival Songwriting Contest in the Alberta song category.) Now a vegetarian on the verge of getting older and that’s all, she is filled with crazy rock star dreams and hopes to live a starving poet’s life. (She will be playing as many little Alberta gigs as she can this summer, and the South Country Fair in Fort Macleod on July 19th.). She will put on gloves and try to feed you her heart. (Amy is relocating to Guelph, Ontario in the fall for university and a new perspective.)
Amy has been a part of the Lethbridge and area music community since her early teens, first playing open mics at the Lethbridge Folk Club. She has been the opening act for artists such as The Fates, Ben Sures, and Ronnie Hayward, the Fates, Jodi King, and Cat Jahnke. Amy has played at punk shows, acoustic shows, outdoor shows, indoor shows, little art galleries, high school shows, record store corners, art festivals, corporate conferences and even at a little gym for a 5:30am exercise class.
Amy plays what she considers folk music, and she usually performs it solo on a big acoustic guitar and a little telecaster. Amy likes to listen to (and is very influenced by) the following artists: Josh Ritter, John Wort Hannam, the Weakerthans, Chris Isaak, Leonard Cohen, Ani DiFranco, Andrew Bird, the Slits, Sonic Youth, Sarah Harmer, the Smiths.
About the album title:
I still wear it, don’t worry- I just switched to a natural kind that doesn’t give me headaches from the smell and weird chemicals. This may seem to be an irrelevant title for the collection of songs presented here, but I think that questioning the concept of avidly using unnatural substances on our bodies as a standard thing to do has a theme to it that just might be comprehensive for much of what I’m getting at here.
Thank you,
Amy Bronson
Links
