Jennah Barry

Sometimes the best parts of a good song happen in the simplest sounds. And Jennah Barry produces those simple but dynamic and emotive sounds with subtle flair and amazing skill. Looking to pick her brain about music and growing up on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, Mixtape caught up with folk songstress as she preps for a show taking place Sunday, November 17 at The Carleton in Halifax.
Mixtape Magazine: How has growing up on the South Shore influenced your music?
Jennah Barry: It’s a very unpretentious place, the South Shore. Socially, you’ve got what you’ve got and in small towns it’s not in your best interest to make enemies. You don’t have to be friends with everyone, but you at least have to find a way to see each person as a character. It’s a perspective that you tend to live without in a big city where it’s a survival tactic to ignore people or stay within your scene. The strange brew of people I end up hanging out with influences me greatly.
MM: If somebody is visiting the South Shore for for the first time, where should they go?
JB: Tourist towns are tricky. Because of the whole….tourist thing. The locals are guarded. So I’d say, go to the bakery in Lahave, it’s the hub. Homegrown Skateboards is upstairs, there’s a craft co-op. It’s a grocery store. That’s where you go. And eventually you’ll notice that everyone is staring because you’re new and you’ll be forced to introduce yourself. Bam.
MM: How did you meet Rebecca Zolkower (Dark for Dark) and Desiree Gordon(Burrows)? You all seem to have a lot of fun when playing together. What do you enjoy about playing with them?
JB: I grew up with Des, we used to compete in the district music festival together. She beat me in musical theatre once and I’ll never forget it. She sang “Everybody Wants to be a Cat”. I don’t remember meeting Zolkower because I’d like to think that we were always friends. She’s a sweet Christmas angel and I’m lucky she’s around. Same with Des, but that musical theatre thing really holds us back.
MM: In Sydney during Nova Scotia Music week, you told the crowd the new album would be “roller disco on a yacht” theme. Tell us a little more about that.
JB: Haha. I’m glad I said that. I wouldn’t say it’s a “theme” but I’ve definitely been thinking about roller discos and traveling by boat a lot lately. I think I’ll go a long boat trip soon. Anyway, I shouldn’t be saying anything. Who knows what will happen in the end. It might turn into a derby rather than a disco.
MM: What’s something you’ve learned about touring since releasing Young Men last year?
JB: Be assertive. And save your pennies. - Mixtape Magazine

Sometimes the best parts of a good song happen in the simplest sounds. And Jennah Barry produces those simple but dynamic and emotive sounds with subtle flair and amazing skill. Looking to pick her brain about music and growing up on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, Mixtape caught up with folk songstress as she preps for a show taking place Sunday, November 17 at The Carleton in Halifax.
Mixtape Magazine: How has growing up on the South Shore influenced your music?
Jennah Barry: It’s a very unpretentious place, the South Shore. Socially, you’ve got what you’ve got and in small towns it’s not in your best interest to make enemies. You don’t have to be friends with everyone, but you at least have to find a way to see each person as a character. It’s a perspective that you tend to live without in a big city where it’s a survival tactic to ignore people or stay within your scene. The strange brew of people I end up hanging out with influences me greatly.
MM: If somebody is visiting the South Shore for for the first time, where should they go?
JB: Tourist towns are tricky. Because of the whole….tourist thing. The locals are guarded. So I’d say, go to the bakery in Lahave, it’s the hub. Homegrown Skateboards is upstairs, there’s a craft co-op. It’s a grocery store. That’s where you go. And eventually you’ll notice that everyone is staring because you’re new and you’ll be forced to introduce yourself. Bam.
MM: How did you meet Rebecca Zolkower (Dark for Dark) and Desiree Gordon(Burrows)? You all seem to have a lot of fun when playing together. What do you enjoy about playing with them?
JB: I grew up with Des, we used to compete in the district music festival together. She beat me in musical theatre once and I’ll never forget it. She sang “Everybody Wants to be a Cat”. I don’t remember meeting Zolkower because I’d like to think that we were always friends. She’s a sweet Christmas angel and I’m lucky she’s around. Same with Des, but that musical theatre thing really holds us back.
MM: In Sydney during Nova Scotia Music week, you told the crowd the new album would be “roller disco on a yacht” theme. Tell us a little more about that.
JB: Haha. I’m glad I said that. I wouldn’t say it’s a “theme” but I’ve definitely been thinking about roller discos and traveling by boat a lot lately. I think I’ll go a long boat trip soon. Anyway, I shouldn’t be saying anything. Who knows what will happen in the end. It might turn into a derby rather than a disco.
MM: What’s something you’ve learned about touring since releasing Young Men last year?
JB: Be assertive. And save your pennies. - Mixtape Magazine

"...Barry's haunting voice filled the space, catching everyone off guard as she commanded the stage..." - The Cord

...Local country music legend Hank Snow was invoked a couple of times at the Astor Theatre, where the instrumental duo of guitarist Duane Andrews and violinist Dwayne Cote jazzed up his hit A Fool Such as I, and Yarmouth country crooner Ryan Cook invited South Shore siren Jennah Barry onto the East Coast Music Week Stage for a heavenly duet on It Don’t Hurt Anymore.

Barry also proved a winner with her own set at a packed Lane’s Privateers Inn, sporting a mile-wide grin and singing some of the loveliest, catchiest folk tunes I’ve heard in ages, from her recent CD Young Men.... - Chronicle Herald - Stephen Cooke

Six years ago, Nova Scotia's Jennah Barry headed off to Toronto to study music, find her own singing and songwriting voice and eventually ending up as a member of The O'Darling, the inventive art-pop collective led by Colin Nelis. When Barry headed back east to reconnect with her familial and familiar surroundings, she brought back songs that told tales of heartbreak, sadness and struggle of a young woman in a big city, songs that form the nucleus of her auspicious debut album Young Men. In the studio, Nelis took the production reins with assistance from Barry and engineer Diego Medina with backing support from a few of her O'Darling mates. The songs that surfaced from the sessions are modest and simply produced, ultimately possessing an unaffected and honest charm. Stripped to the bone tracks like the swaying "Honey" and "Slow Dance" allow an intimacy that draws the listener in close while the more fully fleshed tracks like "The Coast" and "To Be Patient" accelerate slowly, building power but never eclipsing Barry's natural vocal subtleties. An album that on initial listening might come across as fragile and ethereal gains strength over repeated listenings, a depth revealed in small but effective and lasting moments. - Direct Current

“The Coast” opens in a relative hush, and in 6/8 time, just Barry’s voice and a barely articulated guitar. The pithy rhythm section kicks in at 0:37, the unstable momentum of the uncommon time signature pairing oddly well with the singer’s sweet vocal presence, and the sing-songy melody she offers. The production is crisp, the arrangement both minimal and assured, and Barry sings without affectation or artifice. Already this feels like a strong antidote to the ungated arrivals thronging through the internet music scene, with their mud and trickery and self-absorption. Sometimes all I’m looking for is a little easy know-how, a little unselfconscious musical ability.

At 1:02, almost like a wave hitting the shore, 4/4 time arrives with the chorus, and it’s the shift here that is almost, somehow, the song’s hook. Sometimes, I realize, it’s not the unexpected time signature that boosts a song’s resonance as much as how a more common beat is at some point woven into the musical story. The 4/4 chorus smacks the song in the middle of a 6/8 measure, and dances with its own quirky rhythm, the drummer giving us the first and fourth beats but skipping the others. Barry sings more forcefully in the chorus, with a bit of Kathleen Edwards’ honeyed urgency, and yet somehow still keeps her gist hidden, allowing us to hear phrases more easily than sentences. I find the elusiveness refreshing.

“The Coast” is the lead track from Barry’s debut album, Young Men. Nova Scotia born and raised, Barry moved to Toronto in 2006 for college, where she studied jazz. She joined the indie pop orchestral collective O’Darling, and also played with a roots/country band called The Long Haul, but never took to the big-city thing. Returning with relief to Nova Scotia after graduation, she hooked up with producer/engineer Diego Medina, and recorded Young Men at his home studio, bringing some O’Darling compatriots in for the session. The album was released in May; you can check it out and, perhaps, purchase it via Bandcamp. - Finger Tips - Free and Legal MP3

With a folk guitar, a slide guitar and a voice as sweet as honey, Jennah Barry's first album Young Men is "a lot of juicy gossip," she says, drawing on a string of loves lost and won between the South Shore and Toronto. Recorded at the Old Confidence Lodge in Riverport over the past year, Barry says producer Diego Medina gave the 11 tracks their moonlit magic, along with a few banjo licks by Old Man Luedecke. Her songs have the maturity of an old-hand at romance, tough to let go of and so easy to love. - The Coast - New Music Issue

Just when you thought the summer was coming to an end there was a wave of highly listenable summer songs that came crashing into sight. Jennah Barry, a country inspired Canadian, makes pop music that has a twinge of sadness which is often laying beneath her sweet voice. Plus, anyone who can write a song about Canadian Mounties deserves a listen. - New Music Collaborative

Just when you thought the summer was coming to an end there was a wave of highly listenable summer songs that came crashing into sight. Jennah Barry, a country inspired Canadian, makes pop music that has a twinge of sadness which is often laying beneath her sweet voice. Plus, anyone who can write a song about Canadian Mounties deserves a listen. - New Music Collaborative

A feature on Jennah Barry and her debut album 'Young Men' - CBC

Beautifully produced and endearingly delivered, Jennah Barry combines here-and-there hints of Mirah like inflection with M.Ward-esque fluidity. This record comes to us all the way from Riverport, Nova Scotia. Young Men is such a smooth listen, cover to cover. The themes touch mostly on young love, young men (as you may have guessed), and vulnerability. Enjoy - Argue Job

It's not unusual for a young Maritimer to head off to Toronto to make a name for themselves, but as Jeff Liberty tells us on today's edition of Take Liberty, this Maritimer, Jennah Barry, found life back home far more appealing and she managed to put together a really good record on her return. - CBC

It's not unusual for a young Maritimer to head off to Toronto to make a name for themselves, but as Jeff Liberty tells us on today's edition of Take Liberty, this Maritimer, Jennah Barry, found life back home far more appealing and she managed to put together a really good record on her return. - CBC

One of my favourite, and sadly under recognized, Canadian bands The O’Darling, blend together sounds of orchestral indie-pop for a glorious and lush result that will take your breath away. Jennah Barry is part of that collective band and has recently branched off, recording her debut solo album, Young Men.

Barry’s album brings over a similar warm pop sound that’s in The O’Darling tracks but creates her own irresistible songs. Fellow O’Darling bandmates and current members of Aidan Knight’s Friendly Friends, Colin Nealis, Olivier Clements, and (brother) David Barry, contribute their respective musical talents to the album, Nealis also helps out with production, while the banjo playing Old Man Luedecke can also be heard.

Listening to the album, it’s easy to draw comparisons between Barry’s work and other Canadian songstresses. “To Be Patient” has a Kathleen Edwards-like country infused sound while “Dead Give Away” has an upbeat poppy sounds not unlike that of Hannah Georgas’. But what Barry brings to her music that makes it so appealing and refreshing is the sweet tone to her voice and the ease she puts you in with her friendly music style.

Although “The Coast” opens Young Men up with the line, “We started on the wrong foot,” Barry can do no wrong by opening her album with this song. Starting off in a minimal way, “The Coast” grows to a full-on powerful, indie pop song that should earn Barry some attention single handedly.

The self-reflective song “Honey” and “Sheriff” are two examples of the more sombre, but equally strong, side to Barry’s album. “Sheriff” in particular will charm you thanks to its love story about a Sheriff and a bear attack mention that can’t help but remind me of Hayden’s “Killbear.”

“4X4” and “Slow Dance” are a couple of more of my favourite songs from Young Men. Both are ridiculously melodious while “Slow Dance” is a simple and sweet acoustic number that I can only describe as absolutely wonderful.

Barry’s record, sadly, ends with the title track “Young Men,” a quiet but poppy one, which contrasting the lyrics, and features Old Man Luedecke playing his signature instrument.

Jennah Barry’s Young Men is an excited new release from an exciting new talent so do listen up! - Gray Owl Point

Shop Local:: Jennah Barry

I’m not sure why I’ve not written about local talent Jennah Barry before. Maybe it’s the embarrassment of riches Halifax produces when it comes to talented female songwriters with huge guitars (side note… wtf people who stole Carmen Townsends trademark Guild Starfire?), or maybe it’s the overwhelming amoount of music that lands in my inbox.

Either way, consider the wrong righted, and allow me to introduce you to a Nova Scotian songwriter that will warm your heart.

Jennah’s solo work is mature and developed, and when she slows her pace you can’t help but hear a little bit of Kathleen Edwards in her voice and delivery (“The Sheriff”). Lofty praise, but the vocal similarity doesn’t push Barry into a sonic box. Weeping steel, picked banjo and keys all mourn softly, but Barry also pushes herself in surprising directions.

Barry is quite comfortable moving at a slower pace, but it’s the change ups she hurls that really define Young Men. The album’s title track hints at the vocal presence of Imogen Heap, but she leverages Old Man Luedecke’s picking to offset any of the pop sensibility and glossy productiong you’d expect. The lead single, “The Coast”, and “Dead Give Away” find Barry flexing her muscles and the album’s most adventurous number (“Black Hole”) balances a dancing whimsy with spacey orchestration.

It’s easy to assume Barry is just another song writer – that’s exactly what I did – but her debut is strong and certainly warrants a dedicated listen. Whether she has the chops to progress to the next level, only time will tell, but Jennah oozes potential and your summer road trips and back yard barbeques have been clammoring for a new - Hero Hill

...The album opens with “Venture Song” a tune with a rather long instrumental intro accented by the glockenspiel (apparently it’s hip now!) and sung by Jennah Barry. Her voice is what caught my attention at first as it is well beyond her years because it reminded me of songstresses from the forties and fifties but with a modern twist; completely soothing to the ear... - I Heart the Music (Toronto Music Blog)

...The album opens with “Venture Song” a tune with a rather long instrumental intro accented by the glockenspiel (apparently it’s hip now!) and sung by Jennah Barry. Her voice is what caught my attention at first as it is well beyond her years because it reminded me of songstresses from the forties and fifties but with a modern twist; completely soothing to the ear... - I Heart the Music (Toronto Music Blog)

....Jennah Barry, with an indescribably sweet and true high soprano cast a spell over the crowd with her intensely felt interpretation of her mother Leslie's song Where Harbour Meets the Sea, the winner of the first
annual Folk Harbour Songwriting Competition... - By Stephen Pederson, Halifax Herald

The O’Darling are a seven-piece ambient pop band from Toronto who were one of my original picks for bands to see, and they did not disappoint! The O’Darling benefit from having two very charismatic lead singers, and generally look like they’re having a great time onstage. Stage Presence: A This band looks like they’re having fun, and you can tell they’re all friends “in real life”. This vibe totally rubbed off on the audience. Even though they’re not the most dancey band, their music is ultra compelling. Stage Banter: B Not much stage banter from this group either, but what little chatting they did between songs was cute and casual. Actual Talent: A It’s no secret these guys are very talented. Most of the band graduated from jazz school and are all formally trained on their instruments. The singers are especially amazing. Audience Response: B+ Unfortunately this was the last band of the night, so the audience was tired and ready to go home. It’s a testament to The O’Darling that so many people stuck around so late to see their whole set. Those who did stick around were totally enthralled – in fact, the whole room quieted to listen. Potential for Superstardom: A Like other Canadian supergroups such as Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, The O’Darling is extremely talented and clearly passionate about their music. In a sea of indie rock bands, they definitely hold their own. Overall Grade: A

- Much Music (Blog)