Ladies of the Canyon
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Ladies of the Canyon

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Music

Press


"Press for haunted Woman"

Breezy and as upbeat as a California palm tree, four young Canadians make optimistic folk-rock, sweetly enough to convince us that they really are onto something big'- Globe and Mail

"if the band could only master time travel, they'd probably be able to tap all the 70's rock ass they wanted, if their influences are any indication' - The Hour Montreal

'Haunted Woman is an accomplished debut'- Exclaim

'Ladies of the Canyon embrace country formalism with the soul of a pop fan'- Scene Magazine

'Cripps has deftly showcased the wide range Ladies of the Canyon confidently explore both as songwriters and vocalists'- Canada.com

'Lush soaring harmonies abound especially on the accusatory, whiskey drenched "Forget Me" and old-country foot stomper "No Deliverance", which summons up the twang of the best Dolly Parton"- Canadian Interviews

'Haunted Woman's songs are big tight, right and sing-able, uplifting and sentient, smart but not navel-gazing'- The Hour Montreal - Various


"Press for haunted Woman"

Breezy and as upbeat as a California palm tree, four young Canadians make optimistic folk-rock, sweetly enough to convince us that they really are onto something big'- Globe and Mail

"if the band could only master time travel, they'd probably be able to tap all the 70's rock ass they wanted, if their influences are any indication' - The Hour Montreal

'Haunted Woman is an accomplished debut'- Exclaim

'Ladies of the Canyon embrace country formalism with the soul of a pop fan'- Scene Magazine

'Cripps has deftly showcased the wide range Ladies of the Canyon confidently explore both as songwriters and vocalists'- Canada.com

'Lush soaring harmonies abound especially on the accusatory, whiskey drenched "Forget Me" and old-country foot stomper "No Deliverance", which summons up the twang of the best Dolly Parton"- Canadian Interviews

'Haunted Woman's songs are big tight, right and sing-able, uplifting and sentient, smart but not navel-gazing'- The Hour Montreal - Various


"Early Praise for Diamond Heart"

"Diamond Heart is a sonic trip back in time you’ll want to experience again and again". - 4 out of 5 Stars - Winnipeg Free Press"the Ladies manage to avoid the dreaded sophomore jinx with flying colours. The group delivers a strong collection of songs on Diamond Heart that would make Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham truly envious, especially on “Let’s Take The Night” and the title track"– 4 out of 5 Stars - Here Magazine

"Ladies of the Canyon have embraced their new creative station, bringing a veteran feel to standout soft rockers like The Change and Let’s Take the Night. They’ve also done a praiseworthy job of not getting caught in the corners of their own frames of reference." - Montreal Gazette

Let's Take the Night..."This Montreal four-piece has created a shimmering homage to mid- 70s Southern California pop in general and Rumours in particular. Working with Mark Howard, whose resume features The Tragically Hip, Bob Dylan, U2 and extended collaboration with Daniel Lanois, the Ladies now sound more like Fleetwood Mac than Fleetwood Mac does"- The Toronto Star
"The album is a refreshing Pacific Coast country-rock breeze, blowing gorgeous harmonies and melodies across the beaches and valleys of the California landscape" – The Calgary Herald

“The four women who make up the country-folk-rock outfit have beefed up their sound on Diamond Heart with fuller harmonies and more electric guitar, enhancements that are sure to energize their live show.” - Ottawa Citizen

"In the midst of a month of Tuesdays on Ossington, the Montrealt-country foursome are a definite must-see before May ends and thus their gig is out. A few new tunes pre-released from their upcoming LP Diamond Heart sound more assured than previous, and indeed quite gorgeous" – The Toronto Star
"Canada's answer to Haim comes to us in the way of Ladies of the Canyon, a Montreal group formed in 2005 (when Haim was still a pop-rock outfit called the Valli Girls). Back then, that nouveau Fleetwood Mac sound wasn't en vogue. But it seems that the Ladies' time has come, and their well timed Diamond Heart album hits the folk-rock spot. The band's debut album, Haunted Woman, exposed fans to a country sound --- But with Diamond Heart, Ladies of the Canyon are moving closer to a riff-filled rock album. The soulful sound of the new record draws from their classic rock predecessors — Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and the Band are all listed as major influences for the all-female group." – CBCMusic.ca

"Diamond Heart, pushes the Ladies’ twangy ballads into a grittier direction that recalls the 1970s SoCal soft rock of Fleetwood Mac." - Daily Xtra


- Various


"Early Praise for Diamond Heart"

"Diamond Heart is a sonic trip back in time you’ll want to experience again and again". - 4 out of 5 Stars - Winnipeg Free Press"the Ladies manage to avoid the dreaded sophomore jinx with flying colours. The group delivers a strong collection of songs on Diamond Heart that would make Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham truly envious, especially on “Let’s Take The Night” and the title track"– 4 out of 5 Stars - Here Magazine

"Ladies of the Canyon have embraced their new creative station, bringing a veteran feel to standout soft rockers like The Change and Let’s Take the Night. They’ve also done a praiseworthy job of not getting caught in the corners of their own frames of reference." - Montreal Gazette

Let's Take the Night..."This Montreal four-piece has created a shimmering homage to mid- 70s Southern California pop in general and Rumours in particular. Working with Mark Howard, whose resume features The Tragically Hip, Bob Dylan, U2 and extended collaboration with Daniel Lanois, the Ladies now sound more like Fleetwood Mac than Fleetwood Mac does"- The Toronto Star
"The album is a refreshing Pacific Coast country-rock breeze, blowing gorgeous harmonies and melodies across the beaches and valleys of the California landscape" – The Calgary Herald

“The four women who make up the country-folk-rock outfit have beefed up their sound on Diamond Heart with fuller harmonies and more electric guitar, enhancements that are sure to energize their live show.” - Ottawa Citizen

"In the midst of a month of Tuesdays on Ossington, the Montrealt-country foursome are a definite must-see before May ends and thus their gig is out. A few new tunes pre-released from their upcoming LP Diamond Heart sound more assured than previous, and indeed quite gorgeous" – The Toronto Star
"Canada's answer to Haim comes to us in the way of Ladies of the Canyon, a Montreal group formed in 2005 (when Haim was still a pop-rock outfit called the Valli Girls). Back then, that nouveau Fleetwood Mac sound wasn't en vogue. But it seems that the Ladies' time has come, and their well timed Diamond Heart album hits the folk-rock spot. The band's debut album, Haunted Woman, exposed fans to a country sound --- But with Diamond Heart, Ladies of the Canyon are moving closer to a riff-filled rock album. The soulful sound of the new record draws from their classic rock predecessors — Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and the Band are all listed as major influences for the all-female group." – CBCMusic.ca

"Diamond Heart, pushes the Ladies’ twangy ballads into a grittier direction that recalls the 1970s SoCal soft rock of Fleetwood Mac." - Daily Xtra


- Various


Discography

Haunted Woman (Warner Music Canada) 2010

Diamond Heart (Warner Music Canada) 2013

Photos

Bio

This is the story of a tumultuous musical romance that wouldn't die if you locked it up and threw away the key. It was 2005 and a blistering combination of socialist politics, cheap rent and bad weather was spawning countless young bands and an inimitable breed of dark, sprawling pop music that would put Montreal's plateau-Mile end neighborhood and its music in the international spotlight. Meanwhile, in the shabby but hardly chic west end, four musical ingénues seemed blissfully unaware of the pressures of indie-cool.

Instead, they were rediscovering their parents' soft rock LPs and crafting their version of the countrified So-Cal ‘70s sound. In cheap vintage party dresses on countless Friday nights, they sang and played together in coffee houses and downtown bars till the wee hours of the morning because it felt important. While embracing the hippie-rock penchants for cigarettes, cheap wine and old guitars of their heroes, their real obsession was the music. Their diligence about vocal harmonies and songwriting made them more akin to the singer-songwriter heyday of mid 1970s’ California than to Montreal's indie movement, and this is how they unintentionally set themselves apart. Soon, their Friday night hang had a name, and became a career, because despite their anachronism, they didn't want to do anything else with anyone else. Their name was, and still is, Ladies of the Canyon.

Fast forward five years, two EPs and a debut album (Haunted Woman, Warner Music 2010), the Ladies have departed from the twangy vintage AM radio hits they came of age devouring. They've grown their own sound over three years of highways, bars and motels. They are now as broken-in as their rock-and-roll-cool contemporaries, but with trained voices and older, played loud, guitars.

They have become the serious musicians from all their vinyl records, and they work every avenue to make their music heard. They have bridged worlds and genres to find their place, earning in the process the respect of their peers. Ladies of the Canyon are the band who in the past two years were nominated for a CCMA, temporarily relocated to Nashville to write a country record (that they decided not torecord) and then turned around to be backup singers for Broken Social Scene and the Dears. They are the band who during the last soft-seater tour of their first record, while it was still spinning on country radio, played a few Led Zeppelin covers instead of their own songs because they wanted to know what it felt like to play the best rock and roll songs ever made.

Over the past two years – whether it was because of the freedom of experimentation while living on the road or the scourge of trying to have their complex harmonies heard over the loud monotonal thump of the mainstream – Ladies of the Canyon have softly gotten louder. They've exchanged their well-worn traditional themes and sweet romantic reflections for the harder truths of life, love and sex, history and mysticism, and all the things that go bump in the night.

Meeting producer Mark Howard (The Tragically Hip, Lucinda Williams, Vic Chesnutt) in May 2012 was the beginning of what would become Diamond Heart, the culmination of the Ladies' hard work and musical searching; their sound redefined. Mark was the natural choice to serve as wrangler of Ladies of the Canyon's eager minds, restless souls and untamed hearts. His engineering experience was peerless, and his investment in traditional record making and great sounds appealed to their hardwired “old fashioned” sensibility. From a common musical understanding, a mutual bond was quickly drawn. The Ladies were to Mark just the troupe of misplaced Laurel Canyon bohemian soft rockers he had been informed about in the peaceful easy sounds of their debut album. But they were grown up now, and inevitably darker. It was Howard's mission to break Ladies of the Canyon out of the box they had struggled to fit into in the first place.

On the same secluded farm near Burlington, Ontario, where Daniel Lanois and Emmylou Harris had rehearsed weeks earlier, Howard set the stage – a literal stage, in a huge barn – for Ladies of the Canyon to record weeks of live jamming. Surrounded by tools of inspiration – microphones that Howard last used to record the voices of Neil Young and Bob Dylan, and rows of vintage guitars with long histories – they were ready to redefine themselves. The songwriting trio, bassist Anna Ruddick, lead guitarist/singer Maia Davies and guitarist/singer Jasmine Bleile, were joined in the studio by LA session superstars Jimmy Paxson (Stevie Nicks) and Jim Wilson (Rollins Band) to flesh out their brave new sound. Drummer Tara Martin was a major addition to the band midway through the production of Diamond Heart in the fall of 2012.

Between bonfires, heated discussions of the whys and wherefores of great records and sipping bottles of slightly nicer wine than they had in the beginning, the group tracked 12 hours a day to find