paisley jura

MUSIC: Don't bother trying to label Paisley Jura's music -- 'I'm trying to genre bust,' she says

By JAMES REANEY The London Free Press

November 16, 2010 9:14am

Paisley Jura is one of a rare breed — a singer and songwriter who plays double bass as she sings her tunes.

“There’s not too many and I’ve been trying to hunt them out,” says Toronto’s Jura, a former UWO student. She knows of U.S. jazz star Esperanza Spalding and a fellow Canadian — Oliver Swain, of Victoria, B.C.

Jura is the stage name of a 1990s’ UWO student who studied at the education faculty at Althouse and classical bass at the Don Wright music faculty.

“It helps to separate home and work just a touch,” she says of the Paisley Jura identity.

By any name, she would always welcome news of more double bassist-vocalists as potential allies and role models.

Still, it would seem Halifax-born, Toronto-raised Jura is happy to be going her own bold way. She arrives at the London Music Club supporting her second album Time Is How You Spend Your Love on Wednesday. That is just days after Jura’s classical bassist alter ego played Brahms with Hamilton’s orchestra.

“I’m trying to genre bust,” Jura says of her own music. It draws on the classics, pop, country, jazz and much more.

Time Is How You Spend Your Love is winning radio airplay even as it breaks pop rules time after time. Several songs are accompanied only by classical string quartet, scored by Juno and SOCAN winning composers Andrew Downing, a former Londoner and old friend of Jura’s, and Robert Carli.

Producer and multi-Juno winner Michael Phillip Wojewoda (Barenaked Ladies, Great Big Sea) encouraged Jura as they worked on the album. She compares it to being back at school or in the National Youth Orchestra of Canada once more.

“Michael is so fantastic at taking you back to the place you were when you wrote the song and helping you go a little deeper than you ever did before,” she says.

In turn, that experience has helped her as a stage performer.

Joining her in a trio on Wednesday is her husband, trombonist Jamie Stager, also a former UWO music student and drummer Mark Mariash.

London connections on the album include string players Mary-Elizabeth Brown, of Orchestra London, Anna Redekop, Brown’s chamber music colleague in the Madawaska quartet, and Downing, a double bassist, composer and arranger.

“I’ve known Andrew for years. He actually played in the Western Symphony when he was in high school and I was a student there. So we met at that time. Many years later, we’re both in Toronto,” she says of Downing. He has been part of both her albums.

On Jura’s first album, Downing’s double bass plays a big role on her version of the country classic Long Black Veil.

After she became more comfortable singing and playing at the same time, she took over Downing’s approach to the song.

“I lifted the solo he played and learned it and that’s what I play in concert now,” she says.

At UWO, she studied classical bass with Wright faculty Prof. Jeffrey Stokes.

“He was just so inspirational and just free and open to all different kinds of things you can do with the bass . . . ,” Jura says.

Stokes came by to see his former student at an earlier London gig.

“Wow ­— I never would have thought it (would go) this way,” Stokes told her.

IF YOU GO

What: Club show by Toronto singer-songwriter-double bassist Paisley Jura who brings a trio.

When: Wednesday, 9 p.m.

Where: London Music Club (front room), 470 Colborne St.

Details: $7, plus applicable charges. Visit paisleyjura.com or londonmusicclub.com or call 519-640-6996.

Paisley Jura on Paisley Jura

"I'm trying to be a bit of a rebel and be against the idea of genre.

"I grew up on country music. That was my parents' love.

"I was trained classically and that became my love.

"I married a jazz musician and that was his love

"You can hear all of these things in what I write." - The London Free Press

MUSIC: Don't bother trying to label Paisley Jura's music -- 'I'm trying to genre bust,' she says

By JAMES REANEY The London Free Press

November 16, 2010 9:14am

Paisley Jura is one of a rare breed — a singer and songwriter who plays double bass as she sings her tunes.

“There’s not too many and I’ve been trying to hunt them out,” says Toronto’s Jura, a former UWO student. She knows of U.S. jazz star Esperanza Spalding and a fellow Canadian — Oliver Swain, of Victoria, B.C.

Jura is the stage name of a 1990s’ UWO student who studied at the education faculty at Althouse and classical bass at the Don Wright music faculty.

“It helps to separate home and work just a touch,” she says of the Paisley Jura identity.

By any name, she would always welcome news of more double bassist-vocalists as potential allies and role models.

Still, it would seem Halifax-born, Toronto-raised Jura is happy to be going her own bold way. She arrives at the London Music Club supporting her second album Time Is How You Spend Your Love on Wednesday. That is just days after Jura’s classical bassist alter ego played Brahms with Hamilton’s orchestra.

“I’m trying to genre bust,” Jura says of her own music. It draws on the classics, pop, country, jazz and much more.

Time Is How You Spend Your Love is winning radio airplay even as it breaks pop rules time after time. Several songs are accompanied only by classical string quartet, scored by Juno and SOCAN winning composers Andrew Downing, a former Londoner and old friend of Jura’s, and Robert Carli.

Producer and multi-Juno winner Michael Phillip Wojewoda (Barenaked Ladies, Great Big Sea) encouraged Jura as they worked on the album. She compares it to being back at school or in the National Youth Orchestra of Canada once more.

“Michael is so fantastic at taking you back to the place you were when you wrote the song and helping you go a little deeper than you ever did before,” she says.

In turn, that experience has helped her as a stage performer.

Joining her in a trio on Wednesday is her husband, trombonist Jamie Stager, also a former UWO music student and drummer Mark Mariash.

London connections on the album include string players Mary-Elizabeth Brown, of Orchestra London, Anna Redekop, Brown’s chamber music colleague in the Madawaska quartet, and Downing, a double bassist, composer and arranger.

“I’ve known Andrew for years. He actually played in the Western Symphony when he was in high school and I was a student there. So we met at that time. Many years later, we’re both in Toronto,” she says of Downing. He has been part of both her albums.

On Jura’s first album, Downing’s double bass plays a big role on her version of the country classic Long Black Veil.

After she became more comfortable singing and playing at the same time, she took over Downing’s approach to the song.

“I lifted the solo he played and learned it and that’s what I play in concert now,” she says.

At UWO, she studied classical bass with Wright faculty Prof. Jeffrey Stokes.

“He was just so inspirational and just free and open to all different kinds of things you can do with the bass . . . ,” Jura says.

Stokes came by to see his former student at an earlier London gig.

“Wow ­— I never would have thought it (would go) this way,” Stokes told her.

IF YOU GO

What: Club show by Toronto singer-songwriter-double bassist Paisley Jura who brings a trio.

When: Wednesday, 9 p.m.

Where: London Music Club (front room), 470 Colborne St.

Details: $7, plus applicable charges. Visit paisleyjura.com or londonmusicclub.com or call 519-640-6996.

Paisley Jura on Paisley Jura

"I'm trying to be a bit of a rebel and be against the idea of genre.

"I grew up on country music. That was my parents' love.

"I was trained classically and that became my love.

"I married a jazz musician and that was his love

"You can hear all of these things in what I write." - The London Free Press

By Nereida Fernandes

The delightful confection that is Paisley Jura's sophomore effort may appear to be sugar and spice and everything nice, but it's clearly a work of uncompromising artistic vision and confident sophistication. Folk and classical sensibilities conspire with cabaret pop and R&B aesthetics, yielding songs that progress and evolve as they spiral in and out of genres. With every number, Jura draws from her musical palette, including her classical training, with a brilliant sleight of hand, wrapping the tracks in an aura of effortless ease, as if to suggest that it comes as naturally to the songstress as breathing. Thankfully, acclaimed producer Michael Phillip Wojewoda (Barenaked Ladies, Rheostatics, Spirit of the West) keeps the record from sounding overly polished, maintaining that untouched, pristine quality that makes her music sweet and dainty on the surface yet bold and robust at its core.
(Independent) - Exclaim.ca

NEW RELEASES
POP
BRAD WHEELER
January 27, 2009
TIME IN BETWEEN
Paisley Jura
Independent
***
If the contemplation of time and its passing isn't as old as time itself, it does stretch back to Al Stewart and Jim Croce at least. Now comes Paisley Jura, a vividly named Toronto-by-Halifax singer-pianist previously known for the centuries-old Italian double bass she owns. We hear that instrument some on her debut EP, but it is Jura's flowing ruminations on the turning of years and the satisfying Sarah Harmer-meets-Sarah Slean music carrying them that make impressions. Frills like the glad clarinet on Looking for Something and the tiny-dancer music-box twinkle of Timing dress things up even nicer. Time is short, and so is this six-song debut - a sweet respite in this brief, restless life.

Paisley Jura plays Toronto's Supermarket tonight; The Black Sheep Inn, Wakefield, Que., Feb. 1; Casbah Lounge, Hamilton, Feb. 3; and Grumpy's Bar, Montreal, Feb. 6.
- The Globe and Mail

NOW Magazine - January 22, 2009

Disc Review
Paisley Jura
Time In Between (independent)
by Carla Gillis

Toronto-via-Halifax singer/songwriter Paisley Jura plays a 200-year-old Italian double bass. She's also a classically trained pianist and has an unadorned voice that rings clear and true. Her debut seven-song EP, Time In Between, fuses jazz, country, classical and cabaret, and it all comes together in a pleasantly mellow way.

The best tracks showcase Jura's unique talents. That double bass and piano appear on Timing, a moody tune based around a repeating piano melody like you might hear in a little girl's jewellery box. The Gown And The Moon has fairy-tale lyrics and cinematic strings, while the poppy Sweetness has Joni Mitchellesque falsetto leaps. It's safe, adult-contemporary-oriented fare, but proves Jura knows her way around a song.

Top track: Timing

Paisley Jura celebrates her EP and video release at the Supermarket on Tuesday (January 27).
NOW | January 21-28, 2009 | VOL 28 NO 21 - NOW Magazine

By Shawn Conner

Friday, August 21, 2009

When her Vancouver itinerary includes places with names like the Bottle Tipper and the Greedy Pig, you're inclined to think a cruel booking agent is having a joke at Paisley Jura's expense. Not so, says the Toronto-based singer. In fact, she booked the shows herself--and both places, though not exactly the first live-music venues that come to mind, are real. And both host Jura Aug. 24 and 27, at Kingsway and Victoria and in Gastown respectively. She also plays the somewhat better-known Backstage Lounge Aug. 26.

"It was just sort of word-of-mouth," says Jura, reached on a day off from gigs in Canmore, Alta. "If you go on the Greedy Pig's website, it looks like they have pretty good food." Vancouver singer/songwriter Joseph Blood, with whom she played a Toronto show, recommended the venue, when a gig at the Oasis fell through at the last minute.

That still leaves one night in Vancouver off. On that evening, Jura plans on checking out Bard on the Beach with her Vancouver-based sister, a "genetic counsellor"--which sounds like a job description right out of a paranoid science-fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. In fact, most of Jura's family is scientifically inclined, though her first name might lead one to believe most of the science was inspired by Albert Hoffman, inventor of LSD.

"You would think that, except it's a stage name," says Jura. "I had a bit of a rebirth. I've only been writing songs for two years. At the time, when I decided to make a record, I decided my new life needed a new name."

So how did she avoid a life in a lab coat or scrubs, especially since her father's a doctor? "It's funny, the discussion around the dinner table was always what cases my dad had done that day, and what went wrong, blood on the floor and what not. I was always very squeamish about that sort of thing. I was more interested in the story--what happened to the patient, did they live? What was going on with the rest of the family? And he'd be like, 'I don't know. I was just in the operating room.'"

That curiosity about people led her to try writing short stories and even a novel and, a few years ago, songwriting. Having classically trained in piano and double-bass, she already had a musical background, including playing in the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and freelancing in regional and pickup orchestras around Toronto. So it was just a matter of learning to put words and music together.

"I played a lot of Messiahs and choral shows, which I love, I really really love it," says Jura, who'll play piano and some guitar at her shows here. "But I was always a fan of pop music, my dad was a big country music lover, my partner was a big jazz lover. So these kind of crept into my consciousness."

Eventually she played her songs for Robert Carli, a friend of hers who was a film composer. He approved.

"He said, 'Those are really good, you should record those,' and I'm like, 'Yeah, right. How am I going to record them?'" she says with a laugh. Carli offered to help. "This guy's got like four Gemini Awards and this studio in his house that's amazing."

So Carli recorded the songs that would eventually become Jura's debut, Time In Between, inviting Toronto musicians like Kurt Swinghammer to help out. Released earlier this year, the eight-song record is a folky collection of starry melodies, with assured playing and occasionally offbeat arrangements, as in the showtune feel of "Looking for Something." Jura's vocals are intimate and guileless.

Relatively new to the pop music scene, she still feels like an outsider.

"I'm really still getting my bearings, for sure," she says. "I found that people have been very warm and helpful though. Other musicians especially--I go to a gig and I'll have to ask, 'What's that form you've got there?' And they're like, 'Oh, that's from SoundScan. If you want a grant, you have to fill this out.' It's a huge learning curve for me, but people have been so helpful. Like when that show got cancelled in Vancouver, Joseph Blood was on tour in Germany or somewhere and he's like, 'Oh, call this person, tell them I called you, and then there you go.'"

Now, all she has to do is find a booking agent.
© Vancouver Courier 2009 - Vancouver Courier

The Globe & Mail
GOING OUT: YOUR GUIDE TO THE WEEK'S ENTERTAINMENT
BRAD WHEELER

Paisley Jura
Paisley Jura, an old-soul chanteuse with savvy pop sensibilities, unveils her magical new disc Time in Between and shows off her centuries-old Italian double bass. Jan. 27, 9 p.m. $10. Supermarket, 268 Augusta Ave., 416-840-0501.

- The Globe and Mail

August 20, 2009
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

By MIKE YOUDS
Daily News Staff Reporter

If the name Paisley Jura doesn’t ring familiar, it’s likely because the Toronto-based singer with the silken voice only began writing songs two years ago.

“I’ve had so much fun working on these songs,” Jura said from Canmore, Alta., en route to B.C. “People come up to me at the end of the show and say, ‘You really said everything that was in my heart.’ ”

Considering the critical acclaim given Time In Between, her six-song debut recording released in January, Jura is one of the most promising lights above the Canadian music scene horizon. She is on a Western Canadian debut tour that includes a Sunday evening performance with David Blair at The Loft, 203—255 Victoria St.

Mike Turner’s second-floor venue offers limited seating, which might make it an ideal setting to take in what a Globe & Mail reviewer described as an “old-soul chanteuse with savvy pop sensibilities.”

Trained as a classical pianist and bass player (she regularly plays a 200-year-old Italian double bass but didn’t bring it along on the road tour), Jura entered pop through a side door. She was writing short stories and a novel a couple of years ago when a professor remarked on her good settings but lack of plot substance.

That must of have triggered something in her imagination because a series of musical vignettes began to emerge.

“I had these unusual voices that came to me. Really short songs started coming out. That was two years ago. Then a friend said, ‘You should record these.’ ”

In the studio, producer Robert Carli conjured some audio magic with Jura’s compositions, infusing them with a spectrum of colours. The result is both elegant and poignant.

“He just did some incredible things. I’m really, really happy with it.”

A small venue here doesn’t deter her in the least.

“I don’t care if I’m playing on street corners,” she said.

An upcoming series of performances in Toronto is called The Secret Rooms, set in a variety of unconventional musical venues including a brewery and an auction house, where she’ll play alongside artists representing different genres.

“I’m really trying to reach across the genres and bring in new audience.”

© Copyright 2009, kamloopsnews.ca - Kamloops Daily News

Album Reviews

Haikus: Quick Spins
Whitey Houston / quickspins@vueweekly.com

Paisley Jura
Time In Between
Independent

Hot young chanteuse
Emotional pop, you'll need
A box of kleenex - Edmonton Vue Weekly

Album Review: "Time in Between" by Paisley Jura

By: Ryan McGreal
Published: 2009/01/21 (Category: Reviews)

On debut EP Time In between, scheduled for release on January 27, 2009, singer-songwriter Paisley Jura blends jazz and folk to produce sweet, subtle, intricate songs that tell stories in bright, visual language about loneliness and the struggle to relate.

Drawing on an impressive roster of acclaimed supporting musicians, Jura has created a subtle, melodic, detailed collection of poignant vignettes that grows steadily with each listen, revealing its deep intricacy layer by layer.

Unlike the bombastic pop I've been enjoying lately, Time In Between deserves a careful listen in a quiet setting to appreciate its charms. Blaring it in the car while running errands does this album no justice.

Jura is at her best when she sings more forcefully. She has a great voice - disciplined, smooth and silky - and it benefits from prominence within the musical framework - especially as the music carries so many nuances among the well-chosen and -blended instruments.

The recording itself is very intimate and visceral. You can hear Jura's fingers slide along the strings of her double bass, the click of piano keys, the sibilant intake of breath before singing a verse.

It opens with "Forgotten Ones", an atmospheric piece that recalls Stevie Wonder's magical classic "I Believe" with its shimmering, flange-tinged guitar melodies and steadily building intensity. Like most of her songs, it captures small moments in rich detail: "Jimmy sits at his tray / Folds his napkin and measures the space / With practiced eye, he places fork / And spoon at 90 degrees."

"Timing" is a gentle piano waltz with a surprisingly discordant chord progression that sweetens just in time for the maudlin chorus: "And a good song is just timing, you said / If I wait for timing to come I'll be dead / We are victims of circumstance / And the timing is off, it's a one-legged dance."

"Looking for Something" is a highlight with mainstream radio appeal that finds the intersection between jazz and country-flavoured Canrock, aided by the thread of Robert Carli's whimsical clarinet woven throughout.
It alights here and there on the stories of its characters - "Soldier on a dusty road / He reaches out and lifts the child to his arms / And as she lays her hand in his / He closes his eyes, he's back with the child he left behind" - only to land on the narrator herself: "The darkness settles all around me now / Filling up space like the water fills the lake."

The delightfully autonymous "Sweetness", a lament for the longing, comes in two versions: the 'video mix', an upbeat, old-timey bluegrass piece featuring banjo and accordion; and the goosebumpy 'studio mix', a more melancholy rendition propelled by keyboard and slow, driving bass line.

The former was Jura's vision and the latter was her producer's. They liked each version so much that they decided to include both. As Jura explains, "The idea of 'time frees all of us' can be sung with an arms-around-your-buddies, down-home feel or with a spacey, look-inside-yourself open beauty. It still rings true."

There are no real low points in this EP. Even "Long Black Veil", the slowest and mellowest track, rolls with a haunting, restrained malice.

Summary: take the time to immerse yourself in this EP. I was almost ready to dismiss it as a confection after my first pass-through, and I'm really glad I didn't. It grows more rewarding with each listen.

You can listen to a selection of tracks from Time In Between on Jura's MySpace page:

* http://www.myspace.com/paisleyjura

Paisley Jura plays at the Casbah on February 3, 2009.

Ryan McGreal, the editor of Raise the Hammer, lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a process and service analyst, web application developer, writer, and journal editor. Ryan volunteers with Hamilton Light Rail, a citizens' group dedicated to bringing light rail transit to Hamilton. He is also is the city editor for H Magazine. Several of his essays have been published in the Hamilton Spectator. - Raise the Hammer (Internet)

Paisley Jura is eschewing concert halls and holding her shows in such spaces as the National Ballet School

by Vanessa Farquharson
Published: Saturday, February 13, 2010

Paisley Jura has never understood why concerts are always played in concert halls. Sure, they make for good acoustics and a raised stage lets the audience see the performers better --but why not come up with a more unique venue? Somewhere like a brewery, for instance, or a ballet school or even the mess hall at an army base?

This is the idea behind Secret Rooms, a live music series created by Jura, a classically trained musician who sings and plays a 200-year-old acoustic bass. At her shows, she includes a band, dancers, lighting experts and visual artists to heighten the listening experience.

The first concert, back in November, was at the officers' mess in the Canadian Forces College at Yonge and Wilson; the second took place last week amidst fermenting tanks at the Great Lakes Brewery; and the third instalment will happen in the glass-walled rehearsal studio of the National Ballet School on Jarvis Street -- the idea is that all the tenants who live in the apartment blocks opposite will be able to watch the performance from their living rooms.

"I'll have to find a way to let those residents know about it," says Jura, staring across the street from the space where her show will take place. "I did the Census report once, so at least I have experience knocking on doors."

Of course, she also has experience in music, having studied classical bass at university and with the National Youth Orchestra. She later worked there as an arts administrator, followed by stints at the Royal Conservatory of Music and The Glenn Gould School.

And yet, for most of these years, she didn't write her own material. Surrounded by musicians who could easily improvise on the spot and make it sound professional, Jura felt intimidated and unsure of herself.

Eventually, she began trying to put words and tunes together, and at last something clicked: "Once I started going forward, songs started coming out," she says. "I played some of them for a friend of mine, who's a film and TV composer, and he said, 'Hey, those are pretty good -- we should record them,' so we did."

Her debut album, Time In Between, topped the chart at CIUT, University of Toronto's alternative radio station, and a few of her songs are getting air time on CBC Radio.

But as much as she wants to promote the album, Jura is more concerned with getting the Secret Rooms concept up and running. After all, recording studios are fine, but there's nothing like the adrenaline rush from performing in front of a live audience -- and if her theory about unusual performance venues proves to be right, she'll be able to develop a more intimate and invaluable connection with her listeners.

"There's always this fourth wall between the audience and the performer," Jura explains. "You don't get a chance to break through that very often, so I always make a point of talking to the audience, telling them what inspired a song I wrote, explaining how I'm going to make my bow sound like a ship creaking or whatever. And it's important to have interesting visual aspects, too, because we normally give at least 60% of our attention to what we see rather than hear, and it's time musicians acknowledged that."

So far, Jura hasn't encountered any major logistical hurdles in organizing Secret Rooms -- the dancers at the brewery weren't so keen on concrete floors, and a generator had to be pulled in at the last minute for extra lighting capacities, but it all came together in the end.

"People have just been amazing in terms of making things work," she says. "I'm really excited for the next one."

- Tickets for the next Secret Rooms event, happening in April at the National Ballet School, can be reserved by emailing info@paisleyjura.com.Pay at the door.

- The National Post

Album Reviews

Haikus: Quick Spins
Whitey Houston / quickspins@vueweekly.com

Paisley Jura
Time In Between
Independent

Hot young chanteuse
Emotional pop, you'll need
A box of kleenex - Edmonton Vue Weekly

Written by Catherine Kustanczy on Wednesday, 15 April 2009 14:14

http://www.lucidforge.com/artist-interviews/1938-paisley-jura-plays-in-between-sounds.html

Like many young, classically-schooled budding musicians, Paisley Jura was afraid to go off-sheet -as in, she didn't trust her instincts to know what notes to play.

"I always had an envy of people who could play by ear," she admits. "I thought there were two groups of people: musicians who play by ear, and those who are good sightreaders. I felt from early age I fit into second camp, that the other one wasn't open to me."

She's proven herself wrong, however. Jura's debut release, In Between, features Celtic-tinged tunes that meld country, pop, jazz, and yes, classical sensibilities. Jura's lilting voice combines harmoniously with her unique blend of sounds, and the disc features her playing her 200-year-old Italian double bass, as well as piano and guitar. Though she only got into composing in earnest two years ago, she took to it like a duck to water.
"It was a fear thing," she admits. "When I let that go, it just was like opening the floodgates. It was amazing. It was a Pandora's box, but really cool. I'd been so closed off."
Jura, who originally hails from Haliburton but attended high school in North York, studied music at Western University in London, Ontario, and started off her career by playing in orchestra pits and studios. She even managed the Glenn Gould School at the esteemed Royal Conservatory of Music. But her musical aspirations weren't entirely carved in stone. Jura originally thought she might be a writer.

"I'd taken a creative writing course at U of T," she reminisces, "and I was starting work on a novel. I had 130 pages of a novel going, was working with a publisher who was coaching me. He suggested that my work was really strong on description and character, but not so strong on plotŠ " Jura delved into short story writing, as a means of sharpening up her narrative abilities, the compact nature of the stories forcing her to write more simply. But she made a realization, amidst all the words. "I realized didn't want to write short stories. I wanted to write songs, and have them be little stories."


The mix of sounds she'd heard and been around means that her own work is genre-defying by default. "I've listened to so many different kinds of music, and so much for so long, that I'm not thinking of a specific influence when writing. Maybe I'm still working out what my own style will be! A lot of my songs fit into different categories. It's hard to say what my genre is. " She names German composer Kurt Weill as being exemplary of the sort of sound that might strike her while composing, noting that " his style will come, and you'll hear the influence inthat song" but she's quick to add that the Weill sound isn't necessarily a strict "stream I'm following. (Weill) isn't the direct footpath."

Still, comparisons to other female singer/songwriters are inevitable. The names and sounds of Sarah Harmer, Sarah McLaughlin, Kathleen Edwards, and Sarah Slean come to mind when listening to In Between. Jura understands the comparison, and is gracious about being put in the same sound category, even if she doesn't quite see the similarities herself.

"With new artists, people need something to compare it with," she explains, "somewhere to place it in their head: 'what is this going to sound like? Will it be something I'll like?' I have a lot of respect for those women making music. There are things I like about all of them, but I wouldn't necessarily say that Harmer and Slean were influences -though McLaughlin was -but I enjoy their music."
Four-time Gemini-winning film composer Robert Carli produced In Between, and Jura says it was his sense of experimentation and risk-taking that pushed her into new musical territory. "I'm really composing from my head and my ears and my record collection. I'm not looking on the internet for things I can put together in different ways. But Robert is much more in touch with what's going on." She talks about how Carli took a couple of tracks that were simple in their composition, and added a loop with the rhythm section -played backwards. "I love it!" Jura enthuses. "I love textures the he came up with. (The sound) is beyond what I could've imagined in first place!"

Still, Jura possesses an artist's soul; one listen to In Between is evidence enough that she is integrating a lot of different sounds, passions, pursuits, and ideas, and turning them out to be something quite unique.

"Combine the fact that I'm a musician and a writerŠ" she muses. "All these things go along with you through your life: you think 'I am this,' and you can't be something else. Then you have this epiphany that maybe you can. So what's stopping you?"

Paisley Jura plays Mitzi's Sister on Saturday, April 18th and Yonge-Dundas Square May 27th.

- www.lucidforge.com

Written by Catherine Kustanczy on Wednesday, 15 April 2009 14:14

http://www.lucidforge.com/artist-interviews/1938-paisley-jura-plays-in-between-sounds.html

Like many young, classically-schooled budding musicians, Paisley Jura was afraid to go off-sheet -as in, she didn't trust her instincts to know what notes to play.

"I always had an envy of people who could play by ear," she admits. "I thought there were two groups of people: musicians who play by ear, and those who are good sightreaders. I felt from early age I fit into second camp, that the other one wasn't open to me."

She's proven herself wrong, however. Jura's debut release, In Between, features Celtic-tinged tunes that meld country, pop, jazz, and yes, classical sensibilities. Jura's lilting voice combines harmoniously with her unique blend of sounds, and the disc features her playing her 200-year-old Italian double bass, as well as piano and guitar. Though she only got into composing in earnest two years ago, she took to it like a duck to water.
"It was a fear thing," she admits. "When I let that go, it just was like opening the floodgates. It was amazing. It was a Pandora's box, but really cool. I'd been so closed off."
Jura, who originally hails from Haliburton but attended high school in North York, studied music at Western University in London, Ontario, and started off her career by playing in orchestra pits and studios. She even managed the Glenn Gould School at the esteemed Royal Conservatory of Music. But her musical aspirations weren't entirely carved in stone. Jura originally thought she might be a writer.

"I'd taken a creative writing course at U of T," she reminisces, "and I was starting work on a novel. I had 130 pages of a novel going, was working with a publisher who was coaching me. He suggested that my work was really strong on description and character, but not so strong on plotŠ " Jura delved into short story writing, as a means of sharpening up her narrative abilities, the compact nature of the stories forcing her to write more simply. But she made a realization, amidst all the words. "I realized didn't want to write short stories. I wanted to write songs, and have them be little stories."


The mix of sounds she'd heard and been around means that her own work is genre-defying by default. "I've listened to so many different kinds of music, and so much for so long, that I'm not thinking of a specific influence when writing. Maybe I'm still working out what my own style will be! A lot of my songs fit into different categories. It's hard to say what my genre is. " She names German composer Kurt Weill as being exemplary of the sort of sound that might strike her while composing, noting that " his style will come, and you'll hear the influence inthat song" but she's quick to add that the Weill sound isn't necessarily a strict "stream I'm following. (Weill) isn't the direct footpath."

Still, comparisons to other female singer/songwriters are inevitable. The names and sounds of Sarah Harmer, Sarah McLaughlin, Kathleen Edwards, and Sarah Slean come to mind when listening to In Between. Jura understands the comparison, and is gracious about being put in the same sound category, even if she doesn't quite see the similarities herself.

"With new artists, people need something to compare it with," she explains, "somewhere to place it in their head: 'what is this going to sound like? Will it be something I'll like?' I have a lot of respect for those women making music. There are things I like about all of them, but I wouldn't necessarily say that Harmer and Slean were influences -though McLaughlin was -but I enjoy their music."
Four-time Gemini-winning film composer Robert Carli produced In Between, and Jura says it was his sense of experimentation and risk-taking that pushed her into new musical territory. "I'm really composing from my head and my ears and my record collection. I'm not looking on the internet for things I can put together in different ways. But Robert is much more in touch with what's going on." She talks about how Carli took a couple of tracks that were simple in their composition, and added a loop with the rhythm section -played backwards. "I love it!" Jura enthuses. "I love textures the he came up with. (The sound) is beyond what I could've imagined in first place!"

Still, Jura possesses an artist's soul; one listen to In Between is evidence enough that she is integrating a lot of different sounds, passions, pursuits, and ideas, and turning them out to be something quite unique.

"Combine the fact that I'm a musician and a writerŠ" she muses. "All these things go along with you through your life: you think 'I am this,' and you can't be something else. Then you have this epiphany that maybe you can. So what's stopping you?"

Paisley Jura plays Mitzi's Sister on Saturday, April 18th and Yonge-Dundas Square May 27th.

- www.lucidforge.com

Album Reviews (March 2009)
The Fulcrum -
Paisley Jura (B)_Time in Between

PAISLEY JURA'S DEBUT EP of pop tunes with a jazzy twist, Time in Between, is a far cry from her classical training as a bassist and pianist. However, the intricate melodies woven throughout the album still reflect her extensive musical training and experience. Jura's soothing and evocative voice carries a bit more growl than most other female pop musicians, and this edge is best showcased on "Timing". Jura brings a sense of jazz to her music, which sounds like a freewheeling cross between the innovation of Stars vocalist Amy Millan and the soft folk of Regina Spektor. Jura's preference for soft, rolling piano melodies is shown on the album opener "Forgotten Ones", and in "Sweetness" the minor guitar and violin accompaniments draw attention to the voice and lyrics-the true strengths of Time in Between. Jura shines brightest when she abandons the all-too-common piano-heavy ballads that populate the easy-listening airwaves and allows her phenomenal voice to become the centrepiece of the song. Time in Between is a great start to Jura's career, and here's hoping she can avoid the trite, formulaic songwriting that unfortunately defines this type of female pop and bring something new to the pop genre._-Eleni Armenakis
http://www.thefulcrum.ca/node/2535 - The Fulcrum

Album Reviews (March 2009)
The Fulcrum -
Paisley Jura (B)_Time in Between

PAISLEY JURA'S DEBUT EP of pop tunes with a jazzy twist, Time in Between, is a far cry from her classical training as a bassist and pianist. However, the intricate melodies woven throughout the album still reflect her extensive musical training and experience. Jura's soothing and evocative voice carries a bit more growl than most other female pop musicians, and this edge is best showcased on "Timing". Jura brings a sense of jazz to her music, which sounds like a freewheeling cross between the innovation of Stars vocalist Amy Millan and the soft folk of Regina Spektor. Jura's preference for soft, rolling piano melodies is shown on the album opener "Forgotten Ones", and in "Sweetness" the minor guitar and violin accompaniments draw attention to the voice and lyrics-the true strengths of Time in Between. Jura shines brightest when she abandons the all-too-common piano-heavy ballads that populate the easy-listening airwaves and allows her phenomenal voice to become the centrepiece of the song. Time in Between is a great start to Jura's career, and here's hoping she can avoid the trite, formulaic songwriting that unfortunately defines this type of female pop and bring something new to the pop genre._-Eleni Armenakis
http://www.thefulcrum.ca/node/2535 - The Fulcrum