The first full album from local singer/songwriter Charlotte Wrinch is all about gratitude.
Kiss the Ground, a 10-tune CD, was released on Oct. 31 and it’s full of genre-defying, original material written, recorded, arranged and mixed by Wrinch in her own home studio (aka her dining room).
The title song has a mellow, bluesy sound, asking us to laugh and kiss the ground in gratitude.
“When you’re distracted by the intricacies of life you lose sight of what you really have,” Wrinch said.
The song was written during an emotional time following the death of her father from cancer, on a gorgeous day in spring when it felt good to be alive. Spontaneously bursting into song was a way for her to manage the pain.
Some songs on the CD are jazzier, like White Knight, a bossanova, while others show elements of modern folk.
“I don’t make music to be in a particular genre,” she said. “If I did, I’d be a craftsman, not a musician.”
Nonetheless Wrinch, who has been playing music all her life, on violin, guitar and piano, has been honing her abilities since her first two demo recordings a few years ago.
This album took two years to compose, as she had to master a steep learning curve on Pro Tools, the necessary software, and then run tracks for her fellow musicians, always striving as an indie artist to produce the best quality of sound.
The album is not a one-woman show. John Rule plays drums, Celso Machado provides percussion, Wrinch’s brother-in-law and record producer in his own right, Shael Wrinch, is a multi-instrumentalist, Joe Stanton plays acoustic guitar, John Paulin on bass, Lorne Baron and Teryl Mullock on guitar. Wrinch has performed with some of them before as part of other bands, including the Duttons. Mullock added some nice top lines to an instrumental, Walk in the Woods, also on the CD.
Wrinch’s album has been added to CBC’s playlist and she will be interviewed on a CFRO show about women in music, She-Boom, in December. Kiss the Ground is available from www.charlottewrinch.com or through Bandcamp, the music promotion and sales website.
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Here’s another group with a new album of vocal harmonies, catchy pop-rock sounds and intelligent lyrics. Two Bears North released Comeocean in December 2013.
Two Bears is Melissa Walker and Sophie Heppell, a musician that many Coast music fans will remember. Heppell spent her first performing days with the original Coast String Fiddlers in years past. Later she played with the Elphinstone Secondary School concert and jazz bands and, after graduation in 2007, went on to study jazz and contemporary music at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton where she now lives, works and teaches acoustic music.
The title song, Comeocean, is tight, rhythmic and innovative. There’s more than one reference to the sea in the album, particularly the title track that makes you think that Heppell must miss the West Coast.
“Complete devotion to the ocean / We better get there before it’s too late,” they sing. In another funky tune, Fishes, “Little tiny fishes swimming through my vision / Love is something oceanic.”
Other lyrics are original and thought-provoking. BiPolar Princess tells a story, but not one that everyone wants to hear.
Their sound is distinctive and garnered them six nominations at the 2014 Edmonton Music Awards, including the people’s choice, and a vote from gig
city.ca as the best album released in Edmonton in 2013.
Two Bears North has just signed up with the devil, as Heppell jokingly calls it; it’s a German record label, Devil Duck, and the trio have great plans for touring in 2015 that includes Europe and the West Coast.
Heppell will return to Gibsons during Christmas to sing with her mother, Fran Heppell, for the Christenson Village residents.
Fans can keep up to date at: www.twobearsnorth.com. Be sure to watch the video on the website — Heppell displays her megawatt smile. The CD is available through their website or from Fran Heppell at
fmheppell@gmail.com.
