Personal story
Amanda Rheaume digs into mind and heart in Holding Patterns
Ottawa singer-songwriter Amanda Rheaume describes Holding Patterns, her third full-length album, as the most honest and personal of her career, thanks in large part to the input of another Ottawa singer-songwriter, Jim Bryson, who produced the record.
“I can take myself way too seriously and worry way too much about everything,” Rheaume said.
“Jim is so unapologetic and raw, and honest and to the point. You can get carried away in the studio, but Jim has this understanding of sounds, and it’s not like candy pop or over-processed. It sounds like people playing music.”
When he promised to “cut the fringe off” her songs, she wasn’t sure what to expect. Although both artists have been living and working in the Ottawa area for years, they didn’t know each other well.
“I learned a lot from him as an artist and singer and musician, and as a human,” Rheaume says.
“One lesson was (that) it’s sometimes best not to try so hard. That sounds counter-productive, but he challenged me in lots of really great ways to be more myself.”
Holding Patterns is a first-rate followup to 2013’s Keep a Fire, the Juno-nominated and Canadian Folk Music Award-winning album that explored Rheaume’s Metis roots. Its success brought extra pressure for the next one to be just as powerful.
“I felt a little stressed out because Keep a Fire was so focused, which made it a lot simpler to know what fit and what didn’t. It was almost like a blueprint, but this one, at first I was like, ‘What could I write about? What can the theme be?’ Then I decided, ‘Just forget it.’ I’m just going to write the songs that I’m going to write, and write a lot of them.”
Rheaume not only rounded up songwriting friends to collaborate with, but also embarked on her first songwriting excursion to Nashville.
“I’ve written in Toronto and Vancouver and L.A. and Ottawa, but there’s something about Nashville,” she says.
“It’s their job down there. Everyone is so invested in finding really good songs. I sat with people I knew and strangers and we all talked about what we could write about and how to make it a great song.”
One highlight on the album is the poignant Red Dress, which was cowritten with Bryson to address the plight of missing and murdered aboriginal women.
In it, Rheaume uses an apology to underscore society’s tendency to blame the victim. “Somewhere, I learned to say I was sorry,” she sings, alongside harmonies by a high-profile musician friend, singer Chantal Kreviazuk. Proceeds from the sale of the song will be donated to the Native Women’s Association of Canada’s Violence Prevention and Safety Program.
Another standout track is The Day the Mountain Fell, a gripping story song about a 1958 landslide in Northern British Columbia.
As related by her grandfather, the only survivor was a young girl, a second cousin of Rheaume’s.
Also among the melodic country-folk numbers are songs of heartache and loss, inspired by the demise of a long relationship, and the untimely death of her longtime musical partner, Fraser Holmes, who was 28 when he died of leukemia last December. The album is dedicated to Holmes.
“Emotionally, I’ve had a lot happen in the last couple of years,” says the 33-year-old self-managed career musician. “So yeah, it’s a really honest record, the most personal I’ve ever written. It doesn’t sound like my other records.”
Rheaume’s future will involve plenty of travel, including regular excursions to Europe and the U.K., where she’s been able to build a solid fan base. A dedicated road warrior, Rheaume performs more than 150 gigs a year.
“It would be nice just to sit by the fire and write songs and drink beer all day. But no, there has to be a plan,” she says. “When people ask me how to do music, how to make it work, I always say you have to tour. You really have to play and play and play. It sounds very simple, but what I want is to keep performing and connecting with the audience, and hopefully they like the music and want to take it home.”