Furtado names five faves of 2012
The first days of 2013 might feel a lot like 2006 for Nelly Furtado. The pop star is starting the New Year with something she hasn’t tried since her Maneater days: a cross-country tour of Canada. Among the many tour stops is a show in Edmonton on Jan. 15 at the Jubilee Auditorium.
Furtado says the tour is going to be more intimate than the average pop spectacle. Don’t expect any pyrotechnics or “like a bird” aerial work (2007 Junos, anyone?). Do expect a mix of hits and new songs from September’s The Spirit Indestructible.
Postmedia News asked Furtado to share her Top 5 albums of 2012, and she says every shortlisted record had to have one essential criteria: “Personality! Just personality — having something that sticks with you,” she says. “That element that feels like a blanket you want all around you all the time. I think if you truly love an album, and it’s moving you, that’s how it should feel. You should feel that sense of security in listening to it.”
Here are her favourites of 2012: 5. Passion Pit, Gossamer
“It’s great ... I worked with (Passion Pit’s) Mike Angelekos on my album (The Spirit Indestructible). He produced and co-wrote a track called Circle, which is one of my favourites on the album. He was just really fun to work with, he has a really unique sound and working with him I realized how long I had been making music. We were in the studio and jamming away, and he kind of stops — you could hear a pin drop — and he goes: ‘By the way, Whoa Nelly was my favourite album when I was 10.’ (Laughs.) And I thought: ‘OK! No looking back! Let’s just accept that and move forward.’ ” 4. Ellie Goulding, Halcyon
“I think her sound is unique. I like the production, I like the way she plays with the vocals. There’s something about her sound that’s quite iconic and different and the new album is fun and layered and interesting.” 3. A Fine Frenzy, Pines
“This is a very, very cool album I love to tell people about because I think it’s so unique. I’m lucky enough to know Alison (Sudol), the lead singer of A Fine Frenzy. We’ve dabbled with the idea of writing before, and have chatted about that. I just think she’s such a delicate writer, I think she’s super intuitive and sensitive and the album is a theme album — it’s a concept album all about the perspective of a tree. She’s grown up in California and I think is inspired by all the beautiful landscape at Yosemite, et cetera, and on the album she references everything from the perspective of trees — she uses the metaphor of just being these trees, these pines. It’s very creative! And very mellow. It’s very beautiful. That’s an awesome rainy day record to listen to.” 2. Ruido en el sistemo, Alex Cuba
“No. 2 would be my homeboy, my friend, Alex Cuba who co-wrote my entire Spanish album, Mi Plan. This is his fourth album. He’s an independent, self-managed, incredible, prolific, talented singer-songwriter/vocalist — and guitar player. And bass player. And his new album — he’s got some Spanish on there. A little English. We have a duet put on there and — I dunno! He’s just the consummate music man. He’s a real legend in the making and the album is one of his best. Great sounds. (It’s not my favourite) ’cause I’m on it! It’s because I really think his music’s awesome. Alex Cuba is one of Canada’s best musicians, by far.” 1. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist
“The No. 1 album I would have to say is Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist, an album that’s brought me a lot of joy listening to it. I just think it’s stupendous, it’s brave, it’s exciting, it’s unpretentious. I think music should feel that way. It should make you feel things, and I would say that album really achieves that. It’s my No. 1 of 2012.”