Positive attitude a common thread in the music of rising Edmonton musician Chloe Albert
Singer-songwriter accentuates the positive on Dream Catcher
Many songwriters will tell you that it’s easier to pen tunes around dark themes.
Count Chloe Albert as one exception to that almostrule.
Not to suggest that her fine new album Dream Catcher is full of happy stories, but if there’s one running thread it’s a message of hope, a positive attitude that our lives will work out for the better, right from the opening track Joy.
“That is a large theme on this record,” admits Albert, noting that for her the cup is definitely half-full.
“In the last few years a lot of people, including myself, seemed to be struggling with something. But I had this shift, this little epiphany that left me feeling really hopeful and, without sounding preachy, I wanted to put that out in these songs.”
My favourite is Where Did I Go Wrong in which a housewife considers missed opportunities, while Across the Ocean was written after Albert read Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes.
All I’ve Got is a re-recorded version of a song penned for The Engadine Sessions, a collaboration she took part in at Mount Engadine Lodge in 2012 with Suzie Vinnick producing six women songwriters (it features Albert on percussion).
Albert finds a nice balance between thoughtful inspiration, heartfelt honesty and winning musicality in songs that draw from her own and others’ observed experience with occasional nods to poetic licence. She says she tries not to over-think her motives.
All this may remind you of just why Albert won Emerging Artist of the Year in the 2008 Canadian Folk Music Awards following her debut release, Dedicated State.
Along with the new Dream Catcher you’ll find hints of country, jazz and blues woven into her songs, usually with Albert’s acoustic guitar, occasional hand percussion and her warm, poignant vocal sound. Stew Kirkwood produced most of the new disc adding guitars, bass or mandolin, with drummers John Newton or Matt Gerzymisch (Albert’s husband, part of her new live band), and occasional backing singers.
Edmonton native Albert started piano at age five, guitar at 14 and performing at 16. Inspired by her parents’ enthusiasm for music, regular trips to folk festivals since she was a toddler and early influences like Ani DiFranco, she was set on being a pop-folk singer-songwriter from her teens. Two years of study at MacEwan enlarged her vision.
Four subsequent trips to Nashville over the past few years found her co-writing with others, though she remains wary of getting too formulaic.
Until now Albert has usually performed solo, but starting with the concert debut of Dream Catcher this Sunday she hopes to work with a live band more often.
Catch Albert at the Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre (8426 Gateway Blvd.) Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Limited tickets are $21.75 from Tix on the Square (780-420-1757 or tixonthesquare.ca) or at the door.