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Colleen Brown and Amy van Keeken
$15 advance, $80 door
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COLLEEN BROWN
“The talents of this Edmonton-based musician shine like a beacon. Her boldly written originals… have the good bones and great melodic rhythm of classic big-screen pop songs from the sixties and seventies.” The Globe and Mail
Toronto, ON – January 20, 2014 - Colleen Brown has spent the past two years rediscovering her passion for music, fuelling the inspiration for her most ambitious project yet – a stunning collection of songs focusing on themes of love, fate and psychic retooling. The Edmonton-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist will embrace 2014 with open arms through the release of her newest EP, Direction 1: Major Love – due out on February 4th – the first in a series of ‘Direction’ albums in the folk-pop tradition, with hints of rock and psychedelic. Fans can get a sneak peak of the album here before its February 4th release. She will celebrate the release in Edmonton at a special CKUA radio live-performance recording (details below).
The new EP features the first single, Mountain Man – a rollicking romp documenting the search for an ideal mate, accompanied by a quirky video exploring the challenges faced in the 21st century dating world. The writing and recording process was initiated from ‘attic’ demos Brown pieced together on her own while holed up in her hometown, throughout 2012/13. Each of the albums in the Direction series explores a different sonic terrain, production, and lyrical perspective. For Direction 1, the songs were re-recorded with producer Raymond Richards (Local Natives) at Red Rocket's Glare studio in Los Angeles, California. Brown wrote four songs that reflect the innate characters of love. Love has always been the dominant theme in Brown’s songwriting, but she describes the track As The Crow Flies as “the first song I’ve written that feels like it should be played at a wedding, rather than a breakup!”
Brown then joined forces in Halifax with venerable Canadian songwriter Joel Plaskett to record tracks that will be included on her full length album Direction 2: Lead Me On – set for release in May 2014. Direction 2 features Plaskett’s production on three of the tracks, and demonstrates how two Canadian songwriters and multi-instrumentalists feed off each other in the studio. These recordings are also the farthest Brown has seen her talents stretch, resulting in the most exciting and vibrant songs of her career. The LP will also include the four songs off the first EP as well as some other exciting new tracks.
Two more EPs in the Direction series, self-dubbed “the existential crisis EPs” are scheduled to be released in the second half of 2014.
AMY VAN KEEKEN
Vocal artistry paired with songwriting that seems as timeless as it is inventive.
"....all stand on their own... as pop classics, as far as I am concerned. Because van Keeken has this way of plucking sounds from the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties and weaving them into modern gems." - No Depression
Amy van Keeken draws you in with a liquid voice and stunning songs. A founding member of folk/roots/ indie Americana band The AwesomeHots and experimental rock band Mysticeti, her new solo album "In Dreams" releases September 7 on Scorpio 76 Records.