Monday, September 9, 2013

Kathleen Edwards - Best Canadian Songs of All Time No. 5



This series of posts will be offering the definitive list of the best Canuck tunes ever recorded, scientifically tabulated, collated and obfuscated by the Brain of Scruff, in absolutely-not numerical order.


Kathleen Edwards is part of the new vanguard of singer/songwriters in Canada. like many great wordsmiths who make music, she doesn't readily fit into just one genre - is she pop, folk,rock, country, alt-country or some other new amalgam I don't know the name of yet? As her Twitter description says, "Don't make me choose between Bryan Adams and Ryan Adams. I won't do it."

Change the Sheets manages to sound both hopeful and haunting at the same time, a little melancholy and a little euphoric. KE's sweet voice soars over insistent keyboards, the band lays back and then pushes for a big climax that I can imagine being epic live, yet is still somewhat subtle on the recorded version. Edwards doesn't get sappy or overwrought, no big histrionics, yet she's still got the power to move listeners without trickery or pandering. There are a lot of artists who could learn a lesson or two from her. Heck, she even had the guts to call her album Voyageur, and I think that's all right.

Change the Sheets




Hockey Skates is another tune that deserves an honourable mention, as this video attests.

Hockey Skates


Photo at top of post by Kevin Lamb. You can buy Kathleen Edwards music here, as well as the usual digital outlets.

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