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Amelia Curran is a seeker. Nearly a decade ago she left St. John’s for
Halifax, but still pines for Newfoundland every single day. With a number of
East Coast Music Award nominations and an extensive discography, including:
War Brides (2006), Lullaby for Barflies (2002), Trip Down Little Road
(2001), and Barricade (2000), Curran knew it was finally time to make a
record at home.
Over the past two years she recorded with Don Ellis in various caverns in
St. John’s, the city of legends, from the abandoned CBC building on
Duckworth Street to an old farm house on the fringes of town. For Curran St.
John’s captures the essence of her inner huntress.
A songwriter by trade, but a writer at heart, Curran believes language is
everything. She describes the craft of song-writing as an act of “expressing
the inexpressible, a means of describing the indescribable.”
“Bye, Bye Montreal” could pay homage to Leonard Cohen and the thriving arts
scene of yesteryear, but that’s the beauty of Curran. She never explicitly
says what her songs about. She just opens the door and allows room for
various interpretations and relationships.
“All Hands On A Grain of Sand,” speaks to Curran’s ability to elevate the
lyrical into the poetical. Her desire to reconcile the past and move into
the future is a constant struggle. “Ah Me,” manifests biblical myths into
self-reflexive epiphanies, while “The Mistress,” is part confession, part
obsession. A narrative-driven internal contention of what it means to be the
other woman.
“Mad World, Outlive Me,” mines for the truth and untouchable gems held deep
within the soul. With splashes of folk and cabaret aesthetics, “The Company
Store,” wades through a lost way of life.
“Julia,” turns the page on a bleeding heart, while “Tiny Glass Houses,”
shatters expectations and rebuilds the broken places within us all. “The
Dozens,” is a toe-tapping rendition of harnessing one’s inner lover.
Retribution arrives in both “Love’s Lost Regard,” and “Wrecking Ball,” but
it’s the album’s closer, “Last Call,” that leaves listeners thirsty for
another round.
Text written by Shannon Webb-Campbell.
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