If pissed off, lonely, feeling sorry for yourself and missing your home—while not knowing exactly where it is—had a soundtrack, it would be written by Amelia Curran. If the art of making misery and the depth of personal enigma into something that becomes happy and uplifting enough to throw in the odd mandolin lick, Amelia Curran can paint your picture.
 
Curran draws upon influences such as Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Neil Young. Upon seeing her live, it is impossible not to draw the very same comparison. Usually live, especially live...although, oddly the similarity among these influences remains strongest within her lyrics. Once described as "a performer who can smoke, drink a beer, and sing at the same time...harmoniously", Curran has that dirty raspy "I've been there and felt it" conviction to her songs. There is no putting it on, she is real and she’s here to sing about it. The audience is not left to wonder who these songs are about. It's her, but it is also everyone. The difference, however, is the crisp and melodic tone that leaves the song humming through your head as much as the lyrics echo through your conscience.

Misery loves company. “My loneliness and shame is everybody's, so people who approve of my songs could call me brave or courageous instead of self-absorbed," says Amelia, a self described drinker and thinker. War Brides (2006) is about loneliness, lost love, false love, no love, misery, rock bottom...all coated amber lacquer of the perfect pint. Whatever the theme, this CD works. It has already outsold its predecessors, all well received records in their own right. Barricade (2000), her first album, released just after her move to Nova Scotia from her home in St. John’s Newfoundland, garnered a 2002 ECMA nomination for Female Artist of the Year and bridged the connection between the young artist and a seeding audience. With the SenseAmelia Project, an elaborate seven-piece touring and entertaining music machine, she recorded Trip Down little Road (2001). This album charted with CBC, HMV and university radio stations country–wide, was nominated for an ECMA for Rock Group of the Year and was named top album of 2001 by Fred's Records in St. Johns, Newfoundland. Amelia's third album, Lullabies for Barflies (2002), found her again in solo territory, and secured her a third ECMA nomination as well as a Nova Scotia Music Week nomination, both for Female Artist of the Year.

War Brides was released into the hands of an eager and burgeoning fan base in August, 2006. War Brides is an intimate bedroom piece co-produced and engineered by Phil Sedore. Still a highly independent product, both the CD and Amelia have received critical acclaim. The momentum from this album occurs at a pivotal point of musical maturity where it will act as a catalyst to push Curran forward into the realm of household name.

-Wendy Walters