Shooting stars

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This article was published 06/07/2016 (3691 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last year, Californians such as Jenny Lewis, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes and Dawes ruled the roost when it came to mainstage performances at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, but this year, it’s home-grown talent in the spotlight.

On top of household names such as Alan Doyle and Sam Roberts, there’s also a crop of young Canadian artists who have been generating substantial buzz across the country for their outstanding songwriting, intriguing musical composition and exceptional live performances.

Two of the musicians at the top of that list (and not just for alphabetical reasons) are Andy Shauf and Basia Bulat. Both singer-songwriters released records this year that have each found a spot on the long list for the 2016 Polaris Music Prize, one of the most coveted awards in the Canadian music industry.

 

“I think it’s a very cool thing to be a part of with so many records I love,” says Bulat of the nomination for her record Good Advice. “And there’s still a lot of records, too, that I didn’t know and more that people talk about ‘those should have made the list,’ and I kind of discovered those.

“That’s my favourite part about it, that it becomes this national conversation about music that people love. It’s always nice to be a part of that.”

Bulat has been nominated twice before, for 2008’s Oh My Darling (which made it to the short-list round) and 2014’s Tall Tall Shadow. This is Shauf’s first Polaris nomination, but his album The Party has also earned him a place on the short list for the SOCAN Songwriter’s Prize, the biggest prize in Canada for emerging songwriters.

The pair of musicians have both been touring the world for the better part of the last two years, and will continue to be nomads through to the end of the year. But first, they will make a stop at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, where they will each get some mainstage time Saturday night, and participate in numerous workshops throughtout the weekend.

 

BASIA BULAT

Bulat doesn’t like to talk about herself — rather, she doesn’t like making definitive personal statements — but she doesn’t shy away from speaking candidly about the inspirations behind her latest album, the expository Good Advice.

Though some have deemed Good Advice a breakup album, Bulat says the theme of change is more prevalent that of heartbreak — there is a lot more emotional work being undertaken than just the usual post-relationship smorgsabord of feelings, though they certainly were a catalyst for some of the album’s content.

 

“A lot of the record is about going through different life changes or maybe realizing things about your life that you need to change or that you want to change, or how you deal with certain kinds of loss or grief,” she says. “I always process life through music; it’s how I make sense of the world and how I make sense of life.”

Sonically, Good Advice takes a step away from the folk-influenced sound of Bulat’s past work and moves toward more alternative pop melodies — the acoustic guitar has a less prominent role, while boppier beats, backed by thumping drums and bright organ and synth lines, jump into the foreground. The upbeat pace provides a interesting contradiction to the heaviness of the lyrics, which is something Bulat has compared to fireworks in a night sky; bleak and dark, then suddenly explosive and filled with light and colour.

“Coming from a singer-songwriter tradition, or a folk tradition, a world that places a lot of weight or this idea of authenticity on this person with a guitar… I just wanted to see how much I could push that and it almost felt insincere to do that again,” she says.

“Certainly the kind of music that I want to make right now is pretty different from my first couple of records, for sure, but I’ve been kind of moving in that way a lot,” she continues. “I think something that’s always been the same is that I don’t want to repeat myself and I don’t want to feel like I’m just doing the same thing over and over…

“I think I’m still just being myself, it’s just who I am is a little different now.”

While her sound may be evolving, the intention behind the music she creates is still the same — to make something that resonates with her fans as much as the music she loves resonates with her; to be a part of the tradition of people developing a deeply personal connection through song.

“I think the beautiful thing about making that record is I was going through an extremely difficult time in my life and I had these beautiful friendships and amazing musicians helping me through it. That’s the thing I love about music,” she says. “I was listening to all this music that was made by people I didn’t even know, but it was helping me get through it, and then I got to make something that now people are coming up to me (to talk about it)… That’s what people turn to music for.

“Sometimes we have different ways of experiencing music; sometimes it’s for a party and sometimes it’s for when we’re feeling really low, and everything in between, so just knowing that I can be part of somebody else’s life is a really magical thing.”

ANDY SHAUF

Shauf, who is currently on tour with supergroup Case/Lang/Veirs, is a solo artist in every sense of the term: he writes alone, records alone, plays almost all the instruments on his newest record, The Party, and self-produced the album as well.

“It’s kind of just the easiest way for me to do it,” says the 29-year-old. “Instead of asking someone to try and play something the way you want it to be played, I’m semi-competent on a few instruments, so it’s easier for me to just kinda trudge it out and try to make things work on my own.”

The Party is just that, a collection of character studies and vignettes that peer into the lives of the few party-goers from a “city the size of a dinner plate” — the alcohol-fuelled conversation, the clumsy romances and the inevitable self-analysis that follows.

“I think all the characters always have a little hint of myself in them,” he says. “They always start out completely fictional, or the situation is fictional, but I think you always have to add a little bit of yourself into the character to make it believable for yourself, at least.”

Shauf says his writing for this record was much more focused than on his previous album, The Bearer of Bad News — at that time he wrote “a million songs” (actually around 100) and whittled that down to the 11 found on the record. This time, he had a theme in mind and says he “had a better idea of what I thought suited me best,” though he admits he’s still a bit of a nitpicker when it comes to deciding on final versions of his songs.

“The first song that made it onto the album is Martha Sways,” he says. “Because it was the first one, it went through, like, five or six different versions and went to some really weird places, got really synthy and then I ended up… I think it was probably one of the last songs I finished because I tinkered with it so many times over the recording process, but I ended up with pretty much the first version of the song.

“It’s a hard thing to know when to stop tinkering,” he continues. “That’s why it takes so long for me to make albums, because I just work on it forever and then I just wait to get a breath of fresh air at some point, listen back to what I’ve done and pick here and there the things that are working.”

All the tinkering paid off, as the record is a gorgeous piece of work that deserves all the praise it has received, including its place on the Polaris long list. Shauf is obviously pleased about the nomination, but says he’s just honoured to be included among other such amazing albums. The Regina native is the sole representative of the Prairie provinces of Saskatchewn and Manitoba at Polaris this year.

“Well it’s a little unfortunate,” he says of the lack of Prairie music on the list.

“There are a lot of albums that should have gotten a little more recognition… but it’s cool to represent,” he laughs.

For more information about the full festival lineup, performance schedule, ticket and camping information, visit winnipegfolkfestival.ca

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @NireRabel