Oh how I enjoy the current spate of Canadian singer-songwriters, pushing out some of the most insightful and melodic albums in what should be called Canadiana.
On Sunday we had an excellent taster of some of the very best, when Canada Day in Trafalgar Square presented Canadian Women in Song, so check out this line-up – Amelia Curran, Cara Luft, Sarah McDougall, Ladies of the Canyon and the exquisite Rose Cousins.
Limited to three songs each, plus ens
emble encores of Neil Young’s ‘Helpless’ and The Band’s ‘Dixie’, they each showcased their songwriting abilities to the full. Particular highlights for me were Rose’s ‘Go First’ from the new album, Amelia’s Montreal’, from ‘Hunter Hunter’ and Sarah’s ‘Permafrost’ from her first album.
Rose Cousins and Amelia Curran are brilliant songwriters with beautiful voices, which come right to the fore when they are just accompanying themselves on guitar or piano. Cara Luft and Sarah McDougall, who I had not heard before, had sharper voices, but still very listenable and again, great songs. The revelation were probably Ladies of the Canyon, who I had not heard of before – with 4 very versatile vocalists and instrumentalists (drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, upright bass,mandolin and tambourine) they went down very well with the, predominantly Canadian, crowd.
This free concert was superb value for money and well worth the cost of the train fare into London to see them.
Sadly unable to stay for the evening of heavier Canadian music, the pleasure of seeing two of my favourite songwriters in one place and for nothing was unsurmountable.
