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Oct. 17 - Oct. 22, 2004 |
Jane Siberry is Shushan
Eclectic Toronto songstress revitalizes X-Mas hymns in CD
By Kerry Doole
Originally Published: 2003-12-07
It is hard to imagine a more adventurous and eclectic singer/songwriter than Toronto's own Jane Siberry. She began playing coffeehouse folk in the early '80s, then scored commercial success with the daring modern pop of such albums as No Borders Here (remember the smash hit "Mimi On The Beach"?) and The Speckless Sky. The sophisticated and filmic soundscapes of 1993'sWhen I Was A Boy won her international acclaim (Wim Wenders is a big fan), and then Jane began exploring even more varied musical terrain.
There was the jazzy Maria, the sound collages of A Day In The Life NYC, the New York Trilogy (which included Christmas and film music), and 2000's lovely Hush, a collection of American and Celtic spirituals and folk songs. In another dramatic detour, Siberry has just released SHUSHAN the Palace (Hymns of Earth), in which she tackles sacred songs from the classical tradition.
Jane explained her musical journey to Tandem from Vancouver recently.
"I am very restless. If I feel I'm recycling something, even if it is interviews where I feel I am saying the same thing, that makes me really tired. I hope that what ends up to be a body of work feels cohesive, not a patchwork quilt of musical attention deficit disorder," she laughs.
She admits that the SHUSHAN project took on a life of its own. "I thought it might just be a quick Christmas record to help pay for my [upcoming] original record. It became a huge amount of work, but I am very glad I did it. Even if no-one hears it, I learned so much from it."
On SHUSHAN, Jane and collaborators Jim Zolis and Peter Kiesewalter come up with musically faithful yet fresh renditions of material from the likes of Handel (three songs from the Messiah), Bach, Mendelssohn, and Holst (the haunting "In The Bleak Midwinter"). Woodwinds, strings and brass instruments combine with Jane's multi-layered vocals to lush yet never cluttered effect.
Presenting these songs in concert in a more minimal fashion has, says Siberry, "quite challenging. It is a lot of singing, but it has been really fun. I think the audience are not quite sure what to think at first, but then they get into it."
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