Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

SAMANTHA SAVAGE SMITH (calgary)
https://www.facebook.com/samantha.savage.smith/
http://samanthasavagesmith.bandcamp.com/
Samantha Savage Smith is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter based in Calgary, Alberta. Upon the release of her debut album Tough Cookie in 2011, the bulk of the critical acclaim it received was rightly placed upon her startling, unique voice, which seems at once familiar and totally new. The album was deemed "Best of 2011" by the Calgary Herald, FFWD Weekly, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, and the Vancouver Sun, and led to a string of CBC and CKUA performances and two acclaimed music videos for her songs "You Always Come To Mind" and "The Score".

The key to Smith's songs is that she has an ability to infuse her songs with a certain timelessness, invoking a familiarity within each listener, while still bringing formidable sense of self to the proceedings. This potent combination of traits belies the eclecticness of her own musical touchstones, which run the gamut from Anita O'Day and Kurt Vile to Land of Talk and Eric's Trip.

The bulk of the last two years have been spent writing, recording, and mixing the follow-up album, titled Fine Lines. Smith's new batch of songs keep intact the vocal-heavy allure of the debut while exhibiting a gigantic leap forward in the development of a truly personal songwriting style. The album was recorded by Lorrie Matheson (Rae Spoon, Ghostkeeper) and features contributions from members of Lab Coast, Viet Cong, and Chad VanGaalen's band. Fine Lines is slated for a late 2014 release.

RYAN BOLDT
http://thedeepdarkwoods.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RyanToddBoldt
Deep Dark Woods Singer/songwriter stands alone in this solo outing.

SHUYLER JANSEN (vancouver)
https://www.facebook.com/Shuyler.Jansen.music
http://shuylerjansen.wordpress.com/
"Nothing is as it seems in Shuyler Jansen’s songs. I knew that from the first time I really heard his voice on an album called Pulse of Light/Dark Landscape that his band Old Reliable released in 2002. There was still something called alt-country in those days, and just because Old Reliable were five scruffy guys from Edmonton, Alberta who worshipped at the altar of The Band and Townes Van Zandt, alt-country was what they were called.

But like all labels, it fell embarrassingly short in describing even a hint of what their artistic intent actually was. Coming off of the band’s previous effort, for which co-front man Mark Davis wrote all of the songs, Pulse of Light was Jansen’s album. The songs were driven by a desire to know the unknowable; to break down what one sees on a daily basis into its essential elements; to journey to a place you’re not sure is safe.

Jansen continued on that journey in 2004 with his first solo album, Shuyler Jansen’s Hobotron, a bold hybrid of folk and electronica. The pendulum swung back to the rootsier side of his personality for 2007’s Today’s Remains, recorded in Vancouver with producer Steve Dawson firmly at the helm. It was Jansen’s first work after the demise of Old Reliable, upon which he had moved to Saskatoon. That sense of starting fresh was all over the album, and Jansen spent a year after its release strengthening his ties with other likeminded musicians, touring as part of Carolyn Mark and Luther Wright’s regular cross-Canada Hootenanny, as well as touring with Saskatoon’s own roots rock heroes The Deep Dark Woods."

LANDFORK (calgary)
https://landfork.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Landfork/522577441111346
Landfork is an experimental-pop artist from Southern Alberta. His new album, Trust, fuses introspective songwriting and synth-pop production, adding elements of ’90s dance music. Under various pseudonyms he has been releasing records over the past 15 years while touring across North America and Europe. After stints living in New York, Victoria and Dublin, Landfork is currently based out of Calgary.

$10 at the door