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LOOK TO THE EDGE
POSTED BY LOUISECARVER, MARCH 10, 2010 04:21 PM | PERMALINK |
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Louise Carver enters 2010 with an album that’s nothing short of a coming-of-age for an artist who’s already worked her way into the hearts of music fans countrywide with two hit-filled albums and the sold-out nationwide tour ‘Home’ and its accompanying live record.
Determined to deliver something fresh and invigorating with her fourth studio album, Carver took head-on the challenges of writing and recording material in the wake of ending a relationship that had left her emotionally drained – followed by the distractions of being newly in love! “I’m in a very good place as a woman. I always thought I depended on my tumultuous relationships to fire my songwriting but now that I am in a stable relationship and writing what I think are some of the best songs of my career, I realise it’s just not so.”
Carver calls her new personal direction “stepping out of my comfort zone and into my power” – and it is given a soundtrack by the set of 12 songs on the stunning ‘Look To The Edge’ which is far and away the most potent and affecting record the singer and songwriter has released.
On ‘Look To The Edge’, Carver’s pissed off (‘Warrior’), heartbroken (“Where Have You Gone”), in charge (“Honey It’s Time To Go”), despairing (“These Days”), full of faith in her homeland (“Raindrops”) and in love (“Come Lover To Me”).
Mostly, ‘though, the album sees Carver find her true musical voice – which is far less unfettered than even she understood it to be over her first two albums, ‘Silent Scream’ (2005) and ‘Saved By The Moonlight’ (2007).
The most obvious example of Carver’s newfound ability to balance her desire for purity in her work (expressed through solo songwriting and dependently acoustic arrangements) with a far more free creative expression comes with the album’s first radio single, ‘Warrior’.
Featuring Zulu Boy, the track is hardly what you may expect from Carver, until now a comfortable operator in the adult contemporary market. Spurred on by the desire to be heard – “I’m done with being so accommodating all the time,” Carver says – ‘Warrior” is a striking, fast-paced track that makes full use of Zulu Boy’s energetic rapping that reflects on the life of a Zulu warrior.
“I am so proud of ‘Warrior”’, says Carver. “I wrote it to empower myself and anyone else who has felt humiliated or disempowered. The lyrics come from an inner strength and self awareness I’ve developed as a musician and having Zulu Boy feature on the song just takes it to a new level. I hope ‘Warrior’ will become a war cry for everyone who wants their voice heard!”
Musically, Carver has also opened herself on ‘Look To The Edge’, allowing producers Marius Brouwer and Brian O’Shea to usher her into new ways of presenting her (mostly) self-penned songs.
In fact, Carver credits the two leading pop and rock producers – who took on their first joint working experience with ‘Look To The Edge’ - with helping propel her forward into new sonic areas. “Experience has taught me that you can have an idea and tell that to a producer and they can make your idea a reality as best they can. But to have producers like Brian and Marius who demanded I think about each small detail and its place in the whole was something new to me. Brian is very big picture while Marius is a detail man so the combination was really, really good.”
With Brouwer and O’Shea behind her, ‘Look To The Edge’ has big brassy notes (on the buoyant “Honey, It’s Time To Go”), some spot-on programming and plenty of quirky moments (“Raindrops”) as well as some beautifully apt alt.country elements. The latter is especially noticeable on ‘Driving With The Brakes On’, a song penned by Del Amitri-founder and accomplished songwriter, Justin Currie. Carver’s version of the song puts her in the company of any of the world’s current country-pop big hitters and evokes the sheer beauty of the likes of Cowboy Junkies singer, Margot Timmins. “I’ve always been a precious songwriter,” Carver confesses, “but I realised that co-writing really benefits the album as a whole and keeps it strong throughout.”
For Carver, relinquishing songwriting control didn’t come easy – but was worth it.
“It pushed me way out of my comfort zone,” she says. “We reached a point in the album where Brian said it was lacking a groove and needing something sexy and thought-provoking. He and Marius then told me to write something then and there. At first I resisted because I have always written on my own and never in front of others. But after initially actually getting angry at what he was asking I said to myself ‘I’ll show them’ and I wrote something over the groove Brian presented to me and out of that came ‘These Days’.” The song is exactly as O’Shea had in mind, its repetitive lyrics and sludgy, soulful delivery turning it into an album standout. After that experience Carver opened herself up to co-songwriting, working again with O’Shea on “Always Be There”, one of the emotional cornerstones of ‘Look To The Edge’.
She also relished the chance to explore with different sounds. “We didn’t only use live drums but sometimes programmed ones, which worked brilliantly on certain songs. I left the recording seeing that as much as I adore acoustic instruments, there is a place for electronically generated sounds in my music.”
“Where Have You Gone”, an exquisite tale of longing, is fine example of Carver’s newfound respect for studio programming; a lush, layered track it’s simply one of ‘Look To The Edge’s centerpieces.
Carver credits her ‘Home’ tour and the recording of ‘The Home Tour Live’ with encouraging her to explore her African roots in the music on her fourth album. That tour saw Carver mixing her signature hits – like ‘Home’ – with freshly imagined versions of iconic South African songs including Johnny Clegg’s ‘Spirit of the Great Heart’ and Bright Blue’s ‘Weeping’.
Alongside “Warrior”, the obvious example of South African-rootedness is “Come Lover To Me” which sees Carver’s achingly lovely vocal echoed by that of her backing singer Sabelo Mthembu, in a song about broken-down heartache (“sometimes love’s not enough/ he would leave regardless/sometimes love’s not enough/he was going away”). ‘Come Closer’, with its slow funk guitar, is another track that delves elegantly into Carver’s roots in this country. “The Home tour made me realize that I cannot live in this bubble any more. Working with people like percussionist, David Klaasen meant a door had been opened. I’d seen the other side and I wanted it in my music – especially the percussion element of African music.”
What’s also been a revelation for Carver was the realization that she needn’t be behind the piano all the time. “Audiences are going to see this in the live shows I am working on to promote the album,” Carver says. “Again it’s about getting out of my comfort zone behind the piano but I am loving what it’s bringing to the shows.”
‘Look To The Edge’ is the sound of an artist confident in her ability to move through pop as easily as electronica; through country as much as traditional South African sounds; to take risks while never straying totally from the acoustic-led ballads that have delivered her a loyal fanbase since the mid-2000s.
That fanbase is likely to growing substantially – and into new markets - with the release of ‘Look To The Edge’, a landmark album from one of South Africa’s most accomplished artists.
Louise Carver - brief background.
Louise Carver is well known for her entrepreneurial spirit having recently launched her own jewelry range ‘Jingle & Chimes - the Louise Carver Collection ’. She is also one of South Africa’s hardest working live musicians, proving she is truly relevant to a very wide audience. Louise Carver sees herself as both a proud South African and citizen of the world, she is driven strongly by a need to display South African arts & culture at an international level.
She has achieved Top 10 Airplay hits with her singles: ‘Home’, ‘Empty Fantasy’, ‘Impossible Love’, Didn’t Mean To Call’, ‘It Don’t Matter’, ‘Time Is A Healer’ (Justin Vee remix), ‘I’d Say Yes’ & ‘Harder Than I Thought’.
Carver has been nominated for three SAMA Awards (Best A/C English album for ‘Silent Scream’, Best Female & Best A/C English Album for ‘Saved By The Moonlight’). She received an award for ‘Most Stylish Entertainer’ at the 2008 SA Style Awards and is Youth Ambassador for the Independent Electoral Committee and has received a number of achievement awards.
She opened for Michael Buble on his South African tour and was invited to perform at the most recent South African 46664 concert. From an international point of view Carver achieved a #1 single in Belgium and a big hit across Europe via her dance collaboration with Kenny Hawkes called ‘Play The Game’.
www.louisecarver.co.za
www.myspace.com/louisecarver
Determined to deliver something fresh and invigorating with her fourth studio album, Carver took head-on the challenges of writing and recording material in the wake of ending a relationship that had left her emotionally drained – followed by the distractions of being newly in love! “I’m in a very good place as a woman. I always thought I depended on my tumultuous relationships to fire my songwriting but now that I am in a stable relationship and writing what I think are some of the best songs of my career, I realise it’s just not so.”
Carver calls her new personal direction “stepping out of my comfort zone and into my power” – and it is given a soundtrack by the set of 12 songs on the stunning ‘Look To The Edge’ which is far and away the most potent and affecting record the singer and songwriter has released.
On ‘Look To The Edge’, Carver’s pissed off (‘Warrior’), heartbroken (“Where Have You Gone”), in charge (“Honey It’s Time To Go”), despairing (“These Days”), full of faith in her homeland (“Raindrops”) and in love (“Come Lover To Me”).
Mostly, ‘though, the album sees Carver find her true musical voice – which is far less unfettered than even she understood it to be over her first two albums, ‘Silent Scream’ (2005) and ‘Saved By The Moonlight’ (2007).
The most obvious example of Carver’s newfound ability to balance her desire for purity in her work (expressed through solo songwriting and dependently acoustic arrangements) with a far more free creative expression comes with the album’s first radio single, ‘Warrior’.
Featuring Zulu Boy, the track is hardly what you may expect from Carver, until now a comfortable operator in the adult contemporary market. Spurred on by the desire to be heard – “I’m done with being so accommodating all the time,” Carver says – ‘Warrior” is a striking, fast-paced track that makes full use of Zulu Boy’s energetic rapping that reflects on the life of a Zulu warrior.
“I am so proud of ‘Warrior”’, says Carver. “I wrote it to empower myself and anyone else who has felt humiliated or disempowered. The lyrics come from an inner strength and self awareness I’ve developed as a musician and having Zulu Boy feature on the song just takes it to a new level. I hope ‘Warrior’ will become a war cry for everyone who wants their voice heard!”
Musically, Carver has also opened herself on ‘Look To The Edge’, allowing producers Marius Brouwer and Brian O’Shea to usher her into new ways of presenting her (mostly) self-penned songs.
In fact, Carver credits the two leading pop and rock producers – who took on their first joint working experience with ‘Look To The Edge’ - with helping propel her forward into new sonic areas. “Experience has taught me that you can have an idea and tell that to a producer and they can make your idea a reality as best they can. But to have producers like Brian and Marius who demanded I think about each small detail and its place in the whole was something new to me. Brian is very big picture while Marius is a detail man so the combination was really, really good.”
With Brouwer and O’Shea behind her, ‘Look To The Edge’ has big brassy notes (on the buoyant “Honey, It’s Time To Go”), some spot-on programming and plenty of quirky moments (“Raindrops”) as well as some beautifully apt alt.country elements. The latter is especially noticeable on ‘Driving With The Brakes On’, a song penned by Del Amitri-founder and accomplished songwriter, Justin Currie. Carver’s version of the song puts her in the company of any of the world’s current country-pop big hitters and evokes the sheer beauty of the likes of Cowboy Junkies singer, Margot Timmins. “I’ve always been a precious songwriter,” Carver confesses, “but I realised that co-writing really benefits the album as a whole and keeps it strong throughout.”
For Carver, relinquishing songwriting control didn’t come easy – but was worth it.
“It pushed me way out of my comfort zone,” she says. “We reached a point in the album where Brian said it was lacking a groove and needing something sexy and thought-provoking. He and Marius then told me to write something then and there. At first I resisted because I have always written on my own and never in front of others. But after initially actually getting angry at what he was asking I said to myself ‘I’ll show them’ and I wrote something over the groove Brian presented to me and out of that came ‘These Days’.” The song is exactly as O’Shea had in mind, its repetitive lyrics and sludgy, soulful delivery turning it into an album standout. After that experience Carver opened herself up to co-songwriting, working again with O’Shea on “Always Be There”, one of the emotional cornerstones of ‘Look To The Edge’.
She also relished the chance to explore with different sounds. “We didn’t only use live drums but sometimes programmed ones, which worked brilliantly on certain songs. I left the recording seeing that as much as I adore acoustic instruments, there is a place for electronically generated sounds in my music.”
“Where Have You Gone”, an exquisite tale of longing, is fine example of Carver’s newfound respect for studio programming; a lush, layered track it’s simply one of ‘Look To The Edge’s centerpieces.
Carver credits her ‘Home’ tour and the recording of ‘The Home Tour Live’ with encouraging her to explore her African roots in the music on her fourth album. That tour saw Carver mixing her signature hits – like ‘Home’ – with freshly imagined versions of iconic South African songs including Johnny Clegg’s ‘Spirit of the Great Heart’ and Bright Blue’s ‘Weeping’.
Alongside “Warrior”, the obvious example of South African-rootedness is “Come Lover To Me” which sees Carver’s achingly lovely vocal echoed by that of her backing singer Sabelo Mthembu, in a song about broken-down heartache (“sometimes love’s not enough/ he would leave regardless/sometimes love’s not enough/he was going away”). ‘Come Closer’, with its slow funk guitar, is another track that delves elegantly into Carver’s roots in this country. “The Home tour made me realize that I cannot live in this bubble any more. Working with people like percussionist, David Klaasen meant a door had been opened. I’d seen the other side and I wanted it in my music – especially the percussion element of African music.”
What’s also been a revelation for Carver was the realization that she needn’t be behind the piano all the time. “Audiences are going to see this in the live shows I am working on to promote the album,” Carver says. “Again it’s about getting out of my comfort zone behind the piano but I am loving what it’s bringing to the shows.”
‘Look To The Edge’ is the sound of an artist confident in her ability to move through pop as easily as electronica; through country as much as traditional South African sounds; to take risks while never straying totally from the acoustic-led ballads that have delivered her a loyal fanbase since the mid-2000s.
That fanbase is likely to growing substantially – and into new markets - with the release of ‘Look To The Edge’, a landmark album from one of South Africa’s most accomplished artists.
Louise Carver - brief background.
Louise Carver is well known for her entrepreneurial spirit having recently launched her own jewelry range ‘Jingle & Chimes - the Louise Carver Collection ’. She is also one of South Africa’s hardest working live musicians, proving she is truly relevant to a very wide audience. Louise Carver sees herself as both a proud South African and citizen of the world, she is driven strongly by a need to display South African arts & culture at an international level.
She has achieved Top 10 Airplay hits with her singles: ‘Home’, ‘Empty Fantasy’, ‘Impossible Love’, Didn’t Mean To Call’, ‘It Don’t Matter’, ‘Time Is A Healer’ (Justin Vee remix), ‘I’d Say Yes’ & ‘Harder Than I Thought’.
Carver has been nominated for three SAMA Awards (Best A/C English album for ‘Silent Scream’, Best Female & Best A/C English Album for ‘Saved By The Moonlight’). She received an award for ‘Most Stylish Entertainer’ at the 2008 SA Style Awards and is Youth Ambassador for the Independent Electoral Committee and has received a number of achievement awards.
She opened for Michael Buble on his South African tour and was invited to perform at the most recent South African 46664 concert. From an international point of view Carver achieved a #1 single in Belgium and a big hit across Europe via her dance collaboration with Kenny Hawkes called ‘Play The Game’.
www.louisecarver.co.za
www.myspace.com/louisecarver
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