Proving her 'Resilience'
Former Wailin’ Jennys member Annabelle Chvostek flies solo at the Coffee Gallery Backstage
By Bliss 11/13/2008
If summer’s the season for reggae and party-time rock, then the falling leaves and other cyclical changes wrought by autumn’s cooling temps are well suited to more contemplative folk and roots music. Among the slate of noteworthy singer-songwriter efforts in recent weeks is Canadian Annabelle Chvostek’s “Resilience,” which was released in September to ecstatic reviews — although the Montreal Gazette’s claim that she “doesn’t fake the folk, she freaks it” might mislead listeners into expecting a north-of-the-border Joanna Newsom. New Englander Kris Delmhorst would be a more apt comparison. Chvostek’s music, while emotionally intense, is more ear-pleasing than esoteric, and nowhere near the freak folk camp. Her promotional tour for “Resilience” brings her to the Coffee Gallery Backstage next week.
A former member of the Juno Award-winning band the Wailin’ Jennys, Chvostek grew up singing with the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, playing violin and singing folk songs with her parents; she started writing and performing her own songs at age 16. After studying at Concordia University, she began recording her music and eventually opening shows by headliners such as Dar Williams and Tegan and Sara. She also started creating electro-acoustic compositions for film, dance and multimedia productions.
In 2004 she replaced band co-founder Cara Luft in widely acclaimed roots-folk group the Wailin’ Jennys, with whom she toured North America, the United Kingdom and Australia. A solid musician and composer, she is direct and decidedly non-glamorous onstage. Her four songs on the Jennys’ Juno-winning 2006 album “Firecracker” were singled out for critical praise, which was a tricky blessing: On the one hand, she enjoyed the kudos; but on the other, she’s a prolific songwriter, and being confined to performing only a handful of her songs with the band became increasingly frustrating. She returned to her solo career last year.
But while her creative restlessness drives her forward into new collaborations, listening to “Resilience” it becomes clear that Chvostek is a throwback to the wave of female singer-songwriters who achieved renown throughout the late 1980s and ’90s. That’s a compliment. Her melodic compositions, acoustic instrumentation (she plays guitar, mandolin, accordion, piano/organ and violin) and especially her sultry vocals call to mind artists like Jonatha Brooke, Shawn Colvin, Ani DiFranco, Jane Siberry and Cowboy Junkies frontwoman Margo Timmins. Most of her songs deal with the trials and tangles of relationships, but some have a more topical cast. Hopefully her set on Tuesday will include “I Left My Brain” (“I left my brain by the side of the road/ I didn’t need it anymore, it was time to let it go”). With its references to “drilling Babylon” and “heartache in a time of oil wars,” it’s a sassy blues that takes on deeper rhythmic cadences and can become an audience-pleasing sing-along in concert.
Annabelle Chvostek performs at the Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 N. Lake Ave., Altadena, at 8 p.m. Tuesday; $18. Call (626) 398-7917 for reservations and information. www.annabelle.org.
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