Album Notes

The new record, Dark Horse, is done and it heralds a new beginning for Laura Doyle. A complete departure from the electronic fascination of her first CD "No Easy Answers", this album is all real, all live off the floor, all performance. With a new band she calls Passion Fish, a new sound and a new producer, Laura Doyle has never sounded better. The collaboration with producer Graeme Coleman, who has taken a time out from his busy film scoring career, has yielded a unique sound that bridges pop, roots, Americana and even jazz. Coleman is best known as a Juno nominated producer for his 80s jazz fusion project Skywalk and is no stranger to fresh, unfettered originality.

Finding it difficult to perform her first electronica record live, Doyle decided she wanted to capture more of the bold dynamics of live performance in the studio. The vision was "homespun sophistication", a harmonizing of paradoxes, a balancing of polarities. The new songs contain just that, both meticulously arranged by Coleman and yet freely performed by such great players as Randall Stoll (Tom Cochran & kd Lang) on drums, Miles Hill (Nickelback, Dee Daniels) on bass and subtle Lanois-esque guitar work from Andreas Schuld (Susan Crowe, Long John Baldry). Producer Graeme Coleman shines with stunning piano work, adding unforgettable motifs and layering in plenty of vintage vibe with Hammond B3 organ.

Even in the lyric content the paradoxes continue, ranging from the profoundly exotic and sultry "In Everything" to the downright cheeky sass in "Someone" where Doyle writes: "they say no man’s an island cause we're born without our teeth / you can tell me love ain’t worth it but I’ve seen the way you weep". Her new material has a worldliness and maturity; a deep understanding of the folly of obsession, the faithless meandering of the runaway, the daily struggle to stay buoyant. Doyle’s songs offer something better than pop confection, something much more than self absorbed navel gazing. In the metaphors, in the poetry, in the hypnotic rhythms and sweet voiced laments you may find a kind of redemption and surprising lightness of being.

Her 2001 CD, "No Easy Answers", has been widely featured in movies and TV shows. Doyle has a knack for getting to the heart of things and the entertainment industry has noticed. She now has over twenty TV and film placements including 2 songs featured in the Canadian film "Suddenly Naked" which both earned Genie Award nominations in 2003. Laura Doyle was also discovered on the internet by the TV series "Dawson’s Creek". They used 4 songs in the last season of the teen drama and her music is currently becoming known across the globe as the show airs from Berlin to Brazil

This easy marriage with the screen should come as no surprise, as Doyle began her career in the entertainment industry as a TV screenwriter in Los Angeles and Vancouver on mostly teen programs including "Neon Rider", "Madison", MTVs "Undressed" and the CBS drama "Early Edition". But it was a desire to make music that exerted a greater pull.

Laura Doyle's Dark Horse CD has just been released and she is planning a tour for summer and fall.