Laura Repo & The Blue Healers
Over the course of the past decade, Laura Repo has truly established herself as a singer, songwriter and performer on the Toronto music scene. In that time, the charming, distinctively talented Repo has released her debut album, Mountain Of Me; opened shows for Beth Orton and Kelly Willis; toured Finland (her mom's homeland) with her band; toured Ontario with singer-songwriter John Borra; earned a VideoFact grant, produced a video for "Falling is Falling," which aired on MuchMusic; and played Harbourfront's Main Stage and the Winnipeg Folk Festival.
Now Laura Repo's time is at hand: She's got a new band, a new album, and a new baby boy.
Repo's hot new band, The Blue Healers, includes her longtime, rock-solid rhythm section of bassist Rachel Melas and drummer Conny Nowe. It also features the distinctive lead guitar stylings of seasoned local axemaster David Baxter, and the impeccable vocal harmonies of guitarist Adam Faux.
Repo's crisp new album, A Charmed Life, accentuates those positives, with the voices front and centre, and the guitars turned up to twang. As for voices, Faux would automatically sing along to the songs, providing an initial spark for his harmonies to come. As for the guitars, after auditioning several players, Repo went out one night to hear Hey Stella [a band in which Baxter plays], and knew immediately that he was the one.
Ably produced by Jon Switzer, with much direction from Repo, A Charmed Life is a rootsy feast. From the lazy shuffle of "Half the Heartache" to the honky-tonk waltz of "Get Yourself Home"; from the straight-up rock 'n' roll of "The Hat" to the traditional folk style of "Green Dress," the harmonies and guitars burnish the songs until Repo's voice shines. Hard to believe she was singing some of these songs into the mic when she was eight months pregnant, just before her new son, Sami, was born. Repo had to gasp for air at times, and didn't think it would work, but the recording speaks for itself.
Repo's voice is made for these songs; it's the most unerringly right instrument to reveal her home truths about romantic complication ("Sorry," "Half The Heartache"); the changing seasons ("Greyness"); urban sprawl ("City Song"); the drudgery of the punch clock ("The Hat"); and a mansion on the hill haunted by its own ancient weariness ("Where Only The Birds Go").
The subject matter varies, but the palette of sound is a little more uniformly countrified than before. And more accessible, too, as befits this crop of songs, and Repo's love of good old acoustic country music, like Loretta Lynn. She Iived in Saskatoon four years in her late teens and early 20's, and still feels a connection to the prairies -- which is country music territory, for sure.
Actually, the purest country music on the album is a cover of Canadian Roy Payne's cry-in-your-beer prison ballad, "Trains Never Stop in Kingston." Repo's Dad, Bob Davis, used to sing it to her, so she drafted him to play the piano and sing backup vocals on her recording of it.
Repo and her Blue Healers recorded the album in about four or five days, with a minimum of overdubs. If something wasn't quite working, they didn't have a much of a chance to do it again. But when it sounds this good the first time around, why would you want to?
In fact, the album sounds so strong and fully realized, you might think Repo really does lead A Charmed Life...
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