Four Chords and a Song

It's been a few years since I've been to The Piston. Wednesday, I stopped by for a relatively early show of 4 female songwriters. Sigrun Stella opened up the evening. This was the first show where I've seen her with a full band. The country-folk flavour of her songs, hinted at previous solo outings, were front and centre especially with the slide guitar.

Alyson McNamara played around with various guitar techniques. Her newer material was more indie than the country sound of her older songs. There was a new song with specific details about the Dundas St. West neighbourhood that I quite enjoyed as it was rooted in a clear time and place as opposed to some vague experience.

Emilie Mover is my favourite Toronto songwriter. The combination of subtle and interesting verses combined with her playful chords always have me glancing around the room to see if people understand the craft underneath the deceptively pop ballads. Her risqué sense of humour (she gave a shout-out to the "dead Jeff Buckley") got the best of her tonight. She couldn't stop the giggles on Shoulda because she dedicated the song to a woman she saw on the upper floors of an old-age home. Then Mover realized it contained verses including "There's a window in my room" and "I can see everything". She tried out a new song, possibly her take on #MeToo and #TimesUp, where her honeyed voice barely masked her anger and contempt in the lyrics.

Finally, it was my first exposure to Claire Coupland. She had the flashiest techniques, everything from driving chords to quick finger-picking, and the biggest voice. I quite enjoyed that aspect of her set but the lyrics weren't quite on the same level and were a bit too generic.