Sonic Unyon Records :: terra lightfoot

bio:

Terra Lightfoot’s self titled debut album for Sonic Unyon Records (Ringo Deathstarr, Frank Black) is an enigma. At one end it’s a rustic and acoustic indie folk affair with Lightfoot’s soaring and full bodied voice and guitar in the center of each composition. However Lightfoot’s guitar work is devised of calculated riffs and rhythms inspired by a youthful obsession with math rock bands like Don Caballero and lilting melodies and alt-country elements from her time serving in Canadian roots country outfit, The Dinner Belles. Intimate and echoed production from Dale Morningstar (who has produced for godspeed you black emperor! and Thrush Hermit) as well as full band accompaniment from members of Huron and A Northern Chorus (including organ, piano, cello and pedal steel) fills out the compositions.

Just turning twenty-five, Lightfoot has been honing and cultivating her solo material since moving to Hamilton, Ontario to attend university at the age of eighteen. Speaking on her sound, Lightfoot says “I write a lot of love songs, and most of them come from a very honest place. I wrote these songs to deal with what was going on with me over the span of a year. My grandmother, who was an amazing piano player, died, people close to me lost relatives, and I ended a serious relationship.” Songs like “Sleep Away The Winter” tackle weighty subjects with Lightfoot pleading to a friend who has given up on the outside world and retreated to the confines of their basement apartment. Another track of a haunting nature is “Lucid Dreams” with Lightfoot relating “I was getting into lucid dreaming while going through a breakup, and some months later I dreamed that we had been together the whole time. I was trying to negotiate between what I was dreaming and what was actually happening and every morning I would wake up uncertain about everything. Lucid Dreams was about trying not to go back to that relationship in my waking life.”

Gathering her songs together, Lightfoot got a grant from the Ontario Arts Council to record and recruited Morningstar who recorded the album at Toronto Island. Now armed with a backing band, Lightfoot has been busy this year performing with such artists as Basia Bulat, Julie Doiron, Daniel Romano (Attack in Black) and Wax Mannequin. She recently had a sold out album release party in Hamilton which featured Paley & Francis as special support and also performed at this year’s Supercrawl Festival in Hamilton with Broken Social Scene. Junior Boys and J Mascis. Terra will be announcing her first North American tour for this fall shortly.

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item number: SUNCD1372
upc code: 621617013728
format: cdx1
release date: 2011-09-13
genre: alternative

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press:

Hamilton-based singer/songwriter Terra Lightfoot was dealing with a lot while writing her self-titled debut: she lost a relative, close friends lost relatives and she left a serious relationship. Sorrow looms large on the album, yet Lightfoot never lets herself bask in mourning for too long, picking herself up and charging on. Lucid Dreams, about longing an old love and trying to let go, splices quiet folk ruminations with fits of loud indie rock. Heads, Tails, Tails is a plaintive acoustic tune in which Lightfoot’s pretty coo punctuates the underlying temper. Also part of alt-country gang the Dinner Belles, Lightfoot channels her rustic roots pedigree with forays into twangy pedal steel and good-time banjo from the backing band (members of Huron and A Northern Chorus). Lightfoot’s songcraft is so darn lovely it's easy to find joy in even her heaviest introspections. – Julijana Capone, Uptown
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Hailing from Hamilton, Ontario, Terra Lightfoot embarked on her first Canadian tour in support of her self-titled debut album. Explaining that she had never journeyed beyond Manitoba, it was quite obvious Lightfoot was delighted to come see the West for herself as she entertained the audience with tales about tour life. Her brand of music is rather hard to categorize. It could simply be described as indie-folk infused with math rock sensibilities. She possesses an amazing, full-bodied voice that echoed throughout the tiny space, and it kept the audience in awe. – Jamison Troy, Discorder
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With her thoughtful, rustic, indie folk material, Terra Lightfoot, no relation to Gordon, makes an earthy debut. The Hamilton singer-songwriter’s voice is rich, malleable and melancholic; her material is grey-coloured, a shade of November. Sleep Away the Winter, a swelling waltz about social hibernation, is the album’s biggest track. Head, Tails, Tails is sparser and sweeter. The rest of the material is fit for sweaters and cellos, providing those in a mood some measure of comfort. – Brad Wheeler, Globe & Mail
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Terra Lightfoot-debut album review

You will soon be treated to a new artist. Her name is Terra Lightfoot a 25 year old singer, songwriter, and musician from Canada. On September 13^th her self-titled album from Sonic Unyon Records will be released. The album ranges as a folk, country and acoustic ensemble. Terra has had a few ventures in other projects during her development. They definitely set the tone for where the artist has stemmed her musical focus from. The Dinner Belles, a country roots based band, and Secret Heights, a folk duo she collaborated with a friend of hers, Cam Malcolm. Terra has recruited the experience and talents of producer/ engineer Dale Morningstar a very well-known figure in the indie rock scene. If you feel you enjoy these styles of music, you will agree that this was a
perfect setting for a debut album.

Very calming in most parts of the album. But there are signs of triumph, breakthroughs, and cleansing of the soul. For country/ folk/ Indie rock this is such a great center. You can please the pallet of many sides of various genres with her music. You can listen to this when you are lying out in a field with your iPod contemplating the day. You can listen to it while you are thinking about a loved one, or one who is no longer a loved one. This is music to put in your car for a long drive down a country highway. No matter how you want to listen to this album I believe you will find at least a few of the songs the will attract you to her soulful heart bearing sounds, and lyric writing.

All of her songs seem to come deep from the heart and experiences from the artist. There is heart break and hope in all of the words. It is sometimes hard to find feeling in some artists songs. I believe that she has captured the feeling very well. “Sleep Away The Winter” deals with a friend who had decided to shut the rest of the world out “Think of the dark places you hide. Where it’s comfortably cold and you stay out of sight, to avoid the day as it slips away.” Simple poetry from the soul. ”Lucid Dreams” helps heal the torments of an ended relationship. There is no doubt that she feels the experiences in when she wrote and performs the songs.

I truly liked this album very much. There is an unwavering depth in her voice that makes you want to feel what she is feeling. This album stretches the talents of its creator. It seems like a full on testing of herself while still knowing and being able to control her ranges. The musicianship falls in line with the feeling of the lyrics in great fashion. Every song tells a story that needs to be heard.

This is a must get for anyone who enjoys calming acoustic sounds. She is planning a North American tour in the fall. That is just talk at this point. I do hope it becomes reality. If you can feel her this well through a produced recording…Imagine how you will feel seeing her express herself live.

– Jeff, indyconcerts.com
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