WATCH AND SHARE “THAT’S WHAT LOVE IS” HERE
CANADIAN TOUR DATES BEGIN SEPTEMBER 29
DAYBREAK OVER JACKSON STREET OUT NOW VIA PHEROMONE RECORDINGS
“a warm, intimate sonic experience” - Exclaim!
“a voice that carries as much weight as the Edmund Fitzgerald. She weaves a tale within her melodies as craftily as Mariposa's favourite son.” - Slow City
PHOTO CREDIT : Mark Maryanovich // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Next week, acclaimed songwriter Steph Cameron will return to the road for a string of tour dates throughout Western Canada beginning on September 29. Today, audiences are treated to the new video for “That’s What Love Is” from her latest album Daybreak Over Jackson Street. The song “describes some of the loneliness we can feel in spite of the deep connections we have with those we love,” says Cameron. “It describes the heart as an empty room that waits longingly for the one it loves to walk through its doors and give the room meaning.”
WATCH AND SHARE “THAT’S WHAT LOVE IS” HERE
Steph Cameron arrived on the scene like a bracing gust of fresh musical air with her debut record Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady, receiving unanimously enthusiastic reviews. No Depression termed it “a stunning debut,” while Exclaim! noted that “Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady delights from start to finish. Steph Cameron is the real deal.” The record also made the coveted longlist for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize in 2015.
Out now via Pheromone Recordings, Daybreak Over Jackson Street navigates subtle changes in stylistic terrain. If the debut felt as if it emerged fully-formed from the bohemian streets of Greenwich Village circa 1963, then the extra maturity of this album gives it more of an early ‘70s Laurel or Topanga Canyon atmosphere.
Like her debut, Daybreak Over Jackson Street was recorded at elite Toronto studio Revolution Recording with producer Joe Dunphy. It retains the sparse template of her first record – one voice, one guitar, both recorded in intimate fashion and to tape.
Many of these new songs feature a more mature Cameron looking back upon earlier turbulent times. “As I get a bit older I’m able to recall my youth from a different perspective. Many of these songs draw their content from the life and relationships I had in my youth; to people and places, particularly East Vancouver.” She describes “Daybreak Over Jackson Street” as a song “about living in an impoverished neighbourhood in an urban setting. That song acknowledges some of the elements of life in a slum.” A similar locale, East Vancouver, permeates “Richard,” a haunting ode to a troubled comrade left behind – ‘a hotel is a real sad place for living’.
Having spent some time living in The Kootenays, the great outdoors appears in Cameron’s “That’s What Love Is,” a lovely and gentle tune featuring a circular guitar pattern and such atmospheric imagery as ‘late at night when the coyotes call, the dogs whimper and the leaves fall’. Then there is the fast and breezy “Little Blue Bird,” one ‘sitting in the snow, staring at the stars dreaming of the railroad cars’.
Daybreak Over Jackson Street has also attracted the enthusiastic attention of UK folk music specialist label At The Helm which is releasing it in the UK on November 10. A UK and European tour will follow in 2018.
LIVE DATES
Sep 29 - Saskatoon, SK - The Capitol
Oct 2 - Calgary, AB - The Ironwood
Oct 3 - Regina, SK - O'Hanlon's
Oct 4 - Winnipeg, MB - West End Cultural Centre
Oct 6 - Brandon, MB - Lady of the Lake
Oct 12 - Kelowna, BC - Fernandos
Oct 13 - Rossland, BC - The Flying Steam Shovel
Oct 16 - Quadra Island, BC - Herriot Bay Inn
Oct 21 - Edmonton, AB - The Almanac