Drew McIvor To Celebrate CD Release at Heartwood
This Thursday, Drew McIvor will be launching his second CD, “Through The Tangle of Trees” with a release party at Heartwood Concert Hall in Owen Sound that will feature a full band performing songs from the CD, plus an opening set from Luke Martin.
Drew’s first CD, “Porchlight”, released in 2014, made an impact in CBC’s Searchlight Contest which led to a lot of spins on CBC radio as well as local and campus stations. He wants to build on that initial radio exposure with this release, but he’s approached it with a different focus.
“The first one was more of a smattering of everything up to that point,” he says, “This one is more about my songwriting.”
While his repertoire has always included a lot of original material, he felt that his first album was more like a sampling of genres (he likes to call it “international folk”) and he approached this second album with the clear intention of taking these wide ranging influences and making something more personal with them, “instead of mimicking those styles, embrace them.”
“This album represents the next three years of my life after the first one,” he says, “It’s important for me to consolidate what I’ve done, to document the journey.” He has also taken a different route in terms of the sound of the new CD. “We tried to make it sound more like a session with a band rather than everything set perfectly in place, tried to give it more of an organic feel. We wanted to bring out the songwriting.”
From the snippets he’s revealed prior to the release party, it’s clear that the songwriting is sharp and catchy. “Heart In A Bag” , an earworm of a song which won’t leave your head once you’ve heard it, typically represents the sound of this album. The production is understated, leaving the song and Drew’s seductive voice in the foreground.
He has plans for this CD that includes the possibility of a touring band of seven, maybe eight, players “looking to fill up some dates in the fall”, along with press and radio efforts to get it heard.
Contributors to the album include Lydia Persaud from the Au Pairs on vocals; Marie Goudi from Allisha Brilla’s band on trumpet; Tyler Wagler on stand up bass; and the CD’s producer Craig Smith on drums. At the release party, it will be reproduced by a band that includes Adam Bowman, Jayden Grahlman, Bambalamb Kid, John Brownlow, and “two backing vocalists that I can’t reveal but you will recognize.”
Any independent artist that produces and manufactures a CD at his own cost has to dig deep into his personal pockets to make it happen, and Drew is no exception. The CD release party at Heartwood is not only a chance for him to showcase the album to friends and fans, but it offers a chance to recoup some of his cost with sales of the new CD, so make sure to bring a little extra cash to pick a copy of “Through The Tangle of Trees”. You just might find that it lives permanently in your CD player.
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