(and Around in Your Heart and on Through Your Blood)

This is the album that really made people stand up and take serious notice of Newfoundland’s biggest and most critically acclaimed rock band. “Into Your Lungs” was named Album of the Year at the inaugural Verge Music Awards, held by XM Satellite Radio’s The Verge. The prestigious award, which came with a $25,000 prize, was chosen by fans via online vote. The band was also a finalist for the Artist of the Year. HR was nominated for four East Coast Music Awards at the 2009 ECMAs in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and took home three awards including Group Recording of the Year, Recording of the Year, and Alternative Recording of the Year, all for “Into Your Lungs”. Lead singer and primary songwriter, Tim Baker was also nominated for songwriter of the year. To add to their rapid success following the release of the record, the band was short listed for the revered Polaris Music Prize. This would be the first of two short list nominations to date. The band gained further attention after the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games when their song “Red Heart” was featured in Stephen Brunt’s Olympic Montage video celebrating Canada’s national pride. “Into Your Lungs”, produced by Hawksley Workman was a significant growth from the bands debut, Plan Your Escape. Lyrically, Tim showed a strong and confident development, digging deep into the feelings and experiences conjured by the bands new life of constant touring and travel. The road produced some beautiful songs. The album starts earnestly with New Goodbye, a declaration of leaving and longing for new experiences. “Get your things. We’re leaving. When the morning birds are singing we’ll be sailing”, exclaims Baker on the tracks opening line. The record is centered on the bands powerful and dynamic live show. The songs start as earnest offerings and end anthemically with the electric guitar and multi-layered string arrangements that have become the bands signature sound. The album was a daring and adventurous leap from “Plan Your Escape” and thrust the band onto the National stage a one of Canada’s most important and up and coming indie bands.

This is the album that started it all. The Once’s self-titled debut has solidified itself as one of the most important, and wide-reaching Newfoundland albums of all time. Its critical success has been incredible as well. It received four 2009 Music Newfoundland and Labrador awards including Rising Star of the Year, Folk Roots Recording of the Year, Album of the Year and Group of the Year. The success of the album also spawned a recording deal with Canadian folk record company, Borealis Records.

The band performed multiple shows at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, toured with legendary storyteller, Stuart McLean and his show, The Vinyl Café, took home two Canadian Folk Music Awards for Traditional Album of the Year and Best New Emerging Artist, won a Galaxie Rising Star award for their performance at the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival and took home the 2011 East Coast Music Award for Best Group. The band has toured the world and has wowed audiences along the way. It has been a phenomenal and well-deserved few years for The Once.

As the aforementioned accolades imply, the album is fantastic. Built around the charming, inviting and versatile voice of Geraldine Hollett the album is rounded out beautifully by Phil Churchill and Andrew Dale who split duties, masterfully, between acoustic guitar, bouzouki, banjo and mandolin. They also provide incredible vocal harmonies. Geraldine occasionally plays bodhran and tambourine and the sound created is lovely and warm. The arrangements are well-crafted and executed with acute precision. Arguably, the most impressive element of the music is the seemingly effortless blending of three unique and entirely complimentary voices. Geraldine has wonderful emotive control of her voice. At times it teems with sincere sadness (Marguerite) and at others complete gusto and boldness (Anthem). Throughout the range of moments she is confident and self-assured, her honesty and conviction never waivers. Phil thickens the vocal mix by covering the low end and Andrew tends to carry the tenor parts. This mixing of three exceptional voices creates a beautiful tapestry whether it be atop instrumentation or standing alone on a beautiful a capella tune (The Briar and the Rose, Coming Back to You). The folk styling of this record have a familiar sound but there is a fresh youthfulness and currency to the album that has made it our biggest selling and most popular album in over a decade.

Quite simply, The Once is the biggest selling, most popular group at Fred’s in a decade. They push the musical envelope on their follow-up to a monster self-titled debut. “Row Upon Row” is a rich tapestry of aural delights. Great song choices (many of them originals- a first for the group). This album will surely help to build on the massive success they have experienced over the past two years. They have toured the world, played every major folk festival in Canada, won four Music Newfoundland and Labrador Awards, two Canadian Folk Awards and an East Coast Music Award for best group. Listen to the record and you’ll find out why.

Since it’s release in the winter of 2009, “Hunter, Hunter” has become one of the most talked about and critically lauded folk albums in Canada. It has garnered a stack of awards and accolades including the 2010 Juno award for Best Folk Roots Recording, the 2011 Canadian Folk award for Best Solo Artist, multiple Music Newfoundland and Labrador and Music Nova Scotia awards and four East Coast Music Award nominations including FACTOR Recording of the Year and SOCAN Songwriter of the Year. It is a beautifully poignant, layered, intellectual and wonderfully melodic. It marks the first of Amelia’s records to be made in her hometown of St. John’s. Up until the summer of 2011, Amelia called Halifax her home. The album is, “rich in metaphor, language and instrumentation. It speaks to themes of unrequited longing, the notion of belonging and reflection of love both lost and found”. Amelia is a poet, a wordsmith in the purest sense of the word. She has a profound way of dissecting the human condition and reassembling the pieces in a thought-provoking, image-laden and carefully constructed way. She says, “Songwriting is not just about the words. Lyrics need a musical partner to fully convey meaning”. A suitable musical partner was certainly found in this case. Amelia enlisted the help of Engineer/producers Don Ellis and Mark Neary and a host of wonderful musicians including folk trio, The Once, legendary St. John’s guitarist, Sandy Morris, percussionist, George Morgan, Geoff Panting on accordion and bassist, Matthew Hender to flesh out the musical aspect of the record. It is at times stark and minimalist at others it is ripe with multi-instrumental layers giving the album a wonderful dynamic. Again, the music acts as a vehicle for the lyrics. It serves the narrative giving breath to certain moments and leaving others to carry the message carefully on their own. There is a thoughtful care taken toward every instant. Amelia is a confident acoustic guitar player and her performance is rounded out by bouzouki, mandolin, banjo, accordion and percussion giving the record a stripped down, natural feel that gels perfectly with the raw honesty of the lyrics. It is an elegant and cryptic self analysis. It is often self deprecating and at times even self loathing. It is an apology, an act of penance and cleansing. It is beautiful subdued and occasionally somber. It is completely beautiful. It is fragile and at once unshakeable. Amelia packs more meaning into a single phrase than most in an entire album worth of songs. She is, undoubtedly, one of the country’s finest songwriters.

Produced by legendary Irish musician/producer, John Doyle, this is the second release from one of Canada’s finest traditional groups. The Dardanelles have found the perfect marriage of spirited, energetic, masterfully performed instrumental tunes and beautiful, reverently delivered songs with local balladeer Matthew Byrne at the vocal helm. “The Eastern Light” pays devout homage to the tunes and songs of Newfoundland while breathing a youthfulness and vitality into them that continues to accentuate their relevance and importance in 21^st century Newfoundland. This album has all the ingredients of a timeless recording, which will most definitely, be heard for years to come and against which future traditional records will be measured.

“Soldiers and Sailors” is the third release from one of Newfoundland’s most popular live acts. Arthur O’Brien and Fred Jorgensen share the distinction of owning two of the most recognizable baritone voices in the province. They have voices that have the whisky-soaked charm that allow them to deliver the hardest of sea shanties with the ease of a ballad and the gentlest ballad with a hint of weather-worn truthfulness. The Navigators have become known for their cross over blending of the traditional form and rock and roll. Hard-hitting drums and gritty electric guitars weave throughout bodhran and well-played tin whistle giving the songs an edginess and power. Listen and find out why the Navs are one of our best selling groups.

Matthew Hornell and the Diamond Minds are four time Music Newfoundland and Labrador winners. They exploded onto the St. John’s music scene a few years back and completely took it by storm in a big way. Huge, sweaty and appreciative crowds have become trademark at their shows. Fans have come to expect the high octane, furious folk rock sound that has become the band’s signature. Hornell, as a writer, is an introspective observer of himself and his relationship to his natural surroundings. Like the great heart-on-sleeve songwriter’s that have preceded him, Hornell serves up incredibly poignant and honest commentaries about love, loss and longing by turning the mirror away from the world and pointing it at himself. The result is a collection of songs that speak for many from the perspective of one. This multiple Music NL award-winning album itself is steeped in the traditions of acoustic folk music. Mandolin, acoustic guitar, bass and drums represent the core of the album and give a harder edge to some of the tracks. Banjo and some lovely cello work add a great starch to the record as well (see Khaki Dodgers and Waiting for a Train). This album is an album of dynamic peaks and valleys. Raucous, wine-soaked declarations of love and loss intermingle with quiet moments of self reflection to make this one of our most talked about and positively received albums in years.

Andrew is a three time Music Newfoundland and Labrador winner (2011) for Male Artist of the Year, Rising Star of the Year and Pop/Rock Recording of the Year for this, his debut album. “Songs for Searchers” was also nominated for a 2012 East Coast Music Award for Best Pop Recording. He delivers on this album in a big way. Lyrically smart and possessing a voice clearly as honest as the themes and messages contained in these songs. Andrew is a versatile songwriter. “Songs for Searchers” blends elements of folk, pop, rock and nouveau-country. His star is quickly rising.