Juno-nominated songwriter performs Guelph concert
On Friday, Feb. 27, Guelph’s River Run Centre hosted a concert by Halifax-based singer/songwriter Jenn Grant. A mainstay in the Canadian indie music scene since the release of her 2007 album Orchestra for the Moon, Grant has recently found herself the subject of renewed interest with her album Compostela, which was released to rave reviews this past October, and has since been nominated for multiple Juno awards. Splicing new material with familiar favorites, Grant entertained a full house at The River Run’s Co-operators’ Hall with charming stage banter and a set of confidently performed indie-pop songs.
Grant opened her set with “Trailer Park,” a dreamy, rustic number off of her new album. After a somewhat lackluster second song, things would pick up again with the Sixto Rodriguez tribute “Wild Animal” – its plainly-sung, poetic lyrics suggesting a latter day version of the Rodriguez’s classic “Crucify Your Mind.” Following the rockier, more uptempo “American Man,” Grant would go sans guitar for a suite of back catalogue songs. A personal highlight from this portion was “White Dove,” one of Grant’s strongest compositions, given an interestingly spared back rendition with bluesy singing, finger snapping, and hand clapping.
Following a brief intermission, Grant would commence with “Spanish Moon,” another single off her new album. Following that song, an additional concert highlight came in the form of “Spades,” a more downtempo number featuring bongo drums and a quiet but devastatingly affective chorus (“I will get to you, one day/ I will get to you, in spades”). Going through the remaining material from her new album, Grant would conclude her set with “No One’s Gonna Love You (Quite Like I Do).” A hymn to an estranged friend, the song is perhaps the best from Grant’s new material – evoking the band Mazzy Star with its wistful poeticism and dreamy, languorous sound. With the audience stomping riotously, the singer would finally come back on-stage for one last encore, performing a yet-to-be-released song, and one more song off her new album Mauve.
A nominee alongside Bahamas, Jeremy Fisher, Leonard Cohen, and The Barr Brothers for this year’s Adult Alternative Album Juno, Jenn Grant has no shortage of talented competition in her category. Ultimately, these types of awards are arbitrary, however, and if Grant happens to get snubbed, it will obviously have no bearing on her talent as a musician. As evidenced by this fine performance in anticipation of the March 15 ceremony, she is one of the best artists on the Canadian independent music scene today.