Jeremy Fisher and D’eve Archer take the stage in Guelph
On Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 Juno award-nominated singer-songwriter Jeremy Fisher stopped in Guelph to play the eBar, supported by local Guelph artist D’eve Archer. In 2015, Fisher received a Juno nod for his album The Lemon Squeeze in the Adult Alternative Album of the Year category. He has released seven studio albums to date, the first being released in 2001.
Opening the night was D’eve Archer, a local Guelph favourite with a soulful air that you can’t help but sway your hips to. Archer released her first EP in 2014 and has since released the occasional single in addition to a few one-off collaborations. Toque-clad and all smiles, her set effortlessly combined elements of jazz, soul, reggae, and hip-hop using her superb vocal range to tie it all together. Archer can sure hit a note, and it always seemed to reverberate through the room in exactly the right way. Her music is sexy, there’s no denying it.
The most striking part of D’eve’s live show was the fact that she is a one-woman act. Using a Boss loop station, Archer looped a variety of percussion instruments to hold down the beat while playing a deep, airy keyboard to provide the structure to each tune. Song structures feature tight stop-starts and often multiple vocal layers all harmonizing together. I can only imagine how big and powerful this set would have been with a full band. This artist needs some backup!
Fisher made reference to his long music career during his set, reminiscing back to the days when he wrote his first song in a closet while living with three McMaster University students a decade and a half ago. Fisher was clearly no stranger to live performance, as he seemed more comfortable on stage in front of a microphone than mingling through the crowd before his set. A true folk-pop singer in his element.
Jeremy is a grade-A storyteller—and not only with his lyrics. Often times, in the middle of a song, he would pause to tell a story from his days as a touring musician over a few lightly-strummed major chords—the kind of stories that made you chuckle and smile, like catching up with an old friend. Listening to Fisher’s set was like eating a hot bowl of oatmeal on a cold Sunday morning; comfort food with a little brown sugar sweetness sprinkled on top. You know exactly how it’s going to taste but it’s still warm, comfortable, and familiar.