Fresh off of the heels of the release of her nationally celebrated brand new album, “Everybody Matters”, Canadian Soul/Roots singer-songwriter AV is announcing Canadian tour dates and a brand new version of one of the albums’ most celebrated tracks. AV has twice been the recipient of the “Cobalt Music Prize” at the Maple Blues Awards, and has also taken home the “R&B/Soul Recording of the Year” Award at the Edmonton Music Awards. She has played some of the world’s most coveted music festivals, including SXSW and Reeperbhan, along with having her music featured in Elle Magazine and on numerous television shows. Her brand new album, released in February 2022, reached #2 on the CKUA Top 30 Chart, and #20 on Earshot’s National Chart in February.
Canadian Tour Dates:
Edmonton: March 29, Station on Jasper, with the Inner City and Jory & Kaley Kinjo Tickets
AV has released two versions of her first single since the project debuted – a soulful and haunting ballad that features AV’s powerful vocals alongside the rich and rough-edged voice and bass playing of well-known Calgary artist Jory Kinjo. Kinjo has toured with B.B.King and a long stream of other legendary Blues artists, as well as many well-known ska and reggae groups.
About “If You Were Here”:
The lead track from the album, “If You Were Here”, is a lonely, haunting duet based on a wordless chorus sung in harmony about longing, wandering, and what keeps people in relationships. It was originally released in 2012 and co-written with Canadian singer-songwriter Matt Epp while at a Folk Alliance conference in Memphis. The song was initially penned in dedication to Jeff Buckley, who drowned in the arm of the Mississippi River AV and Epp could view from the conference hotel. The harmonies for the track were crafted in the hotel stairwell, where the natural reverb and constant stream of musicians chiming in as they went past was the initial musical inspiration for the song’s vocal hook; a long stream of people wandering in hope of finding something more.
Reimagined with a faster tempo, the second version of “If You Were Here” features a heavier R&B groove, and adds in some retro-sounding strings and choir-like background vocals. For this rendition AV once again partnered with producer Tino Zolfo who produced her award-winning soul single “All That I Can”. The rendition blends elements of “old-school” soul reminiscent of James Brown’s “It’s A Man’s World” with modern R&B sensibilities in similar ways to Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” or Alicia Keys’ “Fallin,” whereas the original version, co-produced with Chris Birkett, is a much rootsier, live blues band feel, heavily featuring Hammond organ and acoustic piano.
From AV:
Biography:
Canadian artist AV (Ann Vriend) is known most for her virtuosic, soaringly powerful vocals, and not far behind that for her multi award-winning abilities as a songwriter — and she ain’t too bad at the piano, either. She has been delivering her undeniably unique brand of old-school, inner-city soul to audiences around Europe, Oceana, Asia, and North America throughout her under-the-radar but consistently award-winning, critically acclaimed career.
Growing up in a household that encouraged critical thinking and challenged the status quo, AV has always written songs about confusion, searching, and questioning — of herself, and the culture around her. The outcome is what she half seriously, half jokingly calls “existentialist gospel” : drawing musically from the emotionally intense and rhythmic gospel and soul styles of African American culture, as well as from her parents’ vinyl ‘70s folk/pop collection.
It is with a huge, respectful nod to her influences that AV addresses the social issues that face her and her community of her somewhat notorious inner-city Edmonton neighborhood of McCauley; in which there is a high concentration of people suffering from extreme forms of trauma and abuse; often resulting in addiction, mental illness, stigmatization, neglect, and further abuse. AV’s own self-examination in response to this is the subject matter of her newest album and its title track, “Everybody Matters.“
Connect with AV:
https://www.facebook.com/AnnVriend
https://www.instagram.com/annvriend/
