When singer-songwriter-guitarist Leah Abramson developed tendonitis in her wrist three years ago, she didn't despair. Unable to write songs on guitar, Abramson - who, as a member of Dyad, earned a 2006 CFMA nomination for Emerging Artist of the Year - borrowed an 8-track and started recording a cappella vocal pieces under the name The Abramson Singers.Now healed and playing her guitar again, Leah is preparing to release the resulting self-titled digital-only album on Toronto's White Whale Records. She will be kicking it off with daily shows on the Via Rail train out to Toronto and then playing a handful of shows out east.
The Abramson Singers is a mesmerizing indie-folk noir album that showcases Leah's glorious vocals in arrangements of up to eight-part harmony. Praised in the past for her "soft focus" sound and her "rough charm that dissipates into subtle beauty," Leah recreates that vibe on the new album with music that is at once melancholy and uplifting.
It's difficult to name stand-out tracks, for each one is distinctive. The opener, "Take a Camera" is a jaunty a cappella piece that sounds a little like The Flying Pickets doing Veda Hille. "Fools Gold" features an ethereal vocal and enigmatic lyric layered over fuzzy guitar. "You Don't Love Me" is a Bob Wiseman cover with a bit of a Motown feel, and "Do Not Love Too Long," which along with "Nemesis" is one of two rough demos that went straight onto the record, is an W.B. Yeats poem set to music. All of Leah's musical influences are on display on the recording, including her love of indie rock, her admiration of Joni Mitchell, and, most-importantly her passion for the choral music she performed as a child.
A self-described "choir nerd," Leah, took part in every school choir available to her growing up and then some. She confesses that, when she recorded her debut album Bedroom/City in 2006 under the name L. Abramson, doing the harmony overdubs was her favourite part. What's more, in addition to performing with Dyad, Octoberman and – for a period – The Crooked Jades, Leah has been an in-demand harmony vocalist for acts like Bob Wiseman, Montag, Headwater and The Mohawk Lodge.
Though it was tendonitis that originally "forced" Leah to create the Abramson Singers as a side project, her fascination with the voice and with vocal arranging quickly led her to adopt it as her primary focus. She has formed a band under the same moniker, performing the music with some of Vancouver's brightest young musicians and singers.
For the tour, Leah will be performing as a duo with David Sikula of the Juno-nominated Inhabitants, who also produced the Abramson Singers CD. By performing the songs with paired-down harmony vocals, Leah will be drawing attention to another one of her formidable skills: her ability to write captivating music that holds up with or without complex arrangements.
UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
2 Feb @ Le Divan Orange Montreal, Quebec
4 Feb @ The Mansion Kingston, Ontario
5 Feb @ The Blacksheep Inn Wakefield, Quebec
11 Feb @ Banff winter creative music residency Banff, Alberta
20-26 Feb @ Banff Centre creative music residency cont. Banff, Alberta
27 Feb @ The Marquee Room Calgary, Alberta