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Jann Arden learns 'less is more'
The second time was a charm for Jann Arden, the Canadian singer-songwriter that will perform at the Moncton Coliseum on Wednesday, April 11.
Jann and her longtime collaborator Russell Broom were working on her latest album, a collection of cover songs, late last year when the duo decided to scrap the whole thing so they could restart the project.
The second time around led to Uncover Me, her ninth release since debuting on a national scale in the early 1990s.
In a phone interview a few weeks prior to starting her cross-Canada tour, Jann says this record was the most stressful project she's ever worked on.
"This was a nightmare to make," she admits. "I have to tell you, it was really stressful. Making an original album is really, really easy. You know, you're not screwing up anybody else's tunes, you're screwing up your own."
Jann says thinking too much about the record - debating whether to sing the same way the original singer had, whether to keep the same arrangements as the original and so on - kept her up at night. She learned the hard way that "less is more."
"The simplicity of music, and just really following your instincts and not trying to do things based on what you think other people will like. And that starts right from picking the songs to, you know, into the production and how to sing them," she explains.
"Songs are very smart little entities - they'll tell you exactly what they need you to do, you just have to be mindful of it. I know that sounds esoteric, but it's true."
Thinking too much is what led to Jann scrapping the original material recorded for Uncover Me.
"I had a whole other cover record done. Russell and I had it done in October, but we scrapped it. I didn't really understand where I was going and why, so ... you'd think I could have just mailed it in and shut my mouth," she says with a laugh. "Here's your damn record, but oh no, we scrapped it and started again.
"We never found the heart of it, and the harder we tried, the further away we got."
Following her heart, Jann dug back into her roots, picking out songs she tried her hands and voice at when she was just learning to play guitar and sing. The songs on Uncover Me include Freda Payne's 1971 hit "Bring The Boys Home", The Mamas & The Papas' "California Dreamin'", Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man," Janis Ian's "At Seventeen," Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" and Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield". There is only one original tune on the album, a new one by Arden called "Counterfeit Heart".
"Could this be any cornier?" Jann says was her first thought when she decided on the track list. Corny or not, she knew the song selection was the right one.
"I had to be honest with myself. This is how I learned to sing, this is why I sang in the first place, this is how I learned to play my Mum's old Yamaha guitar. These are the songs."
The point of the album, she says, is "Let me show you where I come from."
"I should have done a triple-album, really. I should have had four ABBA songs in there, a Blondie, a Nazareth, a Boston, an Olivia Newton-John, there was just so many. The ones that I really loved ended up on that record, and that's why they're so bizarre as a group.
"I mean, did the world need another version of 'California Dreamin"? No, but I just played that song so much on guitar, I just loved it."
Jann was staying with a friend in the United States when she called the Times & Transcript before her tour. She was down south writing music for her next record, an album of original material that she says she will probably begin recording in the summer. Her current tour will take her across Canada and will wrap up mid-May.
Last week, it was announced on Jann's website that she had been hospitalized for heart related concerns, diagnosed as Tako-Tsubo Cardiomyopathy, which is a condition commonly associated with acute stress. She cancelled one concert, but as of this writing, she planned on continuing her tour.
Jann Arden is scheduled to perform at the Moncton Coliseum on Wednesday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. J.P. Hoe will open the show. Tickets are $57, taxes and handling included. Tickets can be purchased online at tickets.moncton.ca, by phone at 857-4100, or at the Moncton Coliseum box office at 377 Killam Dr.
[ April 04, 2007, 06:01: Message edited by: Jesse-Joe ]
