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Colleen Rennison launches debut solo album

Colleen Rennison launches her new album See the Sky About to Rain July 31 at the Rogue Folk Club at St. James Community Square. More info at blackhenmusic.com .
colleen rennison
For her debut solo album, See the Sky About to Rain, Vancouver vocalist Colleen Rennison says she has recorded music that’s “nice and relaxing and easy to listen to.”

Colleen Rennison launches her new album See the Sky About to Rain July 31 at the Rogue Folk Club at St. James Community Square. More info at blackhenmusic.com.

Colleen Rennison is a born and raised Vancouver girl, but when you listen to her debut solo album, it's like taking a step back in time to the golden era of folk and country music.

The Kitsilano native will be debuting her album See the Sky About to Rain in the heart of downtown Vancouver on July 31. The 25-year-old is used to the spotlight, as she's also the vocalist in the Vancouver-based rock 'n' roll quartet No Sinner, which has toured the world and received plenty of media attention in its own right.

But for her solo debut, Rennison takes a step back to focus on the lyrics while the music takes a back seat.

"So much of what I do with No Sinner, it's like shoving things down your throat and sort of beating you over the head with these songs and these messages," she says. "I wanted this to be a nice, casual CD you could throw on and not even notice and enjoy it.

"I was just hoping that people would really enjoy the album like I have enjoyed those songs so much over the years."

How she interprets her relationship with music is as refreshing as her take on the cover songs in her album.

"That's the thing, I love music. Music speaks to me, always has," she says. "I've always been good at it. It's always been a place for me, you know?" And the album is a place for anyone. "I was thinking it would be a nice album to play at dinner," she explained. "It's a nice background album. It's nice and relaxing and easy to listen to."

Comprised of classic folk and country covers, the album's imagery and heavy themes are given shape by Rennison's voice, lending the 12 tracks a tone that is certainly easy on the ears.

"A lot of these songs are really nostalgic for me from practising them on my road trips with my boyfriend when we were on a motorcycle and riding through North America," she says. "I just hope they adhere to good moments in people lives, you know?" Rennison worked with West Vancouver native Steve Dawson on the album, who's so in demand he now splits his time between B.C. and down south. Dawson is a musician and producer, has won two Juno Awards and has produced for the likes of Jim Byrnes, The Sojourners and The Deep Dark Woods, among others. The two first talked about putting out a solo album for Rennison in 2011. "Well, he wound up doing five other albums and moving, so that kind of delayed the release a little bit," she says. "It all got kind of messed up. I was hoping to get it out actually last fall."

From the initial track on the album "All La Glory" to the Leonard Cohen cover track "Why Don't You Try," it's like traipsing back through time and falling somewhere between the Americana roadmap of the 1950s and '60s. It wouldn't be surprising if Rennison was a country vocalist in a past life, singing her songs at a saloon in a southern state at the same time Loretta Lynn herself was making the rounds.

"It was just the music that my parents listened to and storytelling for me," Rennison says about her influences for the album. It was also about putting out an album that put lyrics in the front seat and everything else - from instruments to back-up vocals - in the back seat. But it's hard to tell since the lyrics, vocals and beat all complement each other on this album.

"Like the song, 'My Crew,' it's so heartbreaking but also really hopeful - just about leaving your friends behind," she noted. "You don't really hear a lot of songs like that."

But Rennison maintains that putting the lyrics first was a conscious decision. She wanted her listeners to hear the stories or, in the case of the "See The Sky About To Rain" track, the "prophetic" words in the song. "What I realized, since I started playing more and more with musicians, that is for a lot of people that listen to music and play music, they don't really think about the lyrics or what the song's about," she added.

When Rennison's distinct and powerful vocal cords present the lyrics, the instruments take a lower volume to allow the listener to hear what she's saying - rather than having to guess.

"The music, rather than being the driving force, is the supporting force," she says. "I always felt, that's always been my connection with music because I don't play an instrument. The only thing I have to hang on to is the lyrics."

For her solo debut album, Rennison wanted to bring it all back home. The launch will be at the Rogue Folk Club at St. James Community Square on July 31. For more information, visit blackhenmusic.com.