Search - Annabelle Chvostek :: Resilience (IMPORT)

The theme, as the title suggests, is resilience, with relationships often serving as a metaphor or jumping off point for looking at how human kind survives its own foibles and the resulting "craziness" of the world. "I Left My Brain," for example, is a crunchy alt.pop number about "heartache in a time of oil wars." "The Sioux" is a trad- influenced fiddle-driven piece about a country train ride to Northern Ontario and confronting the legacy of colonial occupation. The title track wonders at the human capacity to recover from heartbreak, while "Driving Away" sees Annabelle collaborating with Bruce Cockburn on a song about a fictional relationship that illustrates the aforementioned theme. The sound of the album could best be described as "contemporary urban roots," a style in which acoustic instruments are front and centre, but in which strategically placed programmed beats and electro- acoustic elements wrap themselves gently and tastefully around the strings, at times building the sound to a subtle crescendo such as on the title track. In addition to Cockburn, guests include renowned alt.country artist Mary Gauthier on backing vocals, Ani DiFranco alumnus Julie Wolf on keyboard and accordion and multiple Juno nominee Michael Jerome Browne on assorted strings. The enhanced CD contains the Quicktime video "Resilience".