Lara Yule Singh

Lara's quirky lyrics complement a unique vocal style that is both poignant and playful. Her arrangements apply a very personal touch to covers, and the melodies of her own songs have a way of endearing themselves into the listener's memory. - Harold Wollin (owner of cafe)

The last time I saw Lara perform, I brought two friends with me. Never before had I seen them be so attentive to an artist, or gush more afterwards. Their reaction is testimony to Lara's compelling delivery and engaging lyrics. As for me, her lyrics and her voice stayed (and still stay) with me long after the performance was over. - Ted Kerr (freelance photographer/journalist)

This is one of those records that I really really like, it’s just really hard to write about. So I hate to only give her a short review, but I don’t know what else to say.

I honestly do like it, it’s in my personal permanent rotation, I just don't know what to say about it. It’s so unique. Her voice is very sweet, girly almost. Bordering on Joanna Newsome-like. I know that some don’t like that. Heck, *I* don’t always like it. But I’m charmed by Lara.

The melodies are so interesting and ear wormy (that’s a good thing, it means they get stuck in your ears).

What else can I say? Uncle! It’s really cool. Check it out. - Amy Lotsberg (collectedsounds.com)

Happy, uplifting music is in woefully short supply these days.
We seem to be inundated with heart-broken rockers, angst-ridden punks, macho rappers, and sexed-up pop stars.
Lara Yule Singh could be the answer to all their-and our own-problems. Her folk-pop debut, Something In the Still, will instantly put a smile on your face and lower your blood pressure after a day of signing autographs or surviving another rush hour commute.
Don't let the soothing rush of waves or the babble of children's voices give you the wrong impression. Something In the Still is not a New Age album, but a delightfully quirky recording on par with efforts by Calgary's Chad VanGaalen and freak-folk star Devendra Banhart.
It's child-like, but not childish or cloying, buoyed by the soothing rush of waves, joyful instruments-banjos, melodicas, $1 xylophones-and gentle, hypnotic piano and guitar arrangements. Yule Singh's bright voice is the real kicker, filled with wide-eye wonderment and old-soul confidence as she sings about happiness, angry girls and conquering self-doubt.
"All my life I was trying to sound like Sinead O'Connor or Ani Difranco," says the 31 year-old musician.
"When I was 17, someone told me, 'Lara, stop trying to sound like artists you like, sound like yourself.' It still took me years of evolving to really know how to be myself and be OK with it."
As she hints, Yule Singh wasn't always as calm and composed as her songs.
She was a discontented rebel for much of her teens and 20s, always arguing with her parents and music teachers at Grant MacEwan. She started questioning her Christian faith when she was a child, but didn't know how or where else to find answers.
After graduating from college with degrees in recording and composition, she discovered the writings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, an Indian philosopher, who taught Yule Singh to take control of her life by understanding the crucial difference between hate and fear.
"Anger or hatred is something you can project on someone else,"she says.
"But with fear, there's no one else involved. It's just me either loving or fearing something. So, that (realization) was huge and started opening up from there. the more I looked, the more I saw, the more I found, the more I knew I wanted to be at peace."
Eternal happiness didn't instantly follow. Shortly after getting married in 2001, Yule Singh fell ill. Understandably, she doesn't want to discuss the details, but she says she didn't know if she was going to live or die.
When she finally recovered, she quickly returned to her music. (Yule Singh sang with pop-folk artist Joel Kroeker in the late '90s.) She started writing her own tunes, performing at open stages, and recording Something In the Still at home. It was released in May and spent 10 weeks on CKUA's charts.
A second disc is in the works.
"I used to be really perfectionistic about recording," she says.
"I would do takes 50, 100 times and never be happy. Now, I can sing a song once and even if I was out of tune in this part or that, I can say, 'That's good.' It's just like putting on your shoes. It's something you do and it doesn't have to be anything more or less than that. It's a wonderful thing-and so is tying your shoes and going outside."
Yule Singh performs Sunday at the Stanley A. Milner Library. The show starts at 2 pm.

Sandra Sperounes, Journal Music Writer - The Edmonton Journal

*** 1/2 Stars out of 5

Trying to keep up with the proliferation of indie-rock and neon-electro artists is tiring, if not impossible. Fortunately, local songstress Lara Yule Singh is here to remind us about the pure, childlike joys of music - when we were six and didn't care if Neil Diamond was considered cheesy or uncool. By and large, her second album of piano and guitar-based folk tunes feels bright and sunny - like the first morning of your summer vacation. Her arrangements are simple and as skippy as someone practising their scales, yet there's more at work below the surface. Her clear voice masks some of her darker melodies and lyrics - as on The Steps That Led You To Your Death - and there's a touch of Serj Tankian's operatic virtuosity in a few of her tunes, particularly Highway to Driftpile and Picadilly Square.

- The Edmonton Journal

Lara Yule Singh's sophomore album, The Great Divine, is full of relaxing happiness that will make you feel like you're a kid again. This feeling is captured right from the beginning with the cover art, which looks like a children's book with a picture of a little girl holding the hand of a bear. It doesn't stop there, though, with the theme extending throughout with Yule Singh's sweet and innocent vocals begging us to be in a good mood from start to finish. The peak of happiness comes on the track "Umbrella Built For Two" when she uses her keyboard skills to bring an upbeat sound to this experimental folk journey that is as relaxing as a warm bath. The Great Divine has the ability to put you at ease enough to sleep, but it won't because it's too interesting to sleep through.

Jamie Reinhart - Vue Magazine

Lara Yule Singh’s sophomore effort, The Great Divine, isn’t lacking in the muse department. The simple allegories not only explode into delicate, atmospheric avant folk pop songs but they’re also heavily influenced by M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books and, of course, that adventurous glimmer that exists within us all. Singh’s approach to music mimics that of Ghost Bees and Joanna Newsom, her stories taking on a life of their own as the travel between sing-speak lyrics and blossoms of organic tinkerings. “Upon A Clearing� uses gentle repetition to mirror a mysterious and perhaps fantastical trip through the woods. “Gold Brick� takes another path entirely by using a chorus of voices to express a sort of solitary companionship. The Great Divine would make an excellent soundtrack for a children’s fairy tale but in the meantime, it functions well as a light-hearted folk album for the child-at-heart. (Independent)

by Amanda Ash - Exclaim Magazine

I first heard Lara Yule Singh on myspace. It was the third track from her debut album something in the still. The song, titled Happiness, is one of those short and catchy gems that stand out by being simple. The melody line puts all the focus of the song on Singh’s unmistakable voice chirping in staccato lockstep with the rhythms being subtly hammered out in the background. It wasn’t until yesterday, months after having first heard the song, that I got the album in the mail. As soon as I’d opened the envelope it had come in, I had started singing the song to myself. It’s not everyday that I grant random myspace songs such longevity in my memory. Happiness aside. We all know that it’s the cute short and catchy variety that overstay their welcome before the rest of the album even gets its fair chance, so onto the rest of it, shall we? Of the nine tracks on something in the still, there’s only one that I really don’t care for. Where the day takes you is a bit too rooted in feel good folk music to seem at home with the overall feel of the album, but there are definitely more good songs than questionable ones here.

Things start out with Sway, which is lyrically wonderful and has a sound that carries you through it’s four and a half minutes with a bit of a bounce in it’s step. Water to Wine feels like formal dance mixed with fairy tale. The vocals throughout both climb and descend in pitch as quickly as each word comes and goes. The music follows suit. This constant juxtaposition pulling you up and down the scale through the course of the album will most definitely keep you interested, even when the shine of a catchy tune begins to fade.

Lara Yule Singh’s debut album, Something In the Still, can be purchased at cdbaby.com

Reviewed by Daniel at alongandbittersuicide.com - A Long And Bitter Suicide

"I want to congratulate Lara and everyone involved, on a fine release. Very atmospheric production - perfectly suited to her songs and voice. Great arrangements which really work and make her distinctive...all the best with it."
-Holger Petersen, Stony Plain Records

- Holger Petersen, Stony Plain Records

“A gem...extra lovely. She paints these pictures with her songs that are so completely, immediately ear-catching. It's like she's a welcoming committee saying come in, come in; which I love...a very inviting record.”
-Luka Symons, host of 'Nightcap' on CKUA Radio Network - Luka Symons, host of 'Nightcap' on CKUA Radio