adrienne pierce

Vancouver’s Adrienne Pierce isn’t exactly a rookie in the music world. The singer-songwriter has toured North America, the UK, and Norway, as well as playing shows at Lilith Fair, SXSW, NXNE, CMW, and the Toronto International Film Festival. She’s also had songs featured on programs such as Grey’s Anatomy, Veronica Mars, and a dozen more. Currently residing in California, Pierce is looking to drum up some buzz in support of her most recent release, Oh Deer, released in September 2010.

Pierce’s first proper release was 2004’s Small Fires. Since then, she’s shared her perky brand of singer/songwriter folk over numerous releases, including 2007’s Faultline and a number of EPs and compilation contributions.

Pierce’s songs are accessible and carry a degree of up-tempo indie-pop that fits just as well next to a wood stove during a Canadian winter as it would on a prime time medical drama. It’s that kind of universal appeal that explains how she’s won over critics and fans from various segments of the musical sphere.
- Canadian Musician Magazine

It was in 2005 that I heard the American group Shivaree for the first time. One of their most well-known singles, “New Casablanca,” became the song to which I listened the most that year. Well, actually, it was not really the song in itself that haunted me for months, but rather the voice of Ambrosia Parsley. A voice boasting a rare sensuality and smoothness.

We are now in 2011 and members of Shivaree disbanded four years ago. But the voice is still alive and well, and has been embodied in a Canadian singer and songwriter called Adrienne Pierce for a while.

Many artists spend too much time trying to convince audiences that they are talented. As far as Pierce is concerned, no need to worry; the talent is naturally there. In “Oh Deer,” her third album, she lets it speak through atmospheric tunes that match a beautifully endearing voice and innocent yet poetic lyrics.

The 12 songs on the CD were written over several years in Paris, Bologna, Death Valley, Kauai, Vancouver, and Los Angeles. However, listening to them is like taking an imaginary and intimate road trip across Canada. Whether it is the catchy “Guilty of Everything” (my personal favorite), the fanciful “Nightswimming” or the made-for-great-TV-show “Winner Takes It All,” her music spans genres and influences in the same fashion as the country boasts diversity of landscapes, people and cultures. And the more you listen to the album, the more you enjoy what it has to offer.

Pierce reminds me of a younger Kate Bush. While very different in styles, the two artists share a creative intelligence that sets them apart from most of their peers. They are not afraid of using their uniqueness to create music that entertains and makes a lasting impression on listeners.

“Oh Deer” is everything but mainstream. It is the kind of album that will brighten your Sunday mornings and warm your heart in winter. And that is exactly the reason why it is so good.

More about “Oh Deer”

Release date: June 2010

Label: Insectgirl Records

Produced by: Adrienne Pierce, Ari Shine, Marc Wild

Mixed by: Dan Burns

Tracklisting:

1. Amargosa Hotel
2. Black Sand
3. Museum
4. Monsters
5. Three Hours Ago
6. Arc De Triomphe
7. Nightswimming
8. Guilty Of Everything
9. Come Over To My House
10. Winner Takes All
11. Let's Pretend
12. Telescope

By Cendrine Marrouat

Continue reading on Examiner.com CD review: 'Oh Deer' by Adrienne Pierce - Canada Art Reviews | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/art-reviews-in-canada/cd-review-oh-deer-by-adrienne-pierce-review#ixzz1Rw6VSVio - www.examiner.com

There are a lot of ways to make money from a song, and West Vancouver's Adrienne Pierce figured out a good one early on: TV.

It was all quite simple, really. She would look up the B.C. Director's Guild where it lists all the shows filming around here. The phone number was right there in the listing, so she'd call the production office, ask who was doing the music and could she send some of her work along?

Her first big placement was on The Chris Isaak Show, the quirky and cool TV series filmed in Vancouver between 2001 and 2004. It was a hell of a first hit.

"That's how I started -- I didn't know anything" says Pierce. "But it worked. And then I met people, got some lucky breaks where you meet somebody. One really nice guy put a lot of my songs in Edgemont and that helped me out a lot in the beginning."

Then she signed with the management department at Nettwerk Records and their song-licensing division went hard to work with the rest of Pierce's catalogue. They re-released her first indie album, Small Fires, and her work began appearing on Grey's Anatomy, The Hills, Army Wives, The L Word and lots of other TV shows.

Pierce relocated to Los Angeles to further her song-licensing and singer-songwriter career, and there would be two more albums with Nettwerk before they parted ways.

It's been quite a meteoric rise, all things considered. She grew up singing around the house, driving family nuts, and took flute in school and learned to play piano. But it wasn't until she graduated in psychology from UBC that she learned to play guitar and quite suddenly started writing songs. She learned three chords, wrote a batch of tunes, learned another chord, wrote a bunch more, and on it went.

Incredibly, two years later, she was on the Lilith Fair stage.

"I had this friend who was really

good and she's the first person who ever let me play somewhere," says Pierce. "She said, 'Come play Girls Rock the Boat in North Vancouver.' And I had some time and she asked if I would drop off her tape at Nettwerk

to enter this contest to play Lilith Fair. While I was there, somebody who had seen me play recognized me and said I should drop off my tape, too. I always had them with me. So, lo and behold, they called me and said you're going to be at Lilith Fair this year. It was really shocking."

Last week, Adrienne Pierce is independently releasing her third album, Oh Deer, and she'll be at the Media Club tonight ($10 at themediaclub.ca). From that album, today's featured free download on the Province Playlist is "Monsters"

"I wrote that so quickly," says Pierce "and I didn't know if it was any good when I was finished but a lot of people reacted really strongly to it. It was something I was experiencing, I had just broken up with someone when I wrote that song. It's about those little voices in your head that are putting you down and telling you things aren't okay. And you wake up in the morning and everything's fine. That you shouldn't listen to those voices if you can avoid it."

jpmac@gmx.net

© Copyright (c) The Province

Download free music from the Province Playlist
- The Province

CD Review

Artist: Adrienne Pierce

Title: Oh Deer

Label: Insectgirl Records

Released: June 2010

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey

Oh Deer is Adrienne Pierce’s third studio album. With an already lengthy resume of film and TV credits to her previous albums it isn’t surprising that this entire album could be a soundtrack for any upcoming film or TV show. Some songs are made for soundtracks and with Adrienne Pierce’s almost child-like vocals and arty-pop music beats it is most likely this whole album could be optioned.

Such lovely and melodious tracks as “Museum” and “Monsters” take the listener on an introspective journey akin to a reflective walk on an autumn day. Pierce is very talented and managed to cultivate a unique vocal that is instantly distinctive and memorable. Her vocals seem to be a cross between the youthfulness of Cyndi Lauper and the mildly melancholia of Tori Amos. Whether she has a similar style akin to Regina Spektor, Kate Havnevik or Amos, Adrienne Pierce’s songs are delicious to listen to.

Adrienne Pierce’s songs are intelligent and her lyrics are particularly affecting, such as on the track “Come Over To My House” which is a sharp social commentary with a fantastic reggae-rap section contributed by Sirah.



The tracks on Oh Deer seem effortless even though they took years to create and on multiple continents. Oh Deer feels like a pleasant conversation between two strangers, a momentary flirtation that makes you smile for the rest of the day, a warm cup of tea on a chilly afternoon; a great album to put in your iPod or in your CD player and just sit back and enjoy.

Track Listing:
01. Amargosa Hotel
02. Black Sand
03. Museum
04. Monsters
05. Three Hours Ago
06. Arc De Triomphe
07. Nightswimming
08. Guilty of Everything
09. Come Over To My House
10. Winner Takes All
11. Let’s Pretend
12. Telescope

Written by :

Kindah
Kindah Mardam Bey - Press+1 (Oct 3, 2010) - Press+1

Canadian Adrienne Pierce has a very distinct vocal that gets your attention. It's a mesmerizing combination of Edie Brickell and Blossom Dearie that draws you in. She's written music for TV (Grey's Anatomy, Veronica Mars) and this is her third full length album. It's safe to classify her as folk pop, and the opening "Amargosa Hotel" has the guitar twang and dreamy quality often found on Sheryl Crow's work. The same feeling on "Black Sand" carries through, with a catchy beat to contrast her multi-tracking here. The storylike ballads like "Monsters" and "Arc De Triomphe" are soulful and effective. My favorite track though is the bouncy "Guilty of Everything" with a sweet melody and seductive confessions in the lyric.

- Powerpopaholic (Oct 11, 2010) - Powerpopaholic

Pierce-ed through the heart with indie-pop vignettes. Deer, oh, dear!”

Adrienne Pierce Oh Deer! Vancouver, BC Mixed by Dan Burns // Mastered by Dave Collins

Adrienne Pierce, whose work has been featured on the indie-happy soundtracks of recent shows like Veronica Mars, releases her third full-length album - the cutesy, charming, folky indie-pop collection Oh Deer! On the first track, “Amargosa Hotel,” slide guitar is featured to give a dash of alt-country, while the base of the song remains a kind of spacey, reverby folk. “Museum” includes doo-wop backing vocals and sets the tone for a bubblegum (in the sense of a tight, infectiously hook-laden) indie-pop album. The next song, “Monsters,” is standout and could be seen as the Anglophone answer to her fellow twee-poppers and Québec-natives Tricot Machine’s 2007 cut, “Un monstre sous mon lit” (“A Monster Under My Bed”). A time-zone-crossed tale of love mixed with New Year’s Eve/Day, “Three Hours Ago,” follows, and is sung sweetly and tenderly by Pierce. Here, she uses an acoustic-guitar break to reflect on long-distance romance: “I wonder who you really are.” In “Arc de Triomphe,” Pierce plays with the clichés “speaks volumes” and “turn up the volume” to her lyrical benefit. The selection not to miss, however, is the funky “Come Over to My House,” which contains a rap that is quite choicely placed. The last three tunes on the disc are worth a listen as well, especially the bittersweet “Let’s Pretend.” All in all, Pierce builds on her track record of radio and TV friendly fare - that’s to say her music is catchy, lyrically nuanced, and not without its share of earnest moments.

(Insectgirl Records) Andrew Palmacci

www.myspace.com/adriennepierce

Andrew Palmacci - Performer Magazine (Oct 1, 2010) - Performer Magazine

- Adrienne Pierce -- Oh Deer (Insectgirl Records) Rating: 8 (out of 10)
Adrienne Pierce’s new 12-track album, Oh Deer, is out this week in Canada on Insectgirl Records. A U.S. release is slated for next month.

Adrienne Pierce's third full-length album, Oh Deer, shows the singer/songwriter pushing the pop envelope every chance she gets. Form and content are ground zero for further experimentation on the 12-track disc which came out this week in Canada on Insectgirl Records.

Born and raised in West Vancouver, Pierce now splits her time between L.A. and B.C., creating engaging music that comes from all over the map. The new batch of songs were written in Paris, Bologna, Death Valley, Kauai, Vancouver and Los Angeles and recorded in some equally exotic locations: a cabin on the Sunshine Coast, a bungalow in Hollywood as well as two Vancouver studios.

Time and place are important signifiers in Pierce's musical universe where "Monsters," the "Arc de Triomphe" and "Black Sand" all get equal consideration. In true singer/songwriter tradition she lets listeners in on personal experiences filtered through an artistic sensibility that never stops exploring.

Visit www.adriennepierce.com for more details.

-- John Goodman

- North Shore News/Syndicated Through Canada.com

- Adrienne Pierce -- Oh Deer (Insectgirl Records) Rating: 8 (out of 10)
Adrienne Pierce’s new 12-track album, Oh Deer, is out this week in Canada on Insectgirl Records. A U.S. release is slated for next month.

Adrienne Pierce's third full-length album, Oh Deer, shows the singer/songwriter pushing the pop envelope every chance she gets. Form and content are ground zero for further experimentation on the 12-track disc which came out this week in Canada on Insectgirl Records.

Born and raised in West Vancouver, Pierce now splits her time between L.A. and B.C., creating engaging music that comes from all over the map. The new batch of songs were written in Paris, Bologna, Death Valley, Kauai, Vancouver and Los Angeles and recorded in some equally exotic locations: a cabin on the Sunshine Coast, a bungalow in Hollywood as well as two Vancouver studios.

Time and place are important signifiers in Pierce's musical universe where "Monsters," the "Arc de Triomphe" and "Black Sand" all get equal consideration. In true singer/songwriter tradition she lets listeners in on personal experiences filtered through an artistic sensibility that never stops exploring.

Visit www.adriennepierce.com for more details.

-- John Goodman

- North Shore News/Syndicated Through Canada.com

ADRIENNE PIERCE: Oh Deer (Insect Girl)

By TOM HARRISON FRI, AUG 27 2010 COMMENTS(0) QUICK SPINS

Pierce started under the influence of Ani Difranco but she has come into her own. There is still a trace of Difranco's rapid fire half spoken half sung attack in some of her vocals but her winsome voice makes her sound more vulnerable. Sometimes Pierce is jaunty and upbeat ("Museum" is really endearing) and other times awash in cool effects and rhythms (hear "Black Sand") but it all adds up to a coherent album whose different approaches puts the listener on edge. B TH - The Province

December 18, 2008 - Adrienne Pierce, Winter (Insectgirl)
Recorded on the Sunshine Coast, this homegrown holiday EP is a pleasant surprise. The Vancouver native, who’s mastered the art of getting her songs on TV shows (Grey’s Anatomy, The Hills, and Veronica Mars, to name a few), delivers four poppy and upbeat originals. But the real treat here is her totally adorable, almost childlike version of Jackie DeShannon’s “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”.
Sarah Rowland, The Georgia Straight

- The Georgia Straight

Her sound is a pure bubble of brightness gliding across the serrated edge of her wit and poetic observation.

She is the icon of the literate pop scene and coaxes listeners into vivid reflections on our kaleidoscopic modern life.

In a clear, sweet voice, she traces out a series of weighted confessions, jealousies, apologies, and silent accusations intimate to each of us -- the same network of emotion we levy against the ones we both love and distrust.

I invite listeners to revel in the wonder that is Adrienne Pierce, the go-to girl for a smart shot of catchy-meets-cutting tracks for thoughtful listeners.


***

It is the sincere pleasure of this blogette here to introduce readers to the complex, clever cutie also known as Adrienne Pierce.

Ms. Pierce hails from the gorgeous Canadian west coast and belongs first and foremost to the indie scene in Vancouver, BC. With a towering selection of recent tour dates and festival slots, it could be argued she is now a global citizen in the most literal sense as she takes to the road for adventure and new geographies to inform her songwriting. Rather than rendering these landscapes into mere replicas, Ms. Pierce transforms their elements into otherworldly expressions of our interior lives and the secrets that rest therein.

In a word, Adrienne Pierce is a storyteller. She augments those difficult, personal admissions with infectious pop melodies and an undercurrent of sly country influences. It takes a rare talent to turn heartbreak into a rousing, sing-to-the-stars track and Ms. Pierce accomplishes it with ease.



For readers unfamiliar with Adrienne Pierce's credits, prepare to bask in her current success and prepare for an even brighter future filled with stunning new projects. Her debut album, Small Fires (2002), was released to great critical acclaim on Canadian soil and, with her follow-up EP, Hors D'Oeuvres (2006), Ms. Pierce found her foothold with the international music scene. Her delicious track, "Lost & Found," won its rightful place on the soundtracks for Veronica Mars and Grey's Anatomy, thus opening her music to a cultured collective of young listeners and music afficionados. Since then, her music has featured prominently on television shows including The Hills, Army Wives, Greek, and the ever-infamous drama, The L Word, among others.

As a young musician, Adrienne Pierce was chosen to perform during the iconic Lilith Fair tour and was signed to Nettwerk Records where she produced her second full-length album, Faultline (2007). In the mere span of a decade, Ms. Pierce has conquered the concert halls of Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. with her addictive sound and she has performed at both SXSW and NXNE in addition to Canadian Music Week and Bergenfest in Norway. As for Canadian credits, fans know Adrienne Pierce lent her talents to a reinvented version of Neil Young's track, "Pocahontas," for Borrowed Tunes II: A Tribute to Neil Young (2008) with other Canadian heavyweights ranging from Chantal Kreviazuk and Ron Sexsmith to City and Colour and Melissa McClelland.

In recent years, Adrienne Pierce released seasonal delights in the form of two EPs -- Winter received great acclaim over the holidays in 2008 and Spring rounded out her success in 2009.

And now, eager listeners can look forward to Oh Deer hitting the e-shelves THIS MONTH.

Since I am such a wondrous blogette, I thought I should treat readers to a sneak peek into the upcoming album. On this Tunes for Tuesdays segment, I would like to celebrate the new release with her all-too-cute video for the first single, "Museum." It is rumoured Ms. Pierce penned this track on the back of a map as she explored the Museum of Natural History in Paris. It has a magical, nostalgic quality to it and, yes, she even taps into the biological history of our dear Earth in order to resonate with her listeners. Darn impressive, if you ask me.



"Museum" - Adrienne Pierce
Adrienne Pierce

I first heard "Museum" on the first bright, Monday morning of May at 8:15 AM. I was driving in to the office, sailing past some kids out mowing the town's epic stretches of grass. And, with all the dandelions going to seed, the air was filled with soft, white plumes that looked like snow against the hot spring air. I ask you: what better conditions to experience this song than those?

Immediate favourites on Oh Deer include the quirk-filled, sun-drenched groove of "Black Sand," the quiet crush of New Year's Eve dejection in "Three Hours Ago" (in addition to a clever quote of Auld Lang Syne, FTW), and the injected sarcasm in "Winner Takes All." It might be the June 2010 release date speaking, but the summer heat sears through these tracks and promises a thought-provoking soundtrack for road trips to come.

And now, for the teaser -- readers are best advised to tune in this evening for an extra special treat here at Cute, Queer, Canadian. It is bound to blow some socks off (it did for me!) and I am - Cute, Queer, Canadian Blog

March 3, 2005

Eye's CMW must-sees

"So many bands, so little time, and even less patience to scour through all those CMW band blurbs to plan your night on the festival beat. Let us help you. We hereby present eye 's hit list of CMW stars-in-waiting...

Adrienne Pierce (Healey's):
Remember when young female singer/songwriters were all the rage? Yeah, it's been a while. Aside from the likes of Vanessa Carlton and Michelle Branch, the market for fresh-faced folk-pop ingenues has all but dried up, which is too bad for Vancouver's Adrienne Pierce, who's been around for a few years with a pretty record of poetic tunes (2002's Small Fires) under her belt and a management deal with the Nettwerk powerhouse... she writes the kind of smooth-yet-catchy numbers that should be all over the radio, without succumbing to the sort of mindless fluff served up by the likes of Carlton, Branch, et al. Attention industry weasels: this is your gal.
- Eye Weekly

September 15, 2005

By John Lucas

When Adrienne Pierce recorded "Lost and Found", she didn't have great expectations. In fact, the recording was just supposed to be a demo, with the idea being that the Vancouver singer-songwriter would later redo the tune with fuller production. Instead, the song, which was being shopped around by the folks at Nettwerk, caught the ears of the producers of the UPN series Veronica Mars. The show's ongoing story line weaves a tale of murder, deceit, and high-school hierarchy in the fictitious town of Neptune, California. Pierce says she's a fan of Veronica Mars, particularly its title character, as portrayed by Kristen Bell. "I like it because she's sarcastic," she told the Straight. "Compared to the other girls on shows that take place in California, she's a better role model because she's intelligent. And she's an outcast, which I can relate to."

"Lost and Found" will appear in an upcoming episode and will also be featured on the Veronica Mars soundtrack CD, which will be released on September 27. Following in the footsteps of The O.C., Veronica Mars (which CTV airs on Thursday nights) often uses hip (and sometimes obscure) music to score its scenes. Past episodes have featured songs by artists ranging from Death in Vegas and the Streets to Blue Oyster Cult and Miriam Makeba, and the show uses the Dandy Warhols' "We Used to Be Friends" as its opening theme - The Georgia Straight

Pierce faultless on Faultline
- Adrienne Pierce - Faultline (Nettwerk online digital release)

Rating: 8 (out of 10)

There is a certain elegance to everything Adrienne Pierce does. The West Vancouver native moved to Los Angeles to record her second album and the city of sun and noir provides the perfect backdrop for Faultline's romantic tales of disruption and change.

Pierce writes literate pop music and performs the material with soulful intensity leading you away from any suggestion of formula. Like the best singer/songwriters she uses personal experience to come up with something profound.

Jeff Trott (co-writer on many Sheryl Crow songs) was brought in as a producer to help steer Pierce through the studio process and mixer Thom Russo also came on board to work his magic on several tracks as well. They add a new dimension to the music without taking anything away from Pierce's sound.

Two of the songs have been heard previously (Fool's Gold aired on the Grey's Anatomy TV series and Lost and Found was on the Veronica Mars soundtrack) but they have been rerecorded to fit in with the new material. There are no weak tracks and the overall production takes Pierce's music to another level entirely.

To celebrate the release of the digital album Pierce has been holding a virtual release party on her website. Go to www.myspace.com/adriennepierce where the 13 tracks are available for purchase.

Pierce is planning to play Austin's South by Southwest in March and go out on tour in the spring.

- John Goodman - The North Shore News

Adrienne Pierce: Known for her mesmerizing live performances, this singer/songwriter creates tasteful and complex folk-pop music that combines smooth, sultry vocals with sublime poetry.
Similar to: Jane Siberry, Sarah Harmer, Mazzy Star.
- March 3, 2005

Feb 2007
4/5
Julie Hunter

"Now with the release of her sophomore album Faultline, Pierce has proved that she not only has talent but that she is a force to be reckoned with.

Faultline is a well written, beautifully played album that is intriguing from the first listen. With her soft voice and absorbing lyrics, Pierce grabs the listener and takes them on a pleasant journey from the first song all the way to the last track.

After this release it is obvious that Adrienne is destined for great things." - Tangible Sounds

Feb 2007
4/5
Julie Hunter

"Now with the release of her sophomore album Faultline, Pierce has proved that she not only has talent but that she is a force to be reckoned with.

Faultline is a well written, beautifully played album that is intriguing from the first listen. With her soft voice and absorbing lyrics, Pierce grabs the listener and takes them on a pleasant journey from the first song all the way to the last track.

After this release it is obvious that Adrienne is destined for great things." - Tangible Sounds

The mere suggestion that someone is living on, or near a fault line, usually conjures up images of earthquakes, chaos and uncertainty, and while it is true that some of Adrienne Pierce’s songs from her CD Faultline may evoke those same images, for the most part this is a collection of songs that says, ‘Hey while everything may seem a bit crazy at the moment, everything is going to work out just fine.’

The immensely talented Los Angeles based recording artist’s name may not be as familiar to you as the sound of her music. Prior to signing a recording contract with Nettwerk Records, the singer/songwriter, had three of her songs, “Fools Gold,” “Lost & Found,” (co-written with Tim Bright), and “One Perfect Day,” placed with television programs such as Gray’s Anatomy and Veronica Mars. More recently, her tune “Falling Asleep,” found its way onto the prime time show The L Word.

Pierce, who possesses a knack for creating vivid word pictures, which are painted on the canvass of her life, recently delighted her audience at the Red Elephant in Honolulu Hawaii. The performance came on the heels of her lengthy fall tour with Avant-garde musical icon ISSA (Jane Siberry). Pierce, a native of Horseshoe Bay, British Columbia, Canada, has received high marks for her performances at the prestigious SXSW in Austin Texas, both in 2004 and 2007. She has toured England, and won the critics’ approval during her tours with Ray LaMontagne and Damien Rice, as well as an appearance at NXNE.

Although Adrienne Pierce’s songs will often tackle serious issues such as depression, broken relationships, or the war in Iraq, she possesses the ability to produce a more ethereal ambient melody, versus continually dragging the listener into darker moods that focus on morbid consequences.

Pierce talks about her melodic rock song, “Beautiful,” the opening track from Faultline, “I wrote that song, at a time, when in Vancouver (Canada) there were a lot of protests and peace marches against the war in Iraq. The first march that I knew of went through my neighborhood, and a friend phoned me to complain that it had awakened her. I thought that maybe we should be in the peace parade, or should have done something (instead of) living in Vancouver safely, and being worried about being awakened. I started writing the song that day, and the first line is literally the first thought that I had. I co-wrote the song with Niko Friesen, and it was a song that producer Jeff Trott liked right away. It could sound a lot darker, but we have made it more of an uplifting song, than focusing on the negative side of it,” says Pierce.

The singer/songwriter has an easygoing lilt to her voice, and when combined with her lighter melodies, they often belie the more serious issues that her lyrics tackle. “It is deliberate (the lighter elements), and it is not masking what is being said, but I feel very joyful when I make music. I want people to connect through the lyrics, and find different things as they listen repeatedly, but I also (hope) that they find some joyful aspect to the music, as they listen to it. It is not calculated, but it is very natural for me to go in that way. It is intentional. You make many decisions during production, and you have to consider which way you are going to with everything, what to keep in, and how bright you want it to sound when you master it. Every decision that you make affects the end result. It’s not an accident that it ends up that way, but it is not a calculated decision before I start to write.”

Her song “The Downside Of Love,” examines the aftermath of emotional upheaval, when relationships go south. The song takes a direct shot at a medical profession that often times simply prescribes another pill, and a pharmaceutical industry all too willing to supply them in an effort to alleviate symptoms, but never addressing the underlying issues.

“I am not suggesting what people should do, but I have been alarmed by commercials on television for drugs (to help people cope), and the side effects that these so called solutions can cause. I wrote this song as a reaction to those commercials, and (to address) how these pharmaceutical drugs are often prescribed to people without a lot of consultation. I don’t want people reaching for Prozac, if they can avoid it,” says Pierce.



The theme of trying to find oneself in the midst of emotional distress continues with her song, “Laundry And Dishes,” one of the few melancholy tunes on Faultline. Pierce demonstrates once again her artistry, as she paints a poignant picture, “I lost my phone / lost my coffee cup / make things disappear / then I make things up / I lost you / then I lost my way.”

“Sometimes you don’t know if people will be able to relate to a song like “Laundry And Dishes,” even though it is a common theme. I have had the strongest reaction to that song, of all the songs on the album, and it’s not one of the songs that we have pushed. - www.rivetingriffs.com

A phenomenally gifted singer/songwriter strapped on her guitar, and blew away the audience with her music in late November, while opening for ISSA (formerly known as Jane Siberry), in Vancouver, Canada. By the time, Adrienne Pierce ended her all too brief four-song set, concertgoers were clamoring to hear more, and many realized they had just witnessed an artist on the verge of becoming a star.

The Los Angeles based Pierce, who is originally from the Vancouver area, gifts us with thirteen tracks of exquisitely crafted, alternative pop tunes, on her album Faultline. Her song “Better Year,” possesses an easygoing melody, with good hooks, a contagious beat, and deep groove. This is an uplifting song that looks forward with hope rather than lamenting what has been.

Pierce delivers lyrics with the honesty of a Suzanne Vega, only minus the cynicism. The emotionally charged title track “Faultline,” packs the same evocative wallop as Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn,” and the more cryptic “Jealousy,” by Natalie Merchant.

Adrienne Pierce possesses the same attribute which distinguishes prolific songwriters, whose music is timeless, from those who are more mundane and whose moment of fame is fleeting. She is a gifted lyricist, and talented storyteller, whose songs paint vivid images, and bring her words to life. Like ISSA, Sheryl Crow and Gordon Lightfoot, Pierce not only opens the book when she begins to sing, but she helps you turn the pages, as the stories unfold.

“Laundry And Dishes,” is a beautifully crafted tune, in which Pierce becomes completely vulnerable. The ballad begins with the singer’s inability to keep the smaller details of life together as a romantic relationship fails, and then chronicles a downward spiral into depression. In so many ways, this song is a sad commentary, concerning a trap that so many of us fall into, when we allow our self worth to be determined by others. Pierce sings effortlessly, and has stunningly beautiful vocals. Each phrase is perfectly measured, each word carefully considered. “Laundry And Dishes,” like so many of the tunes from Faultline, have ‘hit’ written all over them.

In a previous interview, granted prior to her performance at the prestigious Austin Texas, SXSW, Pierce noted that more than anything else, her CD Faultline represents the many changes she was experiencing in her life, while she was writing, co-writing and recording these songs. She draws from sorrow, excitement and uncertainty, as the emotions flow easily through the music, from deep within Pierce’s soul.

Producers Jeff Trott (Sheryl Crow) and Thom Russo (Johnny Cash, Janet Jackson), ensured a CD that has an excellent mix, great balance and musically is second to none.

Adrienne Pierce’s music has also been featured on Gray’s Anatomy, Veronica Mars and other television programs.

Catch a star on the rise, dial into the music of Adrienne Pierce.

On the west coast, you may want to take in Pierce’s performance at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles. East coast music fans, can hear her at New York City’s Joe’s on December 21st and 22nd, while those living in Toronto, can drop into Hugh’s Room on December 12th, 13th and 14th. - www.rivetingriffs.com