Music
Press
Great collection of tunes from a very fine songwriter – a very strong CD that demands to be listened to.
- Maverick Magazine (UK)
...the tongue-twisting savvy in the lyrics of "Mighty Fall" would make Dylan proud, and decent backup and unfussy production help deliver the goods throughout.
- Guitarist Magazine (UK)
"echoes of artists from (especially) Bruce Cockburn to Blue Rodeo...melodic and highly literate writing style"
- Kerry Doole
This local singer/songwriter launched his second CD, Theory Of Your Life (out via Festival) with a recent NOW Lounge showcase. The folk-rooted disc features such ace players as DON KERR, MICHAEL JOHNSTON and BOB WISEMAN, but North's eloquent songs and expressive voice are its core. For the short industry set, he was accompanied by harmony vocalist JENNIFER CLAVEAU, and their rendition of CD highlight "You Make Me Blue" evoked GRAM PARSONS and EMMYLOU HARRIS comparisons. Lovely stuff.
- Kerry Doole
"Since you ask, the theory of Ian North's life is that dying is easy, and comedy is hard. A sardonic quip on an absorbing disc, from the mouth of a Toronto troubadour who is both a skeptical singersongwriter and a colourful tale-weaver. Don't believe him when he says that predictions are easy either. The future holds tricks: for a celebrity safe-swiper on the Ballad of Stephen Reid, and for a journeyman on the elegiac Leaving Buffalo. Ain't nothing as simple as it seems - that is North's true best guess."
- Brad Wheeler
"In these cynical, market-driven days it's a rare pleasure to discover a writer as skilled and deft as Ian North,
it's even rarer to meet one who displays such an obvious pleasure in his craft.
Canadian-born North has conjured up 11 jewels on Theory Of Your Life, jewels that are all the more beautiful
because of their simplicity. Set alongside some of the sickly-sweet warblings of today's singer songwriter's,
North is not only the master of restraint, he is the epitome of less is more.
He is as restrained with the performance of his songs as he was with the writing of them. He has no need of
over-production or musical support, although Jennifer Claveau who provides harmony vocals on Skates, Mighty
Fall and Prediction Is Easy, is a real find, she matches North's easy intensity step for step.
And while gently rolling ballads like Skates are utterly captivating, there is an inescapably haunting confessional
air to Thin Line and Leaving Buffalo that makes them much deeper than at first seems.
But the roots of Theory Of Your Life lie in the intelligence of the writing. Ian North is neither condescending
nor patronizing, his songs are mature and adult, beautifully constructed and wonderfully atmospheric short stories,
complete in themselves, The Ballad Of Stephen Reid being just one example of narrative at its very best.
The scattergun lyrics of Mighty Fall are balanced by the warm bluesy rhythms of the title track but all the songs
demand the listener's full attention and repay that attention ten-fold.
Theory Of Your Life is a comforting reassurance that the true songwriter still flourishes."
- Michael Mee
"If W.B. Yeats took to song-writing, he would have produced something akin to Theory of Your Life. This album is one that you put on at the end of a stressful day when nothing makes sense, and slowly, North's melodic poetry lulls you back into clarity and peace of mind"
- Jess Shulist
Ian North
Theory of Your Life
(EarRational Music/Festival)
* * *
Unusually vivid first-person narratives, both confessional and pure confection, are probably his strongest suit, but Toronto songwriter Ian North - born and raised in Ottawa - has spent several years in Vancouver - also has a strong and distinctive voice, and a penchant for clever chord changes that keep his odd melodies in a state of ungrounded suspension somewhere between acoustic pop and jazzy folk. With little more than acoustic guitars, an occasional piano, dobro, cello or accordion, drums, bass and the odd vocal harmony, North creates a richly musical context for his complex yarns ("The Ballad of Stephen Reid" is typical) and ruminations ("Leaving Buffalo," outstanding) on this, his second independent CD, which will be launched tonight at the NOW Lounge, 189 Church St. $20 includes CD. - Greg Quill
- Greg Quill
Toronto songwriter Ian North’s inviting voice draws the listener in to his intricate narratives, which spin tales ranging from the mundane to the madcap. But from bank robberies in Vancouver to fistfights in a Buffalo trailer park, North keeps things on a remarkably even keel. Blending elements of country, folk, blues and jazz, North muses on the meaning of life, which ends up sounding a lot like home no matter where you’re from. With friends like Bob Wiseman on accordion, Paul Mathew from the Hidden Cameras on bass and cellist Don Kerr from the Rheostatics backing him up, the musicianship on Theory of Your Life is flawless. Subtle melodies combined with lyrics that deal with the frailties at the heart of humanity, make this a pleasurable follow-up to North’s 2002 debut.
- Rachel Sanders
Superior Canadian singer-songwriter fare with a couple of standout classics.
“Skates”, with it’s haiku-like verses, is a beautifully swinging, sweetly sung story of love gone wrong that’s a classic in the making.....
He’s backed throughout by an acoustic band, all of whom are excellent, notably Bob Wiseman on elegiac accordion,, but it’s North’s clear clean vocals that stay with you, as do his songs. There’s apparently a UK tour in October, and on the evidence here he’ll be well worth catching.
- Jeremy Searle
Discography
Emptiful - 2002
Theory of Your Life - May 18th, 2006
Photos
Bio
As a child, Ian North was “a horrible skater.” But when North lived on a farm as an adult, he got skates and found that his grown-up ankles could finally handle it. “We had a field that, given a thaw and a freeze-over, turned into a huge skating rink,” he says. “We had that going for two or three years. Once the ice extended into a woodlot on one side of the field, and we could skate through the trees, which was very strange and cool.”
That’s the kind of thing he’d notice, being a songwriter since he was a lad. North took piano lessons at a young age, then switched to clarinet at age 10 or so. “I got a guitar for my 14th birthday,” he says. “It was $12.95 from Sears, and I think I started writing songs right away. Pretty bad ones, probably, but I didn’t know how to play other people’s. I saw myself as a writer even then, and still do, more than as a musician or performer.” The first pieces of music that knocked him out were “Home on the Range” by Roy Rogers (when he was four), and “I Want to Hold your Hand” by the Beatles (at age 10). These days, he consistently returns to Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, as well as Miles Davis and Bach.
Typically, North plays and writes in his mornings, and runs errands in his afternoons. He’s one of few songwriters who’s equally adept at both
confessional and narrative writing. “When I write about myself, I treat myself as a character,” he says. “I fictionalize, conflate and alter real events, so that it’s not real autobiography, but using ‘what I know’ to talk about something other than myself, like a theme or insight or whatever. When I write about someone else, or in the voice of someone else, I’m trying to imagine what that person’s experience must be like from the inside.”
Born and raised in Ottawa, North has lived in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and points in between (Kingston, Madoc, Stouffville). He now lives north of Toronto.
North may not exactly be ready or able to explain the theory of his life, but he does enjoy his consideration of the theoretical. “I love weird theories that twist the possibilities,” he says, “like, is the purpose of life that it’s a device for moving water around? Or for the perpetuation of
DNA? Are the mitochondria really in charge?”
Maybe the purpose of life is to consider the purpose of life. If that’s the case, then Ian North is definitely fulfilling it – as a close listen to The Theory of Your Life will attest.
The Album
Theory of Your Life is a collection of 11 original songs, sewn together by the theory that “dying is easy, comedy is hard.” Let’s think of dying as a kind of falling -- like leaves in autumn, like an angel from grace, like the mighty never do, like a shaky skater, a guilty thief, or an army deserter. Let’s think of comedy as a kind of rising -- on a thin line, on an angel’s invisible wings, on the glory of a Tin Pan Alley song, or the freedom of the road. Theory of Your Life documents these risings and fallings with empathy for, and insight into, our human frailty. We all live our lives according to some sort of theory; North finds the places and the states that we end up in as a result
The Songs
Skates
“You run rings around my heart right in front of my face.” Love and vulnerability. About a figure skater North once knew -- and married. This is one river you don’t get to skate away on. Bobby Wiseman on accordion.
Mighty Fall
“Who cares, who cares if the mighty never fall?” An awesome, spittin’ rap hidden in the guise of a (harmless?) folk song. Putting out the jargon, but all the big words can’t hide what’s real.
Thin Line
“We are held here by a thin, thin line.” Memory, breath and other fragile bonds. The ones that hold the moon in the sky, connect the departed to the living, bring two lovers together, in the leaves that fall and fall.
Prediction is Easy
“We are all hoping to wake to a beautiful day.” Sure we are, that’s predictable. And we all know which way the wind is blowing. Maybe it’s all too easy to listen to, and follow, your own predictions.
The Ballad of Stephen Reid
“I am the guilty man and the jury did agree.” Inspired by the true story of a Vancouver bank robber. A guilty criminal wants to get it off his chest so he can sleep at night. One way or another, we’re all thieves -- of time, money, love, or our own fleeting lives.
Theory of My Life
“When my sins get up and walk they’re in the same skin that I’m in.” Can’t separate them from the sinner, even though we’re told to love one and abominate the other. A down ‘n’ dirty blues with a killer guitar solo. Nice Jesus/Elvis joke in the first verse.
You Make Me Blue
“Nowhere to turn when I need somebody’s help, except to you, who made me feel this way.” A classic country weeper in 4/4 time. Timeless, gorgeous, inevitable. Listen for one of those lovely chord changes when he sings “I was okay before.” Not now. Martin Skrzypczyk on slide guitar.
Meticulous
“I’ll meet you on the
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