Nicole Ensing Band

If you are an English literature nerd crying out for an album to call your own, this is it.

The Guelph-based Nicole Ensing Band just released its first record called Riddles and Creeds, and Ensing exclusively used lines of poetry from English writer G.K. Chesterton as lyrics and inspiration on the record.

Chesterton — for anybody who doesn’t know him — was a poet in the late 1800s who inspired fantasy greats like C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. His work is full of philosophical themes about how the world is a magical place, but we don’t see it because we’re so immersed in it all the time.

It's an interesting project, and one worth a listen if you're into contemporary folk/pop music. - Adam Carter

CHESTERTON IN SONG!
For fellow G.K. Chesterton fans out there (and there are a lot of you, it appears), here’s some news you can use. Who knew—I certainly didn’t—that Prof. Ross McKitrick of Guelph University in Canada, who is one of the most important critics of climate change alarmism, is also a music producer! And he has turned his talents to the use of the Nicole Ensing Band, whose debut CD, “Riddles and Creeds,” came out just last Friday. And what marks out “Riddles and Creeds” for note is that it consists solely of the poems of G.K. Chesterton set to music. Talk about a theme album! (And take that, prog rockers!) You can sample some of the tracks, or order the CD, at the “Riddles and Creeds” link above, and you can catch an interview with lead singer Nicole Ensing here.

Normally I leave music notices to Power Line’s official Music and Arts Editor (Scott), but as I’ve claimed the Chesterton beat for Power Line I get to intrude. Nicole Ensing’s piano-backed vocal stylings have been compared to Sarah McLachlan (by the American Chesterton Society, so there), but equally interesting to me is the challenge of writing melodies for Chesterton’s typically idiosyncratic poetry style. (Chesterton didn’t just scribble out a few poems in his spare time. The Collected Poems of G.K. Chesterton is 375 pages.) But like Chesterton’s often circuitous prose, his poetry doesn’t lend itself to easy arrangement. Ross notes this in his liner notes for The Convert:

Chesterton’s poem rhymes using ABBA/ABBA/ABABAB, which doesn’t lend itself to a song structure. Our goal was to preserve the meaning while staying in the confines of a melody line that uses short phrasing to keep a relaxed, cheerful feel, as befits the underlying mood of the poem.

Anyway, all Power Line Chesterton fans should support this worthy artistic venture. - Steven Hayward

Nicole Ensing is a Guelph Ontario-based pianist and vocalist. Classically-trained, in recent years she has also developed her folk side as pianist in the Celtic band The Wild Oats. Along with her love of jazz and pop, this combination of influences yields an appealing knack for catchy, well-crafted keyboard lines that draw freely on jazz stylings and folk charm. Nicole has just released her debut album based on the poetry of G.K. Chesterton “Riddles and Creeds” on Chanter Records. Backing Nicole are Sam Fitzpatrick on upright and electric bass, Brian Bork on guitar and Joel Sypkes on drums. On Riddles and Creeds, Nicole and producer Ross McKitrick have taken some of the vivid poems of English writer and poet G.K. Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) , a formative influence on both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and created songs that explore themes of the magic of life, spiritual search, and friendship. The Riddles and Creeds CD release takes place on Sunday November 2 at The Albion (Upstairs) 49 Norfolk St, Guelph at 7:30 p.m., cover $10 at the door. Nicole Ensing and Ross McKitrick joined us in the studio for a feature length conversation about the new album. Music: Nicole Ensing Band, “Child Of The Snows”, “A Second Childhood”, “The Aristocrat”, “The Great Minimum” and “The Rolling English Road” from “Riddles & Creeds” (2014, Chanter Records) - Folk Roots Radio - Jan Hall

Reviewed by Dale Alquist

I could not believe what I was hearing.
And at night we win to the ancient inn
Where the child in the frost is furled,
We follow the feet where are souls meet
At the inn at the end of the world.
The words were from G. K. Chesterton's poem, "The Child in the Snows". It was being sung in a pop arrangement with piano and guitar and bass and drums. Chesterton's rhymes ringing out a century after they were penned, in music he could never have dreamed of. The singer was Nicole Ensing. The CD had just arrived from Canada. It is called Riddles and Creeds. All the songs are Chesterton poems...
Nicole Ensing's arrangements are simple with very catchy tunes. She has a beautiful untrained voice which, with the style of her music, evokes a mixture of Loreena McKennit, Laura Veirs and even Florence and the Machine.
In a few places she has rewritten some of the original poetry with effective results... But in general, she makes the music fit the words, rather than the other way around. And while the music is mostly soft and lyrical, the song "The Aristocrat" has a harder, more rock beat to it, but it works perfectly. The least successful song is "The Rolling English Road" where the music simply does not match the whimsicality of the lyrics. However, the music could not be more fitting for "By the Babe Unborn" which has a sweet nursery feel to it, and ends on a hopeful up-note, as if to ask the question: "Will you let me be born?" The best song, in my opinion, is "The Great Minimum". It captures Chesterton's passion for life, his gratefulness for the gift of existence, his gift of wonder - especially the way Nicole sings it. - Gilbert Magazine