Paul Federici

Many of the songs on Paul Federici’s sophomore album, Now and Then, take on a greater poignancy when you learn of the singer’s past struggles with mental health issues. In fact, things got so bad for the Grimsby, ON based singer/songwriter that his father had to move in with him in case he tried to harm himself. “It got to the point where it was difficult for me to function,” Federici admits. “At one point, I remember going to work during the day, then driving to CAMH’s (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) emergency room that evening unsure if I’d need to be admitted.”
Ironically, Federici – a Master’s level social worker employed at a mental health crisis network – found himself battling many of the same demons as his clients. In order to cope, Federici, a self-taught musician, picked up his long dormant acoustic guitar and attempted to strum away his pain. Incredibly, it worked and gave the 34-year-old something the anti-pills couldn’t: hope. “Music got me out of that rut and gave me hope,” Federici says. “It was one of the things that gave me a lift and reminded me to follow my heart and take chances again.”
The dulcet-toned singer did just that, quitting his day job and recording his debut album, Relative Importance (January, 2012) at Catherine North Studios in Hamilton, working with local producer Michael Chambers (Whitehorse). Not only was Relative Importance a critical hit, but it climbed to #1 on CFBU 103.7FM Brock University Radio’s charts, and earned Federici a 2012 Niagara Music Award for Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year. A year later and the likeable Federici is more convinced than ever that he made the right choice. “I felt much more reflective during the writing process and I think Now and Then is an appropriate title given how much my life has changed over the last year and a half,” says the singer. “This is a record I felt more confident with, and it certainly has a more uplifting tone.”
Once again working with Chambers at Catherine North Studios in Hamilton, Now and Then features more of the same achingly honest acoustic guitar driven folk/pop that was a hallmark of his debut. Once again Federici’s voice is the focal point, as it should be, stringing beautiful harmonies together driving the infectious melodies. Don’t let titles like “Strange Disease,” “Lonely Heart,” and “Last Regret” fool you – these are songs of triumph, by someone looking forward to the future while reflecting on the past. And if he keeps releasing music as good as this, the future looks bright indeed. - Hamilton Magazine Summer Edition 2013

The debut album from Grimsby, Ontario resident, Paul Federici, Now and Then is an easy-listening album filled with beautiful vocals, acoustic melodies and a cello that fills each song with depth.

Influenced by Bob Dylan, John Mayer and the Beatles, Fedrici’s album is filled with soul and well-versed lyrics that easily resonates. The easy-going, laid back tracks like “Far from Home” and “The Last One Found” pair nicely with the more fulfilling songs like “Last Regret” and “Please Don’t Break”. My personal favourite is “One Day You’ll be Right”, a song that mirrors the early sound of the Fray, with relaxed vocals, and an underlying sense of hope.

Federici’s music has been widely celebrated throughout the Niagara Region and larger parts of Canada. Recently he has won several awards across all categories in the 6th annual Niagara Music Awards and his songs continue to drift into the mainstream music industry. It is clear from the album that music is more than simply a career to Federici, it is a way to survive. Knowing his personal testimony provides great insight in understanding the depth of his music. His personal traumas and periods of debilitating pain give me a newfound appreciation of his musical abilities.

Something has to be said for the vocal styling of Federici. Every song sounds like he’s sitting across the coffee-shop from you, weaving each song full of emotion, colour and fantastic harmonies. It’s easy to tell each song was written from this extremely talented heart with care, as the impact behind each word is easily felt throughout. This is definitely an album I won’t stop listening to and this indie album is the perfect sound tracks for the upcoming autumn days. - Brock University Press

St. Catharine’s Paul Federici used to be a social worker struggling with his own mental health issues. Now, he’s a musician who’s just released his second album. Federici rediscovered music after a seven-year hiatus—during which he got a Master’s and a so-called dream job—but his own anxiety kept him from getting satisfaction out of any of it. It was only when he picked up his guitar again that things finally started to feel good.

His first album got him noticed on campus radio charts, in Exclaim, and even on the CBC. He won the Niagara Music Award for Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year. Critics started comparing him to another Denis Morris graduate, Dallas Green (City and Colour). With his sophomore release, Now and Then, Federici looks back on the year he’s had since turning to music. He’s given up his career as a social worker, and kicked his anxiety.

“Sail On” makes it clear why Federici has been compared to City and Colour—the vocals are very similar, but there’s something folksy to Federici that differentiates him from Green. “Strange Disease” opens with a violin, adding variety to what initially seems like it’s going to be a guitar/vocal mix. Lyrically, Federici focuses on the Then, discussing his own “strange disease” and alluding to his even stranger cure.

“Lonely Heart” takes it slow as Federici croons into the mic. Again, there are folk touches in the way he tells the story and the guitar notes. There’s also a lot of nostalgia packed into the song, expressed eloquently by Federici without ever becoming plaintive.

While “Far From Home” starts out in a similarly slow vein, it moves away from his Green-esque vocals and explores a more unique-sounding terrain. As the drums start up, the song turns into yet another road trip melody, evoking the artist’s journey.

“Please Don’t Break” pairs up the acoustic guitar with a piano gently accentuating the lyrics. “Last Regret” changes pace from “Please Don’t Break” quite suddenly, adding some electric guitar to an album that has otherwise stayed safely on one side of mellow.

Penultimate “Last One Found” strips things down again, its catchy chorus relying on the melody Federici creates with his vocals. The album ends with the optimistic “One Day You’ll Be Right,” and a return to a more City and Colour sound.

Obviously, if you’re into Dallas Green you’ll appreciate Now and Then, but limiting this album by positioning it as a sound-alike doesn’t do Federici any justice. Federici moves between nostalgia and looking forward seamlessly—capturing the anxiety of both and ultimately aiming to reassure. Lyrically, vocally, and instrumentally, the album shows off Federici’s perfectionist tendencies, and also makes me wish he hadn’t spent seven years doing something else. - Grayowl Point

Paul Federici, from what I can deduce, is a quiet man in many ways.

His guitar work is subtle and acoustic.

His voice is mellow and goes perfectly with the guitar.

And, before music became full-time for him, he completed a Masters in clinical social work.

But sometimes, being an acoustic musician is more powerful than the loudest full band.

Take the song ‘She Is Lost’ from his release Relative Importance. It’s devastating. (In a powerful way. Not a rude, negative way.)

Paul was one of the artists I was supposed to interview at S.C.E.N.E, and I’m very happy he agreed to one over email.

KW: How did you get your start as a musician?

PF: It’s funny, around the time of my cd release show back in January, I had an article written about me and the opening line of the story was: “Paul Federici has a sort of complicated relationship with music.” I laughed when I read it at the time, and though it was quite fitting. My transition to being a musician was far from smooth or typical I guess, and I was, as with most things in my life, a late bloomer. I always loved acoustic music and became fascinated with the guitar. My Dad was a Bob Dylan fan and always seemed to have an old cheap 6 string kicking around the house and I just picked it up one day and was basically hooked. It wasn’t until the end of high school and the beginning of my university years that I actually got into it though, but it quickly became an obsession and I spent countless hours teaching myself chords, progressions, scales, tunings and basic theory. I pretty much spent my entire 3rd year of university strumming the guitar alone in my room trying to piece together cover songs. Music was always a solitary pursuit for me because I had a lot of anxiety around performing in front of others and I felt very insecure, especially with songs that I wrote – I always felt they were terrible and I was way too self-conscious to play them for others. After university I gathered up the nerve to play an open mic night in St. Catharines and after that performance I was offered a weekly gig there, which shocked me. I went on to play cover gigs there fairly regularly, but after a year or so I continued to battle the nerves and self-doubt which led me to stop playing for over 7 years. I ended up completing a Master’s degree in clinical social work, only to find myself burnt out emotionally on the job – and it was only when I bottomed out and realized how unhappy I was that I found music again and decided that I had wasted enough time pretending I was something else.

KW: What made you decide to play the style of music you do?

PF: I’m not sure it’s a choice really – I only know how to write songs from a personal perspective but I definitely want to keep the music as honest as possible. I really hate the notion of a team of songwriters working together to craft a “hit” it just seems so disingenuous and I don’t see the point. I never try to force my song writing in a particular direction and I try to keep the process as spontaneous as possible. I don’t sit down with a theme or style in mind; I just let the mood dictate where the song goes. But I was always drawn to mellower music and love great melodies and harmonies which I think comes out in my songs.

KW: How would you describe your sound, yourself?

PF: I would describe myself as honest, straight forward, and down to earth – I think I’m a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy. I try to be as sincere and genuine as possible and I think these traits come across in my sound as well. I’m not trying to write epic radio singles, I’m not trying to be trendy or sound like someone else – all I’m trying to do is write simple songs that are honest and mean something to me. In addition to that I would say that my songs take on a folk-pop feel, are heavily based on vocal melodies and they often have a layered feel to them as I try to shape my music using harmonies. I also strive to have diversity in my song writing -I’d hate to be an artist where people say “oh, if you’ve heard one Paul Federici song you’ve heard them all” and I’ll often use a variety of alternate tunings to elicit different sounds and atmospheres.

KW: You are touring alot this summer. Where are you hoping to make some stops?

PF: Yes, I’m trying to make the most of the summer months and I’ve already played shows in a number of cities across Ontario. I quit my job about a year ago to focus solely on music, and I strive to stay as busy as possible so I’m continually looking for new venues to play. Right now I’m really excited about my upcoming shows in Kingston, Ottawa and Montreal as those are 3 fantastic Canadian cities, but in all honesty I enjoy most places I visit since I like to travel especially when the weather is great. I’d also love to organize and East/West tour!

KW: Your album ‘Relative Importance’ was released back in January. Can you tell me a bit about it?

PF: Well it’s an 8 song project that was recorde - Made of Steeltown Blog (by Kristine Wales)

Paul Federici is, first of all, a super-nice guy, with a firm handshake, a quick laugh, and a seriously luxurious beard. You should meet him. He is also a really good singer, songwriter, and guitarist, with a light, airy touch and a sweet pop jangle of acoustic guitars and organic textures supporting his layered vocals. You should buy his debut album, Relative Importance, and then you should be happy to know that he's already written the follow-up, and is getting ready to record this winter. Finally, for the purposes of this interview, let us also note that Paul is a fully committed career musician: day job now behind him, he is putting in place the machinery of a detailed yet modest plan to live his life doing what he loves. Which, I suppose, also makes Paul an inspiration for anyone who dreams of life as a career musician.
I caught up with Paul in the air-conditioned comfort of Catherine North studio--Paul's musical home away from home--on a sweltering early July afternoon and we talked music, money, Brazilian ju-jitsu, and the importance of living the life you love. Here's what went down:

You weren’t always a musician. How did you get in to this?

It was an abrupt shift for me. I had basically quit music for over seven years. I hadn’t gigged, hadn’t touched a guitar, and I found myself in a job in Mississauga. I was a clinical social worker, and ironically I found myself really depressed. I was managing a crisis center in Peel, and it was overwhelming—a really rough job. So I found my old guitar, and it just became a very natural outlet for me and it made me realize how much I had missed being around music and the creative process..

Can you think of a moment where it all crystallized? What made you turn to the guitar?

I had this nice Yamaha acoustic guitar for years. I decided to bring it from St. Catharines to my apartment in Mississauga. And I’m notoriously absentminded. So when packing to bring it home, and while listening to my iPod I accidentally left the guitar on the trunk of the car and drove away. It disappeared. It didn't have a case, just this naked guitar. I realized it when I was on the Q.E.W. I drove all the way back, and it was gone—never saw it again. And I was oddly devastated. I learned to play on it, played all my early gigs. I didn't realize how much it meant to me until it was gone. It left me feeling pretty empty, almost like I had unfinished business with music.

You didn’t feel liberated by getting rid of it?

No—I felt terrible. I realized how important music was to me. So I went to Long and McQuade, and was hanging around, not wanting to spend much money, but not seeing anything I liked. Out of nowhere a guy came in and traded in a Norman, it was kind of beat up a bit, but I really liked that and I just thought it sounded amazing. I got a really good deal on it. I fell in love instantly and it had this odd sense of fate to it. Kind of like the guitar represented the end of someone’s journey with it, while it was just the beginning of mine.I brought it home and started writing, and it just kept going.

How long have you been back at it?

Almost exactly a year. And in that year I went from nothing to “I’ve got to quit this job” And it just felt right, almost like I didn’t have another choice. When you’re older, you feel like you can’t do those things, but the job had to go. I told myself “If I do this and fall flat on my face, I can get another job. But at least I tried.” I’ve never cared a lot about money, I don’t want a big house, I just want to do what I love. But the original inspiration came from leaving that guitar on the trunk. I drove back expecting to find it in pieces, and it was just gone. Sometimes you need to bottom out to find what’s really important.

So what’s it like being a full-time musician? Is it as romantic as people think?

Well, I’m really coming at this blindly. I don’t have a lot of connections or experience, although I’ve been fortunate to meet some great people in the short time I’ve been at it. I’ve always been independent and self-motivated, and I’ve met a lot of musicians who are just waiting for something to happen. They make a record, or make a web site, and they wait for a talent scout to find them. But you making a website is like writing a book and then putting it on a shelf in a library and hoping people will read it. There’s a sea of content out there, and most of it gets buried. I’m 33 years old. I don’t have time to wait and see. So I decided to gamble everything and see what could happen if I devoted my attention and energy to it full timeso I ended up registering myself as a business last summer

Why is that important?

That enables me to write off a lot of expenses, so I get a lot of money back in taxes. One of my good friends’ fathers urged me to do that a long time ago. It costs $60 to register, and you've got a couple good years where they don’t expect you to earn much. I just jumped in to reading about - 100 Mile Microphone (by Tom Shea)

By Randi Beers
Paul Federici's Relative Importance is nice. Really nice. Tender, even: there's tender guitar strumming, tender strings, with a tender chorus of Federici's angelic harmonies. Especially heartstring tugging are "True" and "Without You," a spare little ditty fingerpicked for some estranged love. "On My Mind" is the most upbeat track, but that's not saying much. Save this album for particularly introspective and/or nostalgic days. The Hamilton, ON native taught himself guitar in university, went on to play local pub gigs and eventually started writing his own music while earning a Master's Degree to become a clinical social worker. I'm not sure if he's quit his day job, but considering the honest quality of his music, chances are he will have that option soon.
(Independent) - Exclaim Magazine

Paul Federici calls his relationship with music “a little weird,” in that he’s not like most other musicians.

The Grimsby resident and Niagara native admits his was a late bloomer when it came to discovering and channeling his musical talent. But that never sacrificed his love and passion for music and the acoustic guitar, he says.

“Music is something I’ve always had a strong connection with. It’s always sort of been an escape for me.”

While Federici is now on the road to becoming a successful, independent adult contemporary musician, he says starting up his music career was more or less a daunting task, as it meant he had to put his fears and anxieties aside.

He says what always discouraged him from delving into the world of music throughout his childhood, adolescent years and even his 20s was his nerves, anxiety, and lack of self-confidence.

“The nerves just got to me. I didn’t believe in my songs,” he says. “I wasn’t confident enough in myself to say ‘I want to do this for a living.’”

It was in his early 20s when Federici decided to put his fears aside and take to the stage to perform in front of a crowd. Little did he know he’d soon score himself a regular gig at a St. Catharines pub.

“That kind of blew me away.”

But Federici didn’t devote his entire life to music until last year, in his early 30s.

While throughout the last ten years he did dabble in the world of performing and writing music, he opted to pursue an undergraduate degree followed by a Master of Arts degree in social work.

He even began running a crisis centre in Mississauga.

“But after that I felt miserable, burnt out and depressed. I felt that life was like a chore. I was just going through the motions to get a paycheck.”

That’s when music popped up again in Federici’s life. That was also when he decided to leave his job behind to pursue his music.

“I always felt like I had unfinished business with music,” Federici says. “I had never really given it a shot in the past. Everything about pursuing it felt right.”

He admits that his friends and family questioned his decision, but have since been more than supportive.

Just last summer, Federici recorded his first adult contemporary, eight-track album, Relative Importance. That album soared to number one of CFBU, Brock University’s radio station, in February.

Only a few months after, he was nominated for two Niagara Music Awards. Just recently, he secured the title of Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year.

“I just dove in head first.”

But he admits his goal isn’t to just be successful for a few months, but to develop a strong career in the music industry that lasts for years.

“There’s no doubt I want to earn a living doing this. I’ve been very much a believer in the do-it-yourself mentality. I’m really trying to work for it.”

But Federici says the road to fame is not an easy one.

“It’s hard,” he says. “You have to live virtually with no money just to build an audience. It’s really tough that way.”

Presently, the self-taught artist is hoping to record a second album, but says the expense has been a roadblock in advancing the process. As such, he recently announced his plans to hold a fundraiser in support of recording his next album.

“The goal is to record ten new songs. I’m always grateful for anyone who wants to help me.”

Federici’s fundraiser, which he says will take on the style of a stag and doe, will be held at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 17 in Thorold on Saturday, Oct. 13 beginning at 8 p.m.

He’s extending the invite beyond his friends and family members to his fans, strangers and music lovers. The event will feature games, prizes, food, drinks and musical performances, including a performance by Federici himself.

Tickets are $10 in advance, or $15 at the door. He’s also offering three different sponsorship packages with added incentives.

For more information, visit www.paulfederici.ca, or ‘like’ his Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/paulfedericimusic.

“I just want to get everyone together and have a good time. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.” - Thorold Niagara News (by Carolyn Goard)

The dulcet-toned singer-songwriter’s debut is a strikingly honest effort; all emotive vocals, melancholic pianos, haunting strings and alt-folk acoustic guitar. Comparisons to Dallas Green are inevitable, given the similarity of their vocal range, but Federici’s work deserves to be judged on its own merits — and rightly so, as it’s remarkably good. - Hamilton Magazine Summer Edition 2012

In many ways, St. Catharines is a city constantly reevaluating itself. Surrounded by rural offshoots but dwarfed by neighbouring metropolises like Hamilton and Buffalo, the mid-sized “Garden City” continues to consolidate its reputation as a powerhouse behind two realms: the white collar Niagara School Board and the blue sweat pushing the manufacturing sector. Nonetheless, St. Catharines is also home to an independent scene that has been flourishing over the past decade; having first established nationally recognized outfits like Alexisonfire and Raising the Fawn, the annual SCENE Music Festival has also grown into a massively prolific one-day bash that would act as the musical climax for just about any city.

It’s the sort of conflicted place only a record like Relative Importance could come from; its soft nuances bundled with the no nonsense assuredness of a songwriter who knows his voice and exactly what he’s yearning to connect with. The clarity of that conviction comes across with ease on “Conveniently Yours”, a mid-tempo track bolstered by Federici’s multi-part harmonies and a pulse that begs to breath new life into rock-radio. As well equipped as his backing band sounds given the prospect of radio chart success, it’s the former quality – Federici’s voice – that anchors Relative Importance’s eight songs. “She Is Lost” and “True” would be highlights on the grounds of their arrangements alone – one, a steady and melodic tale of restlessness, the other a melancholic folk song – but Federici’s layered vocals overtop create an added dimension of harmonies that takes the traditional songwriter’s material to another level.

Since Relative Importance’s release in January, Federici’s voice has been venturing further and further from home. (According to his website, the record even cracked the Alternative Rock charts in Sinzig, Germany.) In spite of his growing reputation, little about these songs suggests that Paul Federici’s approach would change upon the doorstep of a bigger fan-base. When one hears this record in an intimate setting, it becomes clear that upgrading his sound might indeed prove counterproductive since Relative Importance’s heart lies in its grounded and restrained execution. Besides solid song-craft, it’s Federici’s quiet confidence that may just bring the disparate halves of his hometown together at last. - Skeleton Crew Quarterly (written by Ryan Pratt)

Embers From the Underground, the interview feature which went on a bit of a sabbatical in 2011, returns this week with Paul Federici, an impressive talent hailing from St. Catharines, Canada. Being that he and I share the same hometown, it should come as no surprise that Mr. Federici and I met years ago through a mutual friend. What gives this entry in the EFTU series an added twist, however, is that through tracking Paul down and getting some thoughts on the making of his debut, Relative Importance (album review below), I've actually learned far more about him than I'd ever discovered in passing social circles. Stream the full album here and read on about his creative renaissance... (Photo by Matt Scobel)

SCQ: I'll begin by blindsiding you with a Leonard Cohen comparison: you've released a debut album in your early thirties. How long have these songs been gestating? Do you feel that the experiences gathered throughout your twenties have enriched this material or perhaps merely delayed it from seeing the light of day?

PF: "First off, I love Leonard Cohen – he and Bob Dylan are two of my Dad’s favourite artists and though I didn’t quite “get” their music and poetic lyrics when I was younger, I grew to realize that my Dad was a pretty cool dude who was definitely onto something. To be honest, the only song that was really gestating was Conveniently Yours, which I wrote in 2008 and turns out it was kind of turning point song for me. I wrote a lot in my early 20s, though I never had much faith in myself or my music, and I produced a few homemade “records” for friends and family filled with songs that left me feeling that I wasn’t quite hearing what I wanted or hoped and like I’d never get it “right” – that frustration and perfectionist thinking led me to stop for a few years until a friend heard some of the old recordings and asked why I wasn’t still writing. That got me thinking again – I tried to simplify things and wrote a few new songs, one of which was Conveniently Yours, and it just felt right. I always believed in that song and it made me realize how much I missed being around the creative process. As for the rest of the album, 6 of the other songs on the disc were written in the 3-4 months leading up to the recording of the project when I hit a real low point in my life emotionally; I hadn’t even picked up a guitar in months but as soon as I did all these songs kept coming out and the music really helped me through. Actually, at the time of recording the producer and I agreed on only 7 songs for the project, but I find that recording and being around the studio/process tends to inspire me and ended up writing Without You midway through and I just really wanted to include it because I felt it fit the theme of the album. (I intentionally left it as the 8th song on the track listing because it was last to be written, same reason Conveniently Yours is 1st.) As for the age thing, I’ve always been a late bloomer I guess, and maybe I just needed time and experience to get to the songs that meant a lot more to me."

SCQ: What prompted you to record professionally? How did you go about choosing the studio and collaborators that aided in the creation of Relative Importance?

PF: "As I mentioned I hit a real low point in my life last year. I had finished my Master’s degree in clinical social work and I ended up with a job in Mississauga managing a crisis network, which really burnt me out and left me quite depressed. I started to take stock of where I was in life, what I wanted and where I was headed – I guess I did all of the things that I thought were expected of me, but I was just so unhappy in the end that I felt like I needed to follow my heart and take some chances. Music was always in the back of my mind, and I didn’t want to have the “what ifs” later in life if I had never even really tried. Maybe hitting such a low emotionally was a good thing really, because I ended up with songs that I believed it and I felt lik - Skeleton Crew Quarterly (written by Ryan Pratt)

Paul Federici has sort of a complicated relationship with music.

The St. Catharines-born singer-songwriter was a latecomer into the music scene, not even picking up a guitar for the first time until he was in university. After teaching himself how to play the six string, he started making his rounds at local open-mic nights. Following his first performance at London Arms, he was offered a weekly gig there.
“I was surprised, I only knew five or six songs at the time, but they liked what they heard,” said Federici, adding he went home and added to his repertoire, learning a whole catalogue of songs. “Even then, I knew I’d rather be singing my own songs instead of someone else’s. I just didn’t think I was good enough, or anyone would want to hear them.”

It was that self-doubt, combined with a bad case of nerves, that saw Federici withdraw from the music scene. Instead, he focused on his studies, earning a Master’s Degree and obtaining work in the social work field.“I did what I thought was expected of me,” he said. “I finished my schooling, I got a job, and started my adult life.”

After seven years, Federici saw himself once again picking up his old friend — the guitar — and writing songs. He turned to music to help him through a difficult time. “I was unhappy with where I was in life. I was questioning what I should be doing with my life, what I wanted and where I was headed,” he said. “Music helped me feel better.”

With that realization, Federici decided to make one more go in the music scene. His goal? Record an album. “I had done some before, mostly low-quality recordings that I handed out to family and friends,” he said. “I knew if I didn’t do this, record a studio album, I’d always wonder what could have happened if I had.”

The album, Relative Importance, was recorded at Catherine North Studios in Hamilton. For Federici, the studio, which has worked with artists like Feist, City & Colour, Josh Ritter and Marky Ramone, was a perfect fit. The fact it’s located in Hamilton has a special significance to him, his father Corrado moved to the Steel City at the age of seven from Italy and grew up there. Apart from its geographic location, the singer said there was just a certain feel about the studio that appealed to him.“I wanted to do it right and they really know what they’re doing there,” he said.

Federici said his bittersweet lyrics found on the eight-track record reflect the state of mind he was in at the time of writing. The lyrics which can be pessimistic at times, are off-set by Federici’s soft voice and his focus on harmonies.

Federici will be holding a CD release party on Jan. 29 at the Merchant Ale House in St. Catharines. Tickets are $5 and he will be joined on stage by Beth Moore and Michigan performer Mike Vial. CDs will be available at the show, as well as online at www.paulfederici.ca. - Niagara this Week (written by Melinda Cheevers)

One of the frequent contributors to Sounds That Matter, Mike Vial, contacted me not too long ago about doing a review on an independent artist named Paul Federici. Canadian born, Paul recently released his new new album, Relative Importance, this past January. I was more than happy to give Mike the platform to review the album since this artist is full of talent. Enjoy.

When a singer-songwriter hails from St. Catherine, Ontario, they have the disadvantage of being constantly compared to Dallas Green’s City and Colour project. For Paul Federici, it hits a little closer to home: He went to high school with Dallas, too.

Let’s note, Paul Federici’s first release, Relative Importance, has all of the highlights we might expect from a City and Colour record—a blend of emotive lyrics, vivid harmonies, authentic instrumentation—but Federici’s voice is an instrument of it’s own power. His singing possesses an ability to be soft-spoken and gripping at the same time. It’s, dare I say, beautiful.

Paul Federici has the type singing style one seeks when exploring themes of lost love, guilt, regret, and reflection. Complex, legato harmonies are juxtaposed over minimalistic lyrics. A song like “True” only needs 21 words to paint a colorful landscape of honesty.

But this isn’t a simple record, especially musically. You will find unique open-tunings that offer a tiny hint of the Goo Goo Dolls or Duncan Sheik. Plus, Paul Federici has recruited a star-studded cast of Canadian musicians for the record. Listen for the drumming of Nick Skalkos (the Coppertone; Spirits), most notably on “Conveniently Yours”; Kirk Starkey’s cello on four songs, especially “Remember Me”; and the artistic production of producer moon:and:6 (Michael Chambers) from Catherine North Studios.

Relative Importance is a gorgeous work. With eight songs, it is a perfect introduction to Paul Federici’s singing talent; it will leave you wanting more. For now, you will have to leave this one on repeat.

To listen to Relative Importance in it’s entirety, click here. The album is “name your own price” so donate whatever you can, to help. - Sounds That Matter