Arts on the Fly is thrilled to host the return of Naomi Shore to the Cariboo next month for her album Piece by Piece’s Cariboo debut on June 13 at the Central Cariboo Arts Centre.
Shore is a folk-roots musician based out of Fort St. John and said she first got into music through piano lessons when she was eight or nine. She said that she first started singing publicly when she was around 19 at open mic nights with a little liquid courage.
It was there the young musician met Lindsay Pratt, first as a rival but later on a musical partner that Shore formed Twin Peaks with. During their eight years together the two toured all over Canada, went to Australia and released two albums before eventually scaling down the joint project due to living in different cities.
Piece by Piece marks her first solo album since then and is filled with songs that are personal in nature for Shore. While Twin Peak had a decidedly a folk and country-style sound, Shore said she’s waiting for the audience to tell her what this new sound she has created can be defined as.
“(Creating music) just feels like a necessity, it’s not so much a choice (for me) it has to happen and it’s really the best way I know how to process my feelings and life experiences,” Shore said.
The album was recorded last summer in Cumberland, B.C. and consists of eight songs utilizing ukulele, piano, organ and full band “vintage roots” sound on the various tracks, Shore said. The album is named for the title track, that was the song that, after writing, convinced her to release her own album.
Piece by Piece was born out of some very deep feelings on Shore’s part and brought tears to her eyes the first few times she played it. Over time, however, she was able to lessen its impact on herself and play it for audiences, who likewise came away with strong emotional responses.
Those who are rediscovering themselves or are coming off a hard emotional time, in particular, seem to identify with the album, Shore observed.
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“The rest of the songs they all just made sense once I put them together and once I was in the studio and really in it, their felt like there was a really clear overarching theme of codependency,” Shore said. “That’s been my personal struggle for the last three years, struggling to be on my own. It’s a whole journey.”
Her album was first released back in March in her hometown and she’s since been touring around the province to promote it. Shore’s performance in Williams Lake will mark its official Cariboo premiere.
On stage, Shore employs a self-deprecating friendly banter style of humour to string her music together, which she finds helps alleviate the often sad nature of her music. For the upcoming show, she’ll be performing a mix of songs from Piece by Piece, her Twin Peaks days and a collection of covers of songs by fellow independent Canadian artists. As an indie artist herself, she feels its important to learn and promote the music of other indie artists.
“I think myself and lots of other songwriters would agree that (music) is not so much a choice it’s a calling and you have to do it and we’re all better for it,” Shore said. “It creates such a great community around live music.
She’s looking forward to performing for Arts on the Fly in particular because her last performance for the festival was cancelled, due to the 2017 wildfires.
Doors open for this all ages show on Thursday, June 13 at 7 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. show with tickets available at The Open Book of Bean Counter for $15 or $20 at the door.
patrick.davies@wltribune.com
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