Unsung Heroes of Music #1 - Jane Siberry

For my first unsung heroes is the Canadian singer / songwriter Jane Siberry



I have her LP album from 1987 "The Walking. Just one of 18  albums that she has released. I was the Wire magazine tat alerted me to her exqusite and often avant garde compositions.



Siberry's music is most commonly compared to artists such as Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell and Laurie Anderson. She has drawn from a wide variety of styles, ranging from new wave rock on her earlier albums to a reflective pop style influenced by jazz, folk, gospel, classical and liturgical music in her later work. She has cited Van Morrison and Miles Davis as being strong creative influences.

Her fourth album (and debut major label release) Siberry created her most conceptually ambitious work to date. The Walking (released in 1988) contained a complex, diffuse and demanding set of intricately structured songs, many of which were lengthy and shifted between narrative viewpoints and characters. Many of the songs dealt with romantic collapse and miscommunication, partially inspired by Siberry's breakup with John Switzer (which happened during the writing and recording of the album). Siberry was now being marketed as part of the "high art" end of rock music, alongside artists such as Kate Bush or Peter Gabriel. With high hopes from Reprise, Siberry embarked on a high-profile tour of Europe and the United States to promote The Walking. This included her first European performance, which took place at the ICA in London

Personally this is one my favourite albums by her as it is one i platy alot and find new nuisances in it complex milieu of ideas.

Here is a selection of tracks from that album.


The White Tent the Raft

<( More music here )

Enjoy.