Toronto songwriter Charlotte Cornfield reveals “Storm Clouds”, the track that was the catalyst for everything else on her upcoming LP, The Shape Of Your Name.
“It was the first thing I recorded in Banff, a few days after arriving,” says Cornfield. “I had been carrying around the ‘storm clouds, elation, desire, mania, darkness’ refrain for a long time – it’s a personal meditation. But I have this habit of not finishing songs until I have to, so it took being in the studio to pull it all together. I couldn’t figure out how to end it and then Brendan Canning suggested bringing back the refrain and that just felt right.”
The track features Cornfield on drums and guitar, Charles Spearin on bass and horns, and Kevin Drew on backing vocals. "He lives those words as much as I do," says Cornfield.
Beginning on April 19, Cornfield will embark on a run on North American tour dates supporting Tim Baker (Hey Rosetta!). Full tour dates can be found below.
Set to arrive April 5 via Outside Music’s new imprint Next Door Records, The Shape Of Your Name has a more refined studio sound than her scrappier 2016 release Future Snowbird, and for good reason: it was recorded in 5 different sessions over the course of 3 years. The songs are her strongest and most striking to date - contemplative and contemporary, funny and heart-wrenching - and they’ve got that stuck-in-your-head-for-days quality that Cornfield is known for. The Shape Of Your Name features a star-studded cast of collaborators including (but not limited to) Grammy-winning engineer Shawn Everett, Broken Social Scene members Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew, and Charles Spearin, and Montreal songwriter Leif Vollebekk.
“My initial intention wasn’t to make a record at all,” Charlotte muses. “The whole thing kind of happened by accident. I went to The Banff Centre to do a residency and came out with these recordings that I knew I wanted to use for something but wasn’t sure what.” She brought the unfinished songs to her former roommate Nigel Ward in Montreal. “He fell into the producer role seamlessly. We took it slow and just tried things for a while until the vision settled in. There was no rush. It was freeing, and it gave the songs a lot of breathing room to develop.”
For the past four years Cornfield has been booking and managing Burdock Music Hall, a small venue in the west end of Toronto. The job has offered her stability and a strong sense of place in Toronto’s bursting-at-the-gills music community. She’s also an in-demand drummer and side musician, and has worked closely with Tim Darcy of Ought, Molly Burch, Adrian Underhill, and members of Lake Street Dive. She has toured extensively in North America and Europe and has supported a huge range of artists including Broken Social Scene, Anais Mitchell, Daniel Romano, and Sam Amidon.
Links to Charlotte Cornfield
Website: https://charlottecornfield.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cornfieldmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cornfieldmusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charcorn/
CHARLOTTE CORNFIELD TOUR DATES
Mar 6 - Kingston, ON - The Grad Club Apr 19 - St. John’s, NL - Holy Heart Theatre Apr 20 - St. John’s, NL - Holy Heart Theatre Apr 23 - Toronto, ON - The Great Hall Apr 24 - Toronto, ON - The Great Hall Apr 26 - Ottawa, ON - Bronson Centre Apr 29 - Fredericton, NB - Wilmot United Church Apr 30 - Moncton, NB - Tide & Boar Ballroom May 3 - Halifax, NS - St. Matthews United Church May 4 - Halifax, NS - St. Matthews United Church May 7 - Montreal, QC - Le Ministere May 29 - Edmonton, AB - Station On Jasper May 30 - Calgary, AB - Commonwealth Bar Jun 1 - Vancouver, BC - Imperial Jun 3 - Seattle, WA - Columbia City Theater Jun 4 - Portland, OR - The Old Church Jun 7 - Los Angeles, CA - The Hotel Cafe Jun 9 - San Francisco, CA - Hotel Utah
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