jenn mierau's musings

humming along (sorry for the pun)

2010-02-19T19:10:00.000-05:00

really. sorry for the pun... couldn't resist.
it's been a month since "hum" was released and there's been some great stuff happening with it!

on the serendipitous front: Check out this poem that was inspired by "hum." I was so surprised and completely honoured to discover this! Christy Sundberg, from Iowa, is doing a project called 365 Days of Poetry - yup, for real, a poem a day - and came across "hum" on the AmazonMp3 site. Her writing is really great and I think she's so brave to commit to this kind of project! Here's her poem for today.

on the hilarious front: Apparently on digimode10.com, "hum" is #2 bestselling mp3, second only to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies"! AND it got a better rating than Beyoncé's. I don't know how they figure that... but I guess that means I'll be getting a grammy fedexed to me soon!

on the tickled pink front: The remix of "hum" that Hollis P Monroe did was in the top 10 on Stompy.com's Soul Chart this week! (And this is a legit site, unlike digimode.com!!) What is equally stunning is the fact that my acoustic version made it into the top 40 Downtempo Chart... this is an electronic music store and I really did not think the acoustic version would do well at all! Yay for open-minded music listeners!

on the share-and-share-alike front: I'm offering the "moment of creation" version of "hum" to everyone who joins my mailing list on my new website (top right corner of the page). This version is literally a live, one-take recording of the song as it was being written. I had never sung past the first chorus before, so it was all uncharted territory. For the full story of how it was written, click here. And, yes, I felt inspired by paperclips for this artwork...

on the truly amazing front (not related to hum): Did you hear kd lang singing "hallelujah" at the opening ceremonies for the olympics? I was blown away by her passionate rendition that was both heartbreakingly powerful and subtly hushed! She is one heck of a singer!

So that's that for now.
Thanks everyone for your outpouring of support for this ep!
... and Go Canada Go!

opera in the subway

2009-12-02T14:23:00.004-05:00

tuesday night i was treated to an impromptu opera performance in the "place des arts" metro station (subway, for all you non-montrealers). an older woman was almost the only person on the opposite platform and had several hundred people as her captive audience. she was a little bit loony in the loveliest of ways and this is what she sang - check out the fellow subway rider who responds in song:

it was a priceless moment and i hope to use the sample in a future recording... so listen for it!

as promised, here's my semi-weekly update of where things are for the present recording:

shine is now mixed and sounds great!!

first mix of told you is done, just needs a bit of tweaking

lovesong mix will be started monday

hum remixes and album artwork are almost done

so things are moving right along, thanks to josé aguirre, who is doing the mixes, and to la hacienda creative, where we are doing the mixes.

also, big huge thanks to everyone who became facebook fans this last week! your support means the world to me!

no christmas baking... but

2009-11-21T15:51:00.007-05:00

this last week has been filled with christmas preparations - no, not decorating - recording a version of silent night and getting things together for my holiday greeting download card.

i decided that i did, in fact, want to record myself with my flu-y voice, so a scratchy, a capella version of silent night is in the works. it's almost done and will be sent to all my facebook fans (it's not too late to get in on the action and become a fan)!

i was also getting my website ready to be able to sell holiday greeting download cards. the idea is that people can send a card to someone that includes a download of my song "coventry carol." here's a little peek:

other "coventry carol" news... it is for sale on iTunes and on the zunior website (where it comes with a PDF download of the artwork). But again, before December 1st, all facebook fans will be getting it for free!

maybe i'll bake some cookies next week...

roll with it... or knit as the case may be

2009-11-11T20:47:00.009-05:00

i got a wee bit knocked off my feet last week by a rather brutal flu... NOT h1n1 thankfully!!

being in bed with no voice and violently coughing is not the most conducive situation for getting much accomplished. BUT, i did what i could, and what i did was this:

it's an idea i had for merchandise: a little knit patch with my logo on it, that can be sewn onto a hat, scarf, mitts. i want to try to make a "wristie" - what my family calls a wristband - with the logo.

i also tried knitting the logo for the record label my friend, hollis and i are starting (more on that later):

before getting sick, i did advance somewhat with the tunes:

re-recorded backing vocals for a little blue (good thing too, cuz i don't think i'll be doing much singing for at least another week, unless i want to sound like i've been smoking and drinking whiskey for a good 40 years...hmmm maybe not a bad idea - recording myself singing like that, not starting to drink whiskey and smoke!)

shine is almost mixed, just needs some last tweaks.

i also spent some time drinking tea (works to stop the violent coughing) and watching tutorials on how to mix, so i don't feel so clueless at the studio.

and now that i'm starting to feel better it's back-at-it-time!

it's the final countdown... doodoodoooodoo

2009-10-22T18:05:00.005-04:00

at long last... i can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

this journey of producing my own music has proven to be very long and often arduous. the obstacles have been many, not least of which has been my own self. there have been times when i've felt crazy to keep pursuing this, times when i've felt ashamed at how long it's taken me, times when i've felt proud of my accomplishments and times when i've felt inspired, knowing that when i'm making music i am who i am.

at some point, i got so tired of saying "it's coming! it's coming!" that i just stopped saying anything. but now, the end is in sight. which really isn't an end at all, but very much a beginning. i have good people around me who are helping, pushing and encouraging me (THANKS!!!) i see what kept me from finishing in the past and i'm not letting that happen again. i'm overcoming the mind-killer that is fear and the shackles that are perfectionism.

so until this music is out my door and alive in the world, i will be holding myself accountable to myself in this forum by posting weekly updates. as of today:

hum is mixed and ready for mastering

2 remixes of hum almost done (thanks to hollis p. monroe and leon louder)

3 songs ready for mixing (told you, take your rest, shine)

for lovesong, strings need to be re-rerecorded

for a little blue, backing vocals need to be re-recorded and arrangement arranged a bit

a toi... still needs some work...

to show your support, i would so much appreciate you either joining my facebook page or my mailing list and sharing it with your friends. i need the word spread as far and wide as possible! THANKS!

thanks indiecan!

2009-02-27T23:19:00.003-05:00

i had such a nice surprise last week. i was googling my name...
i know, i know... me me me me me.
actually i was searching my name to try to find a review of one of my previous releases that i remember coming across some time ago (does that justify it enough?).

anyway, my name came up on the indiecan.com site, so i went to check out why, and was ever so pleasantly surprised to find out that Joe, head honcho and the vision behind indiecan, had played one of my christmas songs on his show and had dedicated it to a friend of his and her newborn baby. The song was "coventry carol" (with a bit of "bring a torch jeannette isabella" mixed in) and, of course, is a christmas carol, but i was, again, pleasantly surprised at how beautifully the words of the song spoke to a new mother and her baby!

you can check out the whole episode here: episode 116
where you'll discover some great music, including a really
sweet song by rae spoon.

so a big thank you to Joe, who really is a huge supporter of
canadian independent music!!

my new favourite song

2009-02-10T21:59:00.002-05:00

ok, so i've been listening rather obsessively to what i must only logically conclude is...my new favourite song. it's called "mutual admiration society" and it was passed on to me by my friend karen, an excellent editor and wonderful poet by the way, at a moment when we were mutually admiring each other's work.

so hold to your hats! it's a gooder!
i'll wait while you bask in it's glory...

teresa brewer singing "mutual admiration society"

...pretty great huh? i can't wait to do a cover of it at some point. do let me know how many days this catchy tune stayed stuck in your head. i'm heading towards 2 weeks!

catch up and a christmas CD

2008-12-07T22:20:00.016-05:00

well it's been a little while....
thought i'd get back on the bloggin' bandwagon.
why? because i have news. biggish news.

i just released a little 5-song christmas CD that doubles as a christmas card. how you ask? well, you can see and hear for yourself at my newly created website: songsofjenn.com.

so the last time i wrote was just after my 3-week intensive of recording in may. and because you've been dying to know...and also because i consider this blog a bit of a diary...i will do a quick recap of what's gone on in the last 7 months. i'll do it in point form to save us all the details:

june 5: played a 4:30 am set at the Montreal Relay for Life, which inspired me to start a project to raise funds for cancer using a song i wrote for my uncle as he was dying of cancer (more on that later).

june 12: played a showcase at nxne in toronto. you can see some great photos that emerson john took.

july: was featured on baom.net (bouche à oreille musique, which means word of mouth music). you can see the video here that my brother and i shot for the song, deare.

july and august: wrote some music for a couple of TV shows through la hacienda creative ...and recorded backing vocals for the show: the next star (canadian idol for little kids).

sept: back and forth to toronto, fairly non stop, to work on mixing 3 of my songs with my friend, pete prilesnik.

oct. 11: helped put on the songwriting and recording workshop for the kids pop portion of pop montreal. here's a very cute picture of me with a future rock god:

oct&nov: worked with a very talented young man called chris fox, who has been helping me mix several of my songs for my upcoming web album as well as for the aforementioned christmas card CD.

phew! and here we are at the present.

and with that, i solemnly swear that i will never wait as long between blogs! never ever ever.
the end.

the story of “hum”

2008-05-05T22:28:00.009-04:00

“hum” is my newest song. and it has a special story behind it.

what you will hear is what i thought would be just a rough version of the song to figure out how it would go. i had come up with the verse and chorus melody and an idea for the keyboard part in the 5 minutes preceding this recording...but this is what you call a song writing itself. i had never before played through the whole song and really had no idea how it would go after the first chorus!

the lyrics come from Ursula Kowcun. we went to university together and got in contact again through facebook (where else). over the last several months i had noticed the notes she was posting and really liked her writing. i eventually told her so. to my surprise, she informed me that they were lyrics and that she always has had trouble finding melodies. well, i could help with that, couldn’t i? i told her that i’d like to try to make music for her lyrics, for either her or me to sing, but that i didn’t know exactly when i could because i was at the start of my 3 weeks of serious studio time, with a deadline for finishing my album.

it was the last day of my 3 weeks in the studio. i’d been editing like crazy over the last weeks - which can be a bit of a cerebral and less creative kind of job, riding the fine line of perfectionism (i.e. making things the best they possibly can be without obsessing too much over details most people will never hear). i was leaving for winnipeg the next day and was bouncing down some tracks to be able to work with them while there. i had printed out a copy of the lyrics to hum and while i was waiting for the tracks to bounce, i thought i’d play around a little with them.

within a few minutes, i came up with a verse melody that i liked and a keyboard part that seemed to work. my recording program was still busy bouncing tracks so i quickly called myself to be able to record what i was doing into my voice mail. when the bounces were done i was able to record what i had come up with into my recording program. even though i hadn’t ever sung the 2nd verse and had no idea how it would go after that, i decided to keep going.

when i finished playing, i pressed stop and sat in stunned silence for a moment or two. then i called my boyfriend in to listen and said, “i think i just finished a song.” while listening to it back for the first time, i felt such a strong connection to the words and felt so moved by the experience i had just had in creating the song that i sat there crying!

it was so nice, after weeks of working so hard, to be given such a gift, that i’ve decided to release it "as is" - no editing, exactly as it came to be. no it’s not the best vocal performance. no it’s not the best keyboard performance. no it’s probably not even the best arrangement. but what you are hearing is a moment of creation. and that is beautiful and rare.

thanks for the incredibly inspiring lyrics, Ursula!!

i'm performing "hum" live for the first time tonight on synclive.com at 10PM Eastern time. But the show will be archived if you don't make it online tonight.

here we go

2008-04-19T13:06:00.006-04:00

i am starting my second week of intensive recording on my album. i have until the end of april off of work and it's the first time i've ever had a concentrated chunk of time like this. it's amazing to be able to do nothing else (and i mean absolutely nothing else) but work on my music. i have to admit, i was pretty terrified to start the process, but i'm feeling stronger and stronger as the days go on.

i started off by buying myself beautiful flowers that welcome me into the studio every day. i also have my trusty ice bat sitting next to me on my laptop. then i added a purple skipping rope (with faces painted on the handles) to the arsenal...for the moments when i need to expend bursts of energy. and then i thought about how i was going to use the next three weeks. i gave myself a schedule with budgeted hours for each song. i decided that i need to do 8 hours, minimum, of recording/editing/mixing everyday - not just listening and thinking about lyrics, arrangements etc. finally i decided to stay accountable to myself by keeping track of exactly how much time i was using for each song. then...off i went!

it's going really well. i've already finished two songs, almost four. and i'm very excited about both the process and what the end result will be.

here are my flowers:

and my studio:

introducing my ice bat:

my mic, ready and waiting:

doing vocals on "lovesong"

adjusting volume:

listening to takes:

and vocal editing:

i'll post some rough versions of mixes in shortly....

would you like some mail with your coffee?

2008-03-20T09:53:00.003-04:00

was doing some web surfing last week
(does anybody say that anymore? feels very 1993)
...anyway, was hitting the great waves of the inter-tubes and came across this icon on a japanese site:

i don't know, maybe mail goes better with green tea?

more snow!!

2008-03-09T14:09:00.002-04:00

i'm not sure how many centimetres we're up to now, but we had another blizzard yesterday! the wind was insane! at about midnight, etienne and i decided to get bundled up - and i mean bundled up - to brave the storm. it was so very much fun! we found snow drifts where when we walked in them our legs sunk down entirely, i.e. leg straight down, snow up to the bum. we also found a huge snow hill to climb and subsequently slide down and some nice piles of snow to throw ourselves into. even made a little snow angel. it's always so tempting to just lie in the snow for hours just looking up at it falling on you, feels like you'd be warm enough...sort of. luckily etienne convinced me that it might be better to keep moving.

one thing, among many, that i love about blizzards is the way everything just shuts down and people start using alternate forms of transportation. case in point, saw a guy at about 1 AM, cross-country skiing down a major road.

can't wait to get out again today. i saw another huge snow hill that looked worth climbing.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

2008-02-28T20:59:00.013-05:00

except that it's almost march!!
so while lots of people are going south for a break from the snow, etienne and i decided to go to quebec city two weekends ago.

now, we have more snow in montreal than i've ever seen here. But in quebec city, there was more snow than i can ever remember seeing anywhere...and that's a lot, being from winnipeg! so i thought i'd share some photos from this wonderful trip:

coming out of etienne's grandmother's house, the snow was this high!

down the street to the left:

and to the right....yes, that really is a beer bottle in the snow bank.

this is while strolling through old quebec city in a snowstorm - had to experience the winter carnival!!

and this is the view of the st. lawrence river from the train:

we had an amazing weekend, and even got to shovel a bit...well, etienne did the shovelling while i did dishes with his grandmother. a fair trade, no? thanks etienne for being such a good grandson and a good picture taker!

how can you not love raffi?

2007-10-12T22:15:00.000-04:00

ok, so i'm doing a show in montreal on october 27th, and i thought, why not make it into a hallowe'en party and do a couple of hallowe'en-ish songs. i don't know about you, but the first song that comes to my mind is a raffi tune called "les zombies et les loups-garous". i was trying to find the lyrics or an mp3 on-line, and came across this blog (written by a fellow winnipegger) that was talking about it specifically. did you know that daniel lanois worked on the album that this song comes from??!! yeah, it blew my mind too. so i'm waiting to see if James (the author of the blog) can send me an mp3 of the song.

his blog, "slurpees and murder" is a great blog. his "exposé" on a double bubble comic is hilarious!

say what??

2007-09-16T21:14:00.000-04:00

just made this flyer for my show at the end of september....are you coming?

it's at c'est what (67 front st. e, in toronto) on saturday, the 29th. the cost is $6 and doors open at 10:00 pm. daphne darling (10:15) and sarah burton (12:00) are also playing.

if you can't make it in person, and feel like sitting at your computer on a saturday night, you can tune in at www.synchronicitylive.com. i'm on at 11:00.

hope to see you there!

pictures from video shoot

2007-09-11T18:49:00.000-04:00

ok, summer holidays are over.
...although i am still enjoying the sun as much as i can.

here are some stills from the video shoot my brother and i did earlier in august. he's working on editing the video, and we're planning on submitting it to some film fesitvals...i'll keep you posted.

but in the meantime, here is a taste of what is to come:

tired tootsies

2007-08-05T20:32:00.000-04:00

so it's sunday night and the video shoot for "deare" is done. my brother and i traipsed around toronto all day yesterday and today. the weather was perfect and we got some amazing footage! a teensy bit tired, though - my brother's been sleeping on the couch for the last 20 minutes. good thing there's a family guy marathon on...

montreal terrasses?

2007-07-28T16:38:00.000-04:00

could someone please tell me where, in montreal, i can find a nice patio to sit with a coffee, or other such beverage, and work all afternoon? one that's not right beside the traffic of st. denis or mont royal street. ok, i know santropol has an amazing patio, or terrasse as they're called here. but it's just a little too far for me - i'm at laurier and mentana. i know café des entretiens...but it's closed right now. today i spent the better part of my afternoon sitting in the second cup patio on mont royal - which is a great patio by the way, but i'd rather not go to a chain.

any ideas?

my first live video stream

2007-07-21T23:42:00.000-04:00

ok, i just had to write again today to talk about my first live video stream that i did this afternoon. it was just a little 20 minute test, but it went really well, and people actually watched it. you can even watch it here. it's a featured show right now, but otherwise you need to search jenn mierau archived shows. it's a new site - it just went public this week - and i'm so happy to be a part of it!

it was really fun to do, and i'm going to be doing a longer set in two weeks...thursday, august 2nd to be exact.

need lyrics but have photos

2007-07-13T20:01:00.000-04:00

so i've been mulling around lyrics for this song for awhile, especially with all the rain we've been having. last week, on the train, i took some photos that i think will inspire me to finish the song, but if anyone has suggestions for the last line of the chorus, that would be neato. k, so here is the beginning of the song...with photos:

i don't know why
it started raining
i can see blue sky

a lonely cloud
decides to empty
above my head

it's spring, and i
i should expect it
even, at times, so innopportune
i'll stay, out here, a little longer

oh oh oh
oh oh it's just a little rain today

oh oh oh
oh oh .......

send me your ideas by contacting me on sweetsite, myspace or facebook - or by leaving a comment. you can also see some more rainy photos here.

pj rawks!!!

2007-07-08T16:22:00.000-04:00

i listened to pj harvey's "is this desire" yesterday, for the first time in a loooong time, and holy crap does she RAWK!!!

i guess i had forgotten. i just checked on her website and she is putting out a new album this september. can't wait!!

speaking of women with "down 'n' dirty" vocal stylings....i'm finally going to go pick up the latest amy winehouse album. i know, i know, she seems all fucked up right now, and probably not worth seeing live - unless of course she can manage to stay sober and actually care. but the sound of the album is amazing! i am just loving the 50's kind of production: of the music, but also in the way her vocals were recorded, and want to hear it in better sound quality than an mp3.

mmmm... "what kind of fuckery is this?"...is going to sound so good on etienne's sound system!

oh yeah, music

2007-07-07T12:25:00.000-04:00

i'm sure you're all only too aware of the time-suck these kinds of sites can be. i feel like i've been on the computer for weeks: setting up profiles and putting up pictures on facebook, myspace, virb, blogger, eventful, synchronicitylive, secondlife, spreadshirt...the list seemingly goes on and on and on and on.

so it felt really good to actually get something done with....oh what is it again?...oh yeah, my music!!!! fixed up the beat and did a little mix on the song "a little blu" - which is not yet up for your listening pleasure. also recorded some scratch vocals on my newest song "told ya".

therefore, my new resolution is...um...spend less time on social networking sites? i suppose so, but i do want to keep in touch with y'all.
(did i really just say y'all---i think i did, sorry)

i guess what i'm trying to say is that if i don't respond super quickly to a message from you, it's not that i don't care (cue strings), it's just that i start to hate myself when i don't play music enough (timpani), and then i don't want to talk to anyone (choir). so i will be spending less time on the inter-web-tubes (triangle), more time using my vocal chords (piccolo), so that when i do connect (horns), it is done with unadulterated joy (cymbal crash).

...was that good for you?

on that note...no pun intended, really...i will go turn on my wurtlizer and sing like a bird...no reference to nelly furtado intended, really.

it's raining it's pouring

2007-07-02T19:09:00.000-04:00

the old man is snoring.

there's a thunderstorm outside right now, but the sun is also shining on the trees outside of my apartment. it is soooo beautiful. i think i'll get off my computer and go look out the window.

happy canada day

2007-07-01T17:00:00.000-04:00

well, i'm not particularly patriotic, but i'm very happy to be living in this fair country. i thought i might celebrate by wearing my quebec fleur de lys t-shirt and running around in my panties. i probably won't though.

yesterday, i had a lovely time on the mountain. (we call mount royal a mountain here in montreal) etienne and i walked around for 4 hours in the woods and in a cemetary. the initial idea for the walk was to find this in the mount royal cemetary. a friend from work had seen this and gave me a google map to find it. i'm not trying to be morbid nor disrespectful to the sweet family, and i'm not trying to say sweet is dead, or death to all sweetness...(ok maybe rest in sweet) but really, i just thought it looked cool.

anyway, the woods are incredible...you really feel like you're out of the city, all alone. you can check my photo album on facebook to see a couple more photos from our excursion. including the pretty flower etienne found for my hair.

secret pleasure

2007-06-28T21:19:00.000-04:00

i'm indulging myself right now... watching my favourite tv show that i don't readily admit to: "so you think you can dance?" ("the daily show" and "the colbert report" i proudly watch), eating pizza and drinking a brio.

guess it's no longer a secret pleasure. oh well.