Singer-songwriter Leah Abramson is bringing her band, The Abramson Singers, to Fernie to showcase their latest works of musical art.
The Singers will entertain an audience at The Arts Station with their lush band arrangements, upbeat tempos, retro organs, and catchy melodies. The band’s sophomore album, Late Riser, was just released on May 14 and finds the group exploring new pop and indie rock sensibilities, while holding on to their firm base in folk songwriting.
A Vancouver native, Leah Abramson enlisted her friends from some of Vancouver’s best-loved bands - members of Fond of Tigers, Dan Mangan’s band, and Headwater - to play her haunting folk-noir originals as The Abramson Singers. Writing quirky, catchy, and beautiful songs about topics such as truck drivers, old maids, the oil sands, and the famous rebel Louis Riel, Leah is a heartbreaking storyteller and singer, hearkening back to simpler times, while embracing present concerns.
It is their innovative take on the songwriting process that sets The Abramson Singers apart from other indie-folk bands. A newly minted professor at UBC, Leah has been teaching undergraduate songwriting courses using her knack for finding the emotional resonance of a topic through melody, harmony, and unusual time signatures. Her love of bringing the unique character voices alive through song is something that she both teaches and expresses in her songwriting.
Thematically, Late Riser is a continuation on the subject matter of the band’s previous self-titled album, with songs of longing, loss, and heartbreak. Many of the stories behind the songs take on classic themes, such as the no-good, unreliable man, and the grim finality of death. Using lyric symbolism and archetypal imagery updated for modern times, the band also explores modern topics such as stage fright and moving on after a romance. These songs are given more of an abstract treatment, but still find themselves drawing from the sparse folk and lush arrangements that characterize the album.
Come out to see the songs come alive on stage when The Abramson Singers visit The Arts Station Wednesday night. Tickets are available at Carosella, Freshies, The Arts Station, and online. The show will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets: Members – Adult $15, Youth $10. Non-Members – Adult $20, Youth $14.