Bio

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Resilience, Releasing in Canada

Annabelle Chvostek

When Annabelle Chvostek joined the Wailin' Jennys in 2004, the rest of the world found out what a grassroots network of Canadian roots fans had known for several years: that Chvostek is a formidable songwriter, a versatile multi-instrumentalist, and a fearless and innovative artist whose beguiling left-of-centre compositions straddle the divide between mainstream roots and acoustic indie pop.

Chvostek's songs were repeatedly singled out by critics as highlights of the Jennys' Juno-nominated CD, Firecracker. "Devil's Paintbrush Road" is still the most downloaded song from the album on iTunes, and it was the #1 song at US folk radio in 2006. It remained at #3 in 2007.

Now, after two and a half years of recording and touring with the Jennys', highlights of which included several appearances on A Prairie Home Companion, performing at New York's legendary Town Hall and singing on the 2005 Juno Awards telecast, Chvostek is releasing her much-anticipated solo album, Resilience.

Recorded in New York and Montreal with Grammy-nominated Canadian record producer Roma Baran and her producing partner Vivian Stoll, Resilience is a sublime, spare, and profoundly reflective album that Chvostek describes as "a big complicated hug."

The theme, as the title suggests, is resilience, with relationships often serving as a metaphor or jumping off point for looking at how human kind survives its own foibles and the resulting "craziness" of the world. "I Left My Brain," for example, is a crunchy alt.pop number about "heartache in a time of oil wars." "The Sioux" is a trad-influenced fiddle-driven piece about a country train ride to Northern Ontario and confronting the legacy of colonial occupation. The title track wonders at the human capacity to recover from heartbreak, while "Driving Away" sees Annabelle collaborating with Bruce Cockburn on a song about a fictional relationship that illustrates the aforementioned theme.

The sound of the album could best be described as "contemporary urban roots," a style in which acoustic instruments are front and centre, but in which strategically placed programmed beats and electro-acoustic elements wrap themselves gently and tastefully around the strings, at times building the sound to a subtle crescendo such as on the title track. In addition to Cockburn, guests include renowned alt.country artist Mary Gauthier on backing vocals, Ani DiFranco alumnus Julie Wolf on keyboard and accordion and multiple Juno nominee Michael Jerome Browne on assorted strings.

Taken together, the innovative production values and insightful lyrics make Resilience a warm and enveloping album about the possibilities for change and redemption.

About Annabelle Chvostek:
Annabelle with Guitar
Born and raised in a musical family in Toronto, Chvostek made her professional debut with the Canadian Opera Company at the age of 7, and appeared in La Boheme at 8. She has been performing ever since. In the mid 90s, Chvostek moved to Montreal to, as she puts it, "live like a bohemian." There, she earned a degree in interdisciplinary fine arts at Concordia, composed for dance and film, played in bands that ranged from old-time to electronica, and served as a percussionist for dance classes. She also traveled in India and Japan and did work as a journalist, camera girl and multimedia tech – all the while writing songs and performing them on the Montreal-Ontario-New York circuit.

She released her solo debut 1am to 5am in 1997 and followed it up with Full Stop in 2000 and Water in 2003. In 2004, she released the EP, Burned My Ass, which contained the first version of the soon-to-be Jennys' favourite "Devil's Paintbrush Road." It topped the campus radio folk charts. By the time she joined the Jennys, Chvostek was touring North America regularly, frequently sharing bills with acts like Po'Girl, Rae Spoon and Barlywick.

In addition to pursuing her solo music career, Annabelle continues to work in a variety of other disciplines. Immediately prior to joining the Jennys, she toured to Brussells, Rotterdam, Hamberg, Berlin and Vienna with her new media performance piece "The Automated Prayer Machine," a collaboration with Anna Friz. Most recently, she composed music for the Drastic Action Dance company piece Line of Descent, which debuted in New York on March 13th.

Annabelle in Colour

photo: Sarah Race

The Anti-Bio: What is a song?

For right now, songs are what I have, songs drive, songs solve, songs soothe and carry and excite and resolve. Songs pull it all together, focus into a channel. And maybe it's something, having songs, and maybe it's nothing much within the big spiral galaxy. But the song spins and moves me, demands my attention whether it gets heard by the masses or not, and my life is for the song now, I can't help it, that's how it is.

How did i get here?

I formed with the vibrations of my mother’s guitar. My dad played mandolin and violin. Everybody sang. I grew up in Toronto, raised on a steady diet of music parties and choir practice. I had my first professional gig with the Canadian Opera Company at seven. My first singing role was in La Bohème when I was eight; the excitement of dressing up, the curtain rising, the sound exploding forth, the audience transported… I fell in love with the stage. I spent my late teens touring in a children’s theatre troupe, singing and dancing about Harriet Tubman and the Brazilian rainforest. I moved to Montréal in the mid 1990’s to live like a bohemian: to play, to explore, to experiment. I sang, I danced, I studied various artistic practices and I honed my songwriting within a community of revolutionary poets. I worked as a multi-media technician, a camera girl, a producer/composer for dance and film, a percussionist for dance classes, a journalist. I went to India and Japan and hung out in Buddhist monasteries. I toured Europe with experimental audio/visual art projects. I scraped rust and peeling paint off the abundant wrought iron of Montréal’s architecture. All the way along I played my songs in the city’s bubbling venues, and popped down to New York for the same purpose. I played in bands as well, from old-time country to dream-pop, from electronica to jazz. I produced my songs, released them independently, and started touring my huge sweet country.

The Wailin’ Jennys

For over two years now I have been on the road with the Wailin’ Jennys. We put out a beautiful record called Firecracker. Four of my songs are on it, including the title track. I learned a ton working so closely with producer David Travers-Smith, not least of which was that under pressure, I could wield a microphone and deliver a professional product. We’ve toured all over the world. I’ve had postcard moments of intense beauty that sparkled through on this wild road, moments that balanced out the twists and sharp corners. The hills of North Cumbria, the Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road, the mountains of Salmon, Idaho. I’ve worked with Bruce Cockburn, Meryl Streep, Bonnie Raitt, Garrison Keillor. I’ve looked upon a few packed stadiums, getting a taste of big.

What’s next?

This time has clarified something. This current that moves through me needs my attention. I’ve taken my time to grow, and now I can focus all these blessed experiences into a music that is present, vulnerable and true. I’m moving on and emerging anew. With help from my friends I package it up as audaciously and creatively as I can, pile it into a vehicle and take it around. At the core, I love to sing; sweet and low, loud and punchy, all over my range. I love words, curling them around the intangible, alighting on the unspeakable. My main instruments are guitar, mandolin and violin, though I’m one of those people who likes to pick up anything and make it work. I like to groove. I like edges and rich colors and mountain twang. I draw from some deep roots: an expansive mix of North American heritage on one side, Slovak/Moravian on the other. I’ve been sponging up a mad variety of influences throughout my life. They unravel and reformulate into something new as they see fit. It’s my job to put a voice to our human struggles, our pain, our resilience and our capacity to love. Whatever form it takes, I get to stand up there and see us all together, to feel that magic with the audience.

Annabelle Chvostek with The Wailin’ Jennys 2004-2006:

The Wailin' Jennys 2006 release, Firecracker, featured four of Annabelle’s tunes: Firecracker, The Devil’s Paintbrush Road, Swallow and Apocalypse Lullaby

2006 Billboard Bluegrass chart, Firecracker in the top 5 for 25 weeks running

Top song of 2006, ‘The Devil’s Paintbrush Road’, FOLKDJ-L radio playlists from 132 different DJs

‘Upbeat bluegrass is represented here with the opening track, “The Devil's Paintbrush Road,” and the mandolin-driven title track, Firecracker. These are both outstanding examples of a contemporary bluegrass sound built around a singer/songwriter mentality.’
Greg Winkler, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange Online, US

‘Annabelle's, “Swallow” is a delicate country-waltz, while “The Devil's Paintbrush Road” ushers in a rush of fresh air like a breakneck Appalachian breakdown.’
David Kidman, NetRhythms.co.uk online

‘“Apocalypse Lullaby,” from the pen of Chvostek, is a lovely, gentle acoustic wonder.’
Nigel Williamson, HMV Choice, London, England

‘The trio isn’t afraid to shadow its beautiful sound with sobering reality checks (“Apocalypse Lullaby”) and a zen nod to our collective “live and die and gone” destiny. This Firecracker is no damp squib.’
Jeff Bateman, Western Living, Vancouver, BC

‘Sophisticated while still rustic. Opening the disc, “The Devil’s Paintbrush Road” (penned and sung by Chvostek)
could almost step from a 1930s field recording.’
Bruce Sylvester, Goldmine Magazine, US

‘They began the show with one of the most immediately appealing tracks from the new album, Devil's Paintbrush Road, written by Annabelle Chvostek. It's upbeat and has a driving, old-time sound ... Annabelle's "Apocalypse Lullaby" was also a demonstration of her songwriting prowess. This oddly titled song is haunting, surreal and incredibly sublime. I give her top marks for including the word "tetrahedron" in the song. It's one of my favorite songs right now.’
Triniman, Blogcritics Magazine

Annabelle solo:

July Earshot Radio Charts (cross Canada college/community radio), “Burned My Ass” #1 for Roots music

“Fiercely talented ... Chvostek has a sultry voice you can’t and won’t forget.”
Suzy Malik, Xtra, Toronto

“Annabelle doesn’t fake the folk. She freaks it.”
T’cha Dunlevy, The Montréal Gazette

“Annabelle made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.”– “stunning free form folk...” – “she can do everything, and does.”
The Hour, Montréal

“Sensuelle, surprenante, de l’émotion qui swing, une voix de velour. Guitariste hors pair, ses compositions sont hypnotisantes: sorte de folk-jazz chevauchant le folk-punk. Une présence de scène et un magnètisme qui séduit partout où elle passe.”
Folquébec

Discography: