Jane Siberry - The Metaphysics of Folk

Canada's Jane Siberry is one of the most interesting figures on the North American female rock scene. Capable over the years of moving from simple folk ballads to an avant-garde pop with hazy, ethereal shades, the Toronto singer-songwriter has shown off a versatile talent, winning over international critics (not just rock critics). Her prestige has also been boosted by collaborations with musicians of the calibre of Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, K.D. Lang, Joe Jackson, Nigel Kennedy, Hector Zazou, Takafumi Sotoma and many others. Jane Siberry began her career at the dawn of the Eighties, splitting her time between microbiology studies at the University of Guelph (Ontario) and performances in Toronto's clubs and coffee houses, where she tried her hand at acoustic folk shows for piano, guitar and voice.

In 1980, helped along by a waitressing job in a pub, she financed her debut album, Jane Siberry. It's a spare work, featuring gentle, piano-led ballads with introverted, reflective overtones ("This Girl I Know", "Strange Well"), tinged with Celtic hues but also flashes of elegant lounge music ("Magic Beads", "Writers Are A Funny Breed"). The record still feels somewhat immature, though, and the threadbare production certainly doesn't do the sound any favours.

Convinced to carry on with her musical path, Siberry signed with a small Canadian label, which joined forces with A&M and Windham Hill to release No Borders Here (1984). The album is a clear step forward, thanks to a handful of songs even more defined by that "cinematic" narrative fabric that would become one of the Toronto singer-songwriter's trademarks. The feminist mini-opera of "Mimi On The Beach" is the centrepiece and earns her a flattering comparison with fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell. But what really comes through is Siberry's romantic, dramatic streak, which lets her pack a whole sequence of nightmares and inner demons into just a few chords ("Dancing Class", "Map Of The World"). Her lyrics once again tackle the issues of the female condition. And her intricate arrangements are enriched with subtle, angelic vocal textures. So we move from the tenderest litany ("I Muse Aloud") to parodies of Sixties pop ("Symmetry"), with an ease worthy of avant-garde experimentation.

The follow-up, The Speckless Sky (1985), brought Siberry her first official recognition: a gold record and two People's Choice Award nominations for album and production of the year in Canada. The record's main theme, the delicate lied "One More Colour", would later be included by Atom Egoyan in the soundtrack of his film "The Sweet Hereafter". The most dreamlike moments ("Seven Steps To The Wall", "Vladimir Vladimir") alternate with livelier episodes ("Very Large Hat") and flashes of surreal cabaret ("Mein Bitte", "Map Of The World") in a kind of progressive "estrangement", straddling new wave and the most lysergic dream-pop.

Amid ethereal trills and anguished cries, Siberry forged a style all her own, able to combine intimate and epic tones. A style perfected on The Walking (1987), released by Reprise and marked by a more pronounced rhythm section. From the delicate folk-pop of her early days, Siberry had arrived at a sonic kaleidoscope with ever more colourful, abstract hues. Her singing, once shy, had grown increasingly acrobatic, following in the footsteps of rock's boldest chanteuses: Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson, Elizabeth Fraser. And the arrangements had become "fuller". Thus were born the aching harmonies of "White Tent The Raft" and "Bird In The Gravel", the dark atmospheres of "Lena Is A White Table" and "La Jalouse", the almost Buckley-esque lament of "The Lobby".

In 1989, Bound By The Beauty marked a return to the humorous vignettes of her early works and the acoustic simplicity of her debut, with a handful of refined songs, from the exotic "Are We Dancing Now" to the fable-like "Everything Reminds Me Of My Dog". The record, though uneven, confirmed the Canadian musician's multifaceted talents and caught the attention of Brian Eno, who offered to produce some tracks for the follow-up, When I Was A Boy (1993). It would become the biggest commercial success of Jane Siberry's career, with international hits such as "Sail Across The Water", "Temple" and above all the religious invocation of "Calling All Angels" (with K.D. Lang), which first appeared in Wim Wenders' film "Until The End Of The World" (and of which an Italian cover was also recorded by Alice on her "God Is My Dj"). Eno's production adds an "ambient" touch to Siberry's sound. It ranges from the rarefied atmospheres of "Sweet Incarnadine" to the almost jazz improvisation of "The Vigil", from the dreamlike echoes of "All The Candles Of The World" to the whispered tenderness of "An Angel Stepped Down", via the smooth, harmonious mood of "Love Is Everything", almost a manifesto for this new direction. Above all, it's the spiritual element of her work that grows, building a bridge between soul and new age, as confirmed by the mystical hymn "The Gospel According To Darkness".

Afterwards, Siberry collaborated with French ambient-music composer Hector Zazou on "Songs From The Cold Seas" and recorded the splendid "It Can't Rain All The Time" for the soundtrack of "The Crow" (1994). She then recorded her new album, Maria (1995). Recorded live in the studio with a jazz quintet, the record features the twenty-minute ballad "Oh My My", which includes an excerpt from the Sixties hit "Puff The Magic Dragon" (Peter, Paul & Mary) and conjures up all her childhood ghosts. Poised between Kate Bush and Van Morrison, Siberry moves skilfully between the ode to "Maria" and the vignette of "Lovin' Cup", between the fairy tale of "See The Child" and the exotic hues of "Caravan".

Over time, Siberry refined her "avant-folk" with more modern sounds, increasingly establishing herself as a "musician" as much as a singer-songwriter: "Yes, actually I feel mostly like a composer," she says. "I think I'm a good antenna, able to pick up what's in the air. My goal is to manage to fit as many musical influences as possible into a single song." Her musical achievements also earned her (honoris causa) the Science degree from the University of Guelph (Ontario) that she hadn't managed to get in her youth. And Siberry admits that her "scientific" approach has played an important role in her music: "It hasn't made me more analytical," she explains, "but it has confirmed to me that there's a link between science and art. There's a shared aesthetic and a shared joy in both. Even writing songs is a bit like following a mathematical formula: there's a huge flow of energy to manipulate and steer towards a final result."

In order to develop her projects freely, in 1996 the Canadian singer-songwriter decided to break with her record label and found her own, Sheeba, through which she immediately released two song collections (Teenager and Child), as well as a collection of American and Celtic traditionals (Hush). Sheeba also released New York Trilogy, a live document of three concerts held at New York's Bottom Line in 1996. In 2002, meanwhile, Rhino/Warner released the excellent anthology Love Is Everything, which traces her two-decade career across two CDs of 15 songs each. Jane Siberry also took part in the "Time & Love: The Music of Laura Nyro" project and published two books, "Swan" (1998) and "One Room Schoolhouse" (1999).

In 2004 came Shushan The Palace: Hymns Of Earth, an album of Christmas songs and liturgical hymns.

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