CANMORE – Dedication and ample time spent in the recording studio have led to two Calgary Music Award (YYCMA) nominations for a pair of Bow Valley artists.
Canmore’s quartet Northern Quarter are in the running for group of the year, and Banff’s Amelie Patterson has been nominated for the alternative recording of the year for her single, “The Patient Kind.”
“It's a cliché to say, but we are honoured to be nominated,” said Northern Quarter guitarist Dave Crewe. “It is really exciting for us as a group to be recognized especially since we are still finding our way.”
The quartet formed in 2017 and exclusively played covers of songs to get people moving on the dance floor, said Crewe.
Despite the group being in its infancy, the band has deep roots, as Crewe’s wife Wendy is the bassist. The two were joined by Carlos Nadeau more than five years ago and he said things really started to take off with the addition of singer and songwriter Kerry Hunter.
“Writing and producing our own music was a natural progression for us. It’s been a lot of fun and rewarding to get together in our ‘jam space’ and just be creative together and make original music.”
The band is still working towards its sophomore EP, to follow up Cold Dark Night.
“We have released a couple singles, but there is still a lot more work to be done before we can release another album. We don’t even have a name, or cover art, for this next one," Crewe said.
While the group will be busy trying to finalize its next release, it will also be preparing for a handful of live performances in Canmore. The band will return to the stage on top of the PD3 bus on Friday (Aug. 22).
“Playing on the bus is definitely a highlight for us and we can’t wait to return to a live setting. It had started to become a bit of an annual event playing on Canada Day on the bus, so this performance will be special for us.”
Amelie Patterson is no stranger to the YYCMA’s, as she took home the award for alternative recording of the year in 2017, presented the award in 2018, and her partner, who is a member of Shuffalo, won the award last year.
Having won the award in 2017, Patterson cited her growth as a recording artist as one of the reasons she is proud to be nominated again.
“It’s really like night and day. I think that’s just the nature of a career in the arts. If you become stagnant, then you’re a bit dead in the water and the biggest part of that, I think, is self-confidence,” Patterson said. “I have grown up and learned a lot about the music industry and I have a different philosophy towards the art that I make. It’s a more coloured in and more complex relationship with art.”
Patterson describes her nominated track “The Patient Kind” as a “high energy indie pop tune,” which was in development for more than four years.
The idea for the song came to the singer/songwriter during her first residency at the Banff Centre. She recalls putting the song in the back burner and picking it up again when a mentor of hers listened to a sample.
A few years passed before Patterson eventually finished writing the song before she brought it to her band.
“It didn’t become the song it is today until we got in the studio and literally threw all the different sounds at it. It’s like studio magic, where you get to focus really hard with three other brains on a creative baby. I had been sitting on that song for so long it was amazing to see it become something else entirely.”
“The Patient Kind” is the first of a series of rolling singles designed to curate an alt folk playlist called the Playlist.
Patterson said her idea behind the Playlist is to allow each song to take shape on its own and not have to mould a song in order to fit on a specific album. She also cited the ever changing music industry and the rise of streaming services as an inspiration.
“I feel like my job is to walk hand-in-hand with humanity. I feel like a lot of people don’t have a great vocabulary for their emotional language and I think a lot of that is accessed through music. That is my job – to be there with people for the happy and the sad, to move them emotionally and sometimes move them to the d-floor.”
The YYCMA’s will be held on Sept. 20.
