For the last five weeks, Mark Berube has been enjoying a residency at The Banff Centre.
Originally from Manitoba, the Montreal-based singer-songwriter is at the centre to work on his next musical projects.
“It’s amazing, The Banff Centre,” he said, in an interview Thursday (May 30). “I did WordFest in Calgary in 2010, and after the festival they put us up here for four days to do workshops, so that was my first experience with The Banff Centre, and it was a treat.”
Berube will end his stay with a performance at The Club Monday (June 10). Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show is by donation.
“I’ve finished a couple of songs for the new album that’s coming out in October, and then I’ve also got a side project I’m working on,” he said. “My grandfather was a prisoner of war in Japan during the Second World War. He was caught by the Japanese in Hong Kong, Christmas Day 1941, and as the story goes, historically the only reason the prisoners in Japan survived the war is because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“Because if the Americans had invaded by land, the Japanese would have killed all the prisoners they had working in the fields and the mines. It was the catastrophic event of the 20th century, and it’s the reason my grandfather survived.”
Understanding this concept has always been difficult for him, said Berube.
“It’s always been a weird thing in our family – how do you process that? – so I’ve been trying to do it in an album,” he said. “You can’t moralize it, you can’t even deal with it concretely, you’ve got to be pretty abstract with it.”
At the show, Berube will play some songs from the new album, some from his Hiroshima project, as well as a variety of his older works. For the show he’ll be joined by one other musician.
“Christina Koraveki, the cellist in my band, is coming in and will be working on some things with me and then playing the show,” he said. “I sing about day-to-day life. It’s the gamut of emotions that you live every day that feeds the songs. I don’t restrain myself; if I have a political idea I’ll write about it, I just don’t restrict myself to that.”
Over the last five years, he’s released four albums, his most recent being 2011’s June in Siberia.
“A tentative title for the new album is Russian Dolls and will be with my band in Montreal,” he said. “Compared to June in Siberia, which was all acoustic, with this album we’re allowing ourselves to explore different sounds and effects. Playing with a different sonic universe.”
While Berube’s never been to Russia, he picked these names for the titles of his albums because they do make him think of where he comes from.
“I come from Manitoba, and northern Manitoba is kind of like Siberia,” he said. “And I love the image of a Russian doll, the idea that you keep taking off layers, and the nothingness at the end can be what it is.
“But there’s also a French idea of the Russian dolls where you’re standing in a mirror that’s reflected by a mirror, and it continues and continues till you have multiple images of yourself, and I like that idea.
“It fits with the songs, lyrically, the way you strip through the layers of metaphor and get closer to who you actually are and what you’re saying.”
Once the new album comes out, Berube will dedicate a lot of time to that, so the Hiroshima project will probably be in 2014, he said.
“That one’s a long-term project. I’m under no deadline to get it done, and it’s something I want to let age on its own,” he explained. “The theme is different, though the sounds are still within the limitations of who I am.”
Following the residency at the Centre, Berube will head home and enjoy a quiet summer, with a few festivals, but no touring.
“This summer’s going to be pretty quiet. My wife’s expecting our second child, so I’m going to stay close to home,” he said. “We’re very excited to play The Banff Centre though.
“I played the Club back in 2010 and I love the room, the grand piano, the intimacy of the room, so I’m excited. I’ll be playing with the cellist too, and she’s a bit of a multi-instrumentalist; she plays the musical saw and kick drum and sings, she’s a musical force.”
