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BUY DANIELLE'S LATEST CD SHADOWS ON CD BABY www.cdbaby.com/all/scarlettraven
Having released two independent CDs of a more radio-friendly nature, Danielle has veered slightly left of centre with her third independent release, Shadows, opting to experiment, explore and push her artistic boundaries. Her latest material has been described as beautiful strangeness as Danielle has uncovered melodies that are somewhat strange, yet somehow familiar. She is possessed of a diverse and slightly surreal talent: cruising through the ether, as well as the underworld, with artists such as Jane Siberry, Tori Amos, and even Tom Waits.
Danielle French is an award-winning singer/songwriter who, in her 10+ years as a recording artist, and performer, has worked with an impressive list of musicians and producers that reads like a whos who of the Canadian music industry. Artists such as Burton Cummings, Rita McNeil, Tom Cochrane, Matthew Good, as well as members Spirit of the West, Blue Rodeo, the Rheostatics, Veal, Sarah McLachlans band, Barney Bentalls band and Mae Moores band have leant their talents and/or support to Danielles previous endeavors. She has co-written with Matthew Good, Jenny Allen and Annette Ducharme and several of her songs have been covered by Jenny Allen, Shelley Lennox and the Plaid Tongued Devils. Career highlights include being invited onto Rita MacNeils hit CBC show Rita and Friends, and being welcomed onto the Calgary leg of Lilith Fair.
On her latest release Shadows, Danielle handpicked a short-list of musical soul mates to contribute their particular quirks to this recording. Shadows was co-produced by the multi-multi-talented Jonathan Lewis (the Plaid Tongued Devils, Rembetika Hipsters), who also played violin, accordion, mandolin and keyboards. This project features the tightest rhythm section in Calgary, with Peter Moller on drums and Diane Kooch on bass (both of Kris Demeanors Crack Band). Brent Van Dusen did a bunch of crazy random percussion. The maddest of madmen guitarists, Martin Tielli (Rheostatics) played bizarre and beautiful electric guitars and also contributed some gorgeous vocal tracks and Diego Medina (Chad Van Gaalens co-producer and keyboardist) picked up where Martin left off and added just the right amount of strange synth sounds to take this project into outer space.
One of the songs that appears on Shadows, a Tom Waits inspired song called Time to Kill, has already received accolades from her peers, placing 2nd runner up in the Calgary Folk Festival Songwriting Competition in 2005 and was a semi-finalist in the 2006 International Songwriting Competition. And her song Descending, was recently licensed to the TV show Falcon Beach, which aired nationally on January 26th, 2007. This program will also air on ABC in the United States, on BBC in the UK, and in 30 other countries around the world from Vietnam to Israel. In February 2007. This recording was completed thanks for the generous support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
Danielle has coupled her well-spent studio time with a relentless work ethic. Over the past decade she has toured extensively across Canada and the United States (for three years she literally lived in her mint green, flowery-curtained Dodge Maxivan!). Shes opened for (surprise!) another whos who list of performers including Burton Cummings, Holly Cole, The Barenaked Ladies, Spirit of the West, Mae Moore, Melanie Doane, and Lawrence Gowan. She has also been spotted touring with a project called Grrrls with Guitars, a female singer/ songwriter showcase and compilation CD series based out of Vancouver.
Danielles undying allegiance to film, theatre and the arts culminates in a myriad of ambitious undertakings including writing music for Vertigo Mystery Theatres production of Innocent Blood (2004), co-writing and performing in several other theatre productions and performance art projects, as well as hosting a gallery show featuring a series of her photography, titled Reflections from my Rearview Mirror, at The Banff Centres Other Gallery (2005). Danielle has also been exploring herself as a filmmaker and her first short film, Avalon, set to one of her songs of the same name, appears as a DVD enhancement on the Shadows CD release. Avalon (the film) was premiered at the Mutton Busting Festival as part of One Yellow Rabbit Theatres High Performance Rodeo in 2004, and went on to enjoy screenings at Theatre Junctions Random Acts Festival (2004), the Calgary International Film Festival (2004) and the Herland Festival. (2005). She is currently processing some ambient Super 8 footage in order to project images during future live performances, adding a multi-media element to her live shows.
Its obvious that music, for one who oozes creativity from every pore, is just part of the overall tapestry of expression that is Danielle's life. If you havent seen Danielle command the stage (in one of her trademark flower-print polyester dresses - where does she find them all?) you now have a mission.
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