I'm the kind of person who falls madly in love with an album and can't get enough of it. I am the reason that stereo manufacturers invented the 'repeat' button.
I don't know that I sound much like any of the musicians listed here, but I'm sure that they have shaped my songwriting somehow.
Joe Purdy, Joanna Newsom, Hayden, Meklit, Silvio Rodriguez, Nick Drake, Steve Kramp, John K Sampson, Christine Fellows, Veda Hille, Bob Wiseman, Ora Cogan, Patrick Watson, Ohbijou, Jay Gilday, Jeremy Fisher, David Myles, Ray LaMontagne, Josh Ritter, The Magnetic Fields, Yo La Tengo, Bjork, Tori Amos, Chad VanGaalen, Dan Goldman, Owen Pallett, Philip Glass, Christopher O'Riley, The Cinematic Orchestra, The Be Good Tanyas, Don Ross, Rae Spoon, Iron & Wine, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Memphis Slim, Mississippi John Hurt, Thelonius Monk, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin, Shakira, Caribou, The Heartless Bastards, Destroyer, Fugazi, Jawbreaker, Modest Mouse, Jets To Brazil...all that classical stuff I grew up playing on the piano, and my dear friend, Jack Breakfast. Some extra-great non-musical influences include: Nikki McClure (art)
Chris Ware (graphic novels) and Richard Van Camp (fiction)
Erica Mah is a songwriter and artist whose creative journey began in small-town Northern BC. Currently based in Vancouver, her music and art take audiences on an odyssey from farmland and mountains to the depths of urban and industrial landscapes across Canada and beyond.
Known for her distinctive piano waltzes and intricate finger picking on guitar and ukulele, her classical training has paid off in her ability to push the boundaries of songwriting.
The Harbour Commission (2009) is her second independently released full-length album. The album is lush with beautiful soundscapes that recreate the intimate, the magical, and the narrative nature of each song. In an artistic leap from her first stripped down recording City Serenade (2007), Erica achieves a uniquely personal sound on every track. The album ranges from delicate piano and cello instrumentals to thundering folk pop tunes. In a remarkable display of imagination and artistry, The Harbour Commission has been released alongside an illustrated book of lyrics that captures the life and landscape of shipping ports and waterways from coast to coast.
