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, Ohbijou, Jay Gilday, Jeremy Fisher, David Myles, Ray LaMontagne, Josh Ritter, The Magnetic Fields, Yo La Tengo, Bjork, Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, 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, 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...and all that classical stuff I grew up playing on the piano. And my dear friend, Jack Breakfast.
Erica mah is a songwriter and artist whose creative journey began in small-town Northern BC, where she was born and raised. 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.
Years of classical training echo throughout her unique compositions, moving comfortably between piano, guitar, and ukulele. Her charming and beautiful voice dances cinematically between genres bringing crowded rooms alive with the hush of listening, imagining, and feeling.
After returning from a two year period of musical discovery in Toronto, she released her first full-length album, appropriately titled City Serenade (2007) . Currently based in Vancouver, she is working on a new recording project, The Harbour Commission . The album is a documentation of the life and landscape of shipping ports and waterways from coast to coast. Her striking pen and ink drawings will accompany the music in a graphic book of lyrics. The Harbour Commission is set to be released independently in June, 2009.
Erica Mah’s music unfolds like an epic novel, each song a fresh and exciting new chapter full of lyricism and unforgettable imagery. From cranes and shipyards to forest service roads, her words go far beyond telling who she is; they paint a fragile portrait of who we all are, once were, and one day want to be.
