I am so thrilled to deliver Norine Braun to all music fans today. Norine is a Canadian songstress whose music feels like a long-overdue heart-to-heart with an old friend. For years, Norine has released multiple albums, each one a piece of artwork woven with her innermost thoughts and emotions. Her lyrics breathe entities that seem to reach into your soul. Her music has found a global audience, amassing thousands upon thousands of streams on platforms like Spotify. Each month, over 3k listeners are swept away by the power of her vocals.
Excitedly awaited, Norine's 14th album "Journey Toward Wholeness" is expected to be her most reflective to date. Norine's album invites listeners on an intense odyssey of finding oneself, one that focuses on her decision to deal with the emotions behind her adoption and her new discoveries regarding her familial roots. She also combines its temperature, antique sounds, and expansive narrative with her trademark roots, blues, and folk blend.
She is joined on the album by a talented ensemble of musicians. Accomplished producer and multi-instrumentalist Adam Popowitz lays down deep basslines and shimmering lead guitar textures, while also handling intricate hand percussion duties. Drummer Elliot Polsky drives the material forward with a jazz-inspired rhythmic flair and feel. Kathleen Nisbet brings lively fiddle accompaniment, infusing Celtic and Acadian influences. Alice Fraser adds ethereal keys and harmony vocals. Huggybear Leonard adds blues and sharp coloring. The album was produced by Adam Popowitz and mixed and mastered with finesse by Rear Window Song and Sound.
The song "Adoption" uses sophisticated melodic changes to portray the wide range of varied feelings that result from being taken away from one's biological origins at an early age. Her viewpoints on growing up oblivious to her heritage and the difficulties of developing a realistic self-concept in such situations are given emotional depth by the song. Despite the weighty topic at hand, the production is light. Yes, it is challenging, but it also seems positive and airy. The song "Quest Before Me" features amazing guitar harmonies and a wonderful vocal performance.
The rhythmic drive of "Hunting Buffalo" pays homage to Braun's Metis heritage, underpinned by syncopated fiddle, blues harp, and driving hand percussion. It talks about the historical significance of buffalo hunting in the Red River region where many of her ancestors lived, bringing this crucial piece of Indigenous culture vividly to life. In the sensational "Ascending Lullaby," Braun talks about her late mother through a soaring vocal melody infused with gospel-tinged hope.
Personally, I think that Braun's most unified creative statement was "Journey Toward Wholeness". With its soul-baring songwriting and reminiscent storytelling, it weaves socio-political themes that enhance a transcendental contemplation of identity, heritage, and the human pursuit of becoming herself. It is quite touching to witness Braun's tenderness and honesty as she walks listeners through her change.
"Journey Toward Wholeness" is a book that should be widely read because of its profound and intriguing tales of belonging. I recommend readers stream this moving album this May and lose yourself in Norine Braun's creative odyssey. Her remarkable voice and her brave example of perspective and tenacity in the face of life's big issues about origin and self will undoubtedly stick with you for a very long time. You can now immediately listen to it on Spotify.