Maria (Jane Siberry album)

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Maria

Studio album by Jane Siberry

Released

1995

Recorded

September 1994 – April 1995 at Reaction Studios, Toronto

Genre

Adult Alternative, Jazz

Length

66:56

Professional reviews

Jane Siberry chronology

When I Was a Boy
(1993)

Maria
(1995)

Teenager
(1996)

Maria is a 1995 critically acclaimed album by Canadian singer and songwriter Jane Siberry. It was her first album not to include any musical contributions from longtime collaborators such as Ken Myhr, John Switzer and Rebecca Jenkins.

Rolling Stone wrote about Maria: "[H]ot damn, the girl's back in the driver's seat with Maria...This is vintage Siberry: scissor-kicking around the soul's messiest spots in search of anything hinting toward redemption... That's exactly what this album's about: the pull of life. Not specifically the good or the bad or the ugly but just the pull and the subsequent release" [4]

The album ends with "Oh My My," a 20 minute-plus ode that gathers the themes from the entire album. "[I]n this heap of Siberjazz you realize that everything that has arisen on Maria has indeed converged and that you've actually been led on an unforgettable walk in a garden facing fall with a tour guide who's sure-footed in her wobbly pace. Awesome" [5]

Maria was her last major label album. In 1996, Siberry started her own independent record label, Sheeba Records, and has released all of her subsequent recordings on that imprint.