Meaghan Smith

Meaghan Smith is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and visual artist. Her independently produced début album, The Cricket's Orchestra was released by Warner Music Canada-Sire Records in 2009.[1] That same year, Smith also received attention for contributing a cover of the Pixies song "Here Comes Your Man" to the soundtrack of the film (500) Days of Summer.[2] The recording featured Smith playing an Omnichord.[3]

Smith has been acclaimed for her Christmas concerts, which feature interpretations of traditional carols as well as the songwriter's own popular yuletide composition, "It Snowed".[4] At the 2011 Juno Awards, Smith won in the Best New Artist category. Her most recent album, Have A Heart was released on April 22, 2014.

Life and career

Smith grew-up in London, ON, and is one of four sisters born to musician parents.[5] Self-taught to play piano and guitar, Smith also studied visual art throughout her primary, secondary and post-secondary school career, ultimately graduating from Sheridan College's animation program.[6]

Smith began playing free stages while in college, and upon relocating to Canada's east coast, started to pursue music more seriously.[7] Her first collection of original songs - the folk rock recording Lost With Directions - was released in 2004.[8] In 2005, Smith married her partner-collaborator Jason Mingo, a Nova Scotia-based songwriter-musician-producer-engineer.[9] The two subsequently toured Canada extensively in support of Smith's career.

In 2008, Smith signed a recording deal with Warner Canada.[10] She has released three full-length recordings on the label to date - her jazz-folk début effort, The Cricket's Orchestra (2009), the Christmas-themed, It Snowed (2011) and the pop-flavoured set, Have A Heart (2014).

Have A Heart's eponymous title track was released in February 2014, along with an accompanying music video, which featured Smith attempting to woo a robot companion.[11] In March 2014, an official lyric video for another track on the record, "Friends Like You", was additionally released.[12]

Warner Music Canada-Sire Records issued the full, 11-track album to the public on April 22, 2014.

During early promotion for Have A Heart in spring 2014, Smith announced she was pregnant. In August, she gave birth to her first child, River.[13]

March 2015 brought the release of "Mirror", the second official music video from Have A Heart. Shooting for the video was done the previous spring when Smith was four months pregnant, and featured her in numerous underwater shots.[14] Have A Heart tour dates in Nova Scotia and Ontario were also announced in March.[15]

In April 2015, the video for "Have A Heart" won Video of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards.[16] An additional tour date in Edmonton, Alberta was scheduled the same month.[17]

Musical artistry

Influences

Smith has cited a wide range of musical influences on her work. These include popular standards from the first half of the 20th century, Motown, modern electronic, sample and loop-based composition, the work of eclectic pop artists like Björk and Ellie Goulding, alt-rockers the Pixies, and contemporary Canadian musicians like Sarah Mclachlan, kd lang, Jane Siberry and Leslie Feist.[18][19][20]

Musical style

The sound of The Cricket's Orchestra (2009) was dubbed 'modern vintage' by Smith, an aesthetic blending early 20th century jazz, swing band, country and folk music with contemporary electronic and club textures. Smith cited the song "A Little Love" as an example of the arrangements on the record. The song combines the turntable work of Canadian DJ Kid Koala with dramatic strings scored by producer Les Cooper.[21]

Smith made a conscious departure from her earlier sound with Have A Heart (2014), a recording she called "very pop".[22] The change in approach reflected Smith's desire to reinvent herself artistically, and overcome the creative anxiety she felt following her 2011 Juno win.[23] Have A Heart recasts the jazz, folk and baroque character of Smith's earlier work in a modern popular music context that Popdose reviewer Jeff Giles described as "designed to challenge her audience's expectations - and test her own artistic boundaries - without sacrificing her original appeal."[24]

Lyrical style

Smith's lyrics are autobiographical, inspired by romantic and familial relationships.[25][26] In a review for The Cricket's Orchestra, New York Times music critic Jon Pareles opined that Smith's songs are "wry and retro, with wordplay harking back to Tin Pan Alley's heyday."[27]

Other creative endeavours

Visual art

Smith is a graduate of Sheridan College's animation program. Prior to her music career, she was an animator on Poko, a Canadian children's program produced by Halifax Film (DHX Media) between 2003-2006.[28] As a youth, Smith attended Lester B. Pearson School for the Arts and Bealart in London ON where she was trained in illustration, painting and other forms of visual self-expression.[29] A gallery on the website Meaghan Makes features samples of Smith's commissioned and sold art pieces.

Discography

Studio albums

Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
CAN US Heat
Lost With Directions
  • Released: 2004
  • Label: Self - release (no label)
  • Format: CD
 —
 —
 —
The Cricket's Orchestra —
 29
 —
It Snowed —
 —
 —
Have a Heart 73
 —
 —

Singles

List of singles as lead artist, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name
Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album
CAN
 CAN AC
 CAN HAC
"Five More Minutes" 2008 — — — — The Cricket's Orchestra
"Drifted Apart"/"A Little Love" — — — —
"A Piece For You" 2009 — — — —
"If You Asked Me"/"I Know" 2010 — — — —
"Heartbroken" 2011 — — — —
"Have a Heart" 2014 94 14 26 — Have a Heart

References

  1. ↑ http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/764107--how-songbird-meaghan-smith-overcame-her-nerves
  2. ↑ http://www.lhj.com/blogs/ladieslounge/2010/01/22/if-you-dont-know-meaghan-smith-yet-you-should%E2%80%94and-you-will/
  3. ↑ Meaghan Smith demonstrates the Omnichord
  4. ↑ http://wecc.ca/site09/performers/Meaghan_Smith.html
  5. ↑ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124617059&ft=1&f=1039
  6. ↑ http://blogs.canoe.ca/brandnewblog/entertainment/who-knew-not-me-meaghan-smith-was-born-in-st-thomas
  7. ↑ http://www.progressmedia.ca/article/2010/06/meaghan-smith
  8. ↑ http://www.thesnipenews.com/music/interviews/meaghan-smith
  9. ↑ http://jasonmingo.com
  10. ↑ http://www.progressmedia.ca/article/2010/06/meaghan-smith
  11. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XotEEH-eAjw
  12. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8tb02l8btI
  13. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/meaghansmith/posts/10152781933427847
  14. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/meaghansmith/posts/10153387445067847
  15. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153326820012847&set=vb.19030497846&type=2&theater
  16. ↑ http://ecma.com/awards
  17. ↑ http://www.mercuryroomyeg.com/meaghan-smith-w-guests
  18. ↑ http://www.thesnipenews.com/music/interviews/meaghan-smith
  19. ↑ http://www.canadianmusicians.com/blog/2011/05/06/music-dialogue-juno-award-winning-artist-meaghan-smith
  20. ↑ http://blog.deezer.com/ca/meaghan-smith-new-album-custom-playlist
  21. ↑ http://www.canadianmusicians.com/blog/2011/05/06/music-dialogue-juno-award-winning-artist-meaghan-smith/
  22. ↑ http://www.marilyn.ca/Celebrities/segment/Daily/April2014/4_14_2014/MeaghanSmith
  23. ↑ <http://www.thescenemagazine.ca/meaghan-smith-interview/#>
  24. ↑ http://popdose.com/album-review-meaghan-smith-have-a-heart
  25. ↑ http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Meaghan-Smith
  26. ↑ http://www.shedoesthecity.com/interview_with_meaghan_smith_the_crickets_orchestra
  27. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/arts/music/21play.html?_r=0
  28. ↑ http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/meaghan-smiths-shooting-star/Content?oid=993633
  29. ↑ http://blogs.canoe.ca/brandnewblog/entertainment/who-knew-not-me-meaghan-smith-was-born-in-st-thomas

External links