Oh Susanna – Tandem

Oh Susanna Soars
Acclaimed Toronto songstress delivers a strong new CD
By Kerry Doole
2011-05-15

Loyal fans of Toronto-based singer/songwriter Oh Susanna (real name Suzie Ungerleider) are becoming used to long waits for a new record. Her previous album, Short Stories, came out in 2007, while its predecessor, Oh Susanna, came out in 2003. Both those albums earned a Juno Award nomination in the Roots and Traditional Album of the Year : Solo category, and her brand new outing, Soon The Birds, proves similarly well worth the wait.

Over coffee in her Junction ‘hood, Ungerleider explained her work rate to Tandem. “It usually takes me a while to get back into writing after I’ve recorded something. I get lazy, then I panic and start writing, and then it usually takes about a year to get the songs,” she says. Becoming a mother (she and her husband/drummer Cam Giroux have a young son, Salvador) necessitated a change in her songwriting approach. “I joke around that I have my kindergarten block of time, with two hours to start a song,” says Ungerleider. “I can begin something in that little window, then work on it in my mind throughout the rest of the day. That was really cool to realise that.”

Once she had a new set of well-crafted and poetic folk and country-rooted songs under her belt, Oh Susanna teamed up with noted Toronto producer David Travers-Smith (The Wailin Jennys, Ruth Moody) to begin work on Soon The Birds. “The recording side took forever. I didn’t have a block of time, but I kind of enjoyed that. I believe in having a gestation period.The three records before this were fairly quick. I think there’s room for regret when you work that way and do things fast. You are rather married to the idea of what you did at that moment. Whereas with this, David Travers-Smith was like ‘well, we can re-do anything you’re not happy with.’ So we’d mull it over: ‘is this the right approach to the song?’ Or we’d go ‘I don’t even know what it’s going to be, but let’s start with this.’ We’d layer it, one at a time, and that can take forever. With Sleepy Little Sailor and the self-titled album, it was 10 days and they’re done.”

A common thread in Oh Susanna albums is the presence of the cream of the Canadian roots music crop as accompanists. The cast list here includes her regular rhythm section of Giroux and Blue Rodeo bassist Bazil Donovan, members of The Foggy Hometown Boys, and guitarists Gord Tough (Kathleen Edwards), Justin Haynes, and Kevin Breit (Norah Jones, Cassandra Wilson). Vocalists adding harmony to Oh Susanna’s haunting and powerful voice include Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy, Ruth Moody, and Madison Violet’s Brenley MacEachern. In turn, Ungerleider has long been in demand on record and in performance as a harmony vocalist for the likes of Cuddy and Justin Rutledge.

On Soon The Birds, Jim Cuddy is featured on the classic-sounding country duet “Lucky Ones.” “Well, he’s not much to look at and his voice is a little rough!,” Ungerleider laughingly observes. “That was fun. We’ve been singing together for the last few years on different things, on his records and live, so when I wrote that song I completely thought of him. I love pretending we are in a relationship together that is going bad. That is what that song is about. I like doing that kind of Tammy [Wynette] and George [Jones] duet.”

Ungerleider is a poetic lyricist, one with a different approach from many of her peers. Whereas most contemporary singer/songwriters mine their own lives for material, she explains that “my tendency is to write about individuals facing a choice. They are very narrative songs for the most part. I love those kind of songs myself so I am trying to emulate them. My tendency is not to go to the journal of my personal grievances or trials. Certain songs are spawned from my personal experience or environment, but I will change it to a degree where you won’t necessarily recognise it. I sometimes wish I could write more about my life. Not necessarily because it is all that interesting, as it isn’t. I look at people like Sarah Harmer and Joel Plaskett and I think about how they incorporate their neighborhood and environment into their songs much more. I think that is incredible, to do that yet have it be universal and intriguing. Whereas I feel I have to set my stories in another place or time or another character in order for it to be interesting to me.”

Soon The Birds is now out on Outside Music. Oh Susanna and Matthew Barber play the Great Hall on June 24.