It’s been 20 years since singer-songwriters Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac met in Toronto and formed the folk duo Madison Violet, and MacIsaac said they still get nervous when playing personal songs to an audience for the first time.
“Brenley always says when she goes to play a first song she gets a shaky leg…” MacIsaac said. “It’s those things that enable you to really emote and sing it truthfully and honestly.”
Last month the duo released Everything’s Shifting, an album MacIsaac describes as very personal and heartbreaking, but adds that there’s cheer as well.
“I do come from Cape Breton so we always throw in a fiddle tune,” she said.
In March Madison Violet debuted Everything’s Shifting in Europe. MacIsaac said their tour through Germany and Switzerland went so well they ran out of records.
This month Canadian ears will get to hear those tunes for the first time when the pair swing through Alberta, B.C. and Nova Scotia, with a stop at Nanaimo’s Unitarian Hall on April 14.
“We’ve been writing sort of nonstop for the last two years and a lot happened over those couple years that inspired new songs and so it’s been a long time coming and it feels very good to have it out for people to finally hear it,” MacIsaac said.
MacIsaac said she and MacEachern entered the studio with twice the number of songs that ended up on the album. She said they selected the songs they hoped would evoke the most emotion.
“The album isn’t all sad, there’s definitely some good emotion in there as well and some tracks that will hopefully get you out of your chair and make you dance,” MacIsaac said. “But I think that our forté is truth telling and making people bring out what they’ve been internalizing and hopefully they can find some truth themselves and something relatable in the music.”
WHAT’S ON … Madison Violet performs at Unitarian Hall on April 14 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $22, available online.
arts@nanaimobulletin.com
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