Five Questions With Raine Hamilton

Photo Credit: Megan Steen

Today’s Five Questions With features Winnipeg, MB based acoustic folk singer, Raine Hamilton. Be sure to check her out on tour if you’re in the area of any of her upcoming shows!

Care to introduce yourself to our readers?

Hi! I’m Raine Hamilton, a Winnipeg-based, prairie-influenced, singer songwriter, heavy on the strings. I write acoustic chamber folk with an otherworldly edge.

Tell us a bit about your music and writing style

Violin is my main instrument, and a life-long love, so string arrangements are a key part of my work. I work with upright bassist Quintin Bart and cellists Natanielle Felicitas and Julian Bradford, and together we fill out my tunes into chamber-music-esque arrangements, with myself on voice, guitar or violin.

I often find writing and creative process to be an otherworldly and spiritual experience, reaching into rough and beautiful places, listening for the in between. I think this shows up in the songs.

Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?

Storytelling is an important part of my set. Each of my songs has a story; a connection to a time, place, or person. While the songs are often about serious, difficult, and transformative things, the stories are often funny. This is where my sense of humour, and my improv theatre past really comes out. It is the best feeling to hear a crowd laugh. I have been described as a shorter, funnier Joni Mitchell, crossed with a shorter, more musical Tina Fey.

I am heading to Ontario for an Eastward tour:

October 15 – Waterloo, ON – House Concert
October 16 – Toronto, ON – Bell Jar
October 19 – Guelph, ON – Red Brick
October 20-23 – Ottawa, ON – Folk Music Ontario Conference
October 26 – Kemptville, ON – The Branch
October 27 – Ottawa, ON – House Concert
October 30 – Montreal, QC – Grumpy’s Bar
November 1 – Hull, QC – House Concert
November 3 – Windsor, ON – SHO Gallery
November 2 – London, ON – House Concert
November 4 – Toronto, ON – The Painted Lady

If  you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?

January. I wrote this song in the Winnipeg airport, on a cold January morning. I was leaving home that day, moving away. And at the same time, I was ending a relationship and leaving love behind. What a hard day. The silver lining was the beginning of this song making its way through the ether to me. I wrote the first words down on the back of my boarding pass.

Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?

So many favourite Canadian artists! Andy Shauf is top of my list currently, and the list is long: Sarah Harmer is a long-time favourite and an important influence, and then there’s The Weber Brothers, The Fretless, Deep Dark Woods, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Carly Dow, JP Hoe, The Brothers Landreth, Catherine Maclellan, and heaps and heaps more.

Connect with Raine Hamilton:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram