Artist: Cherie Camp
EP: Love and Blood
Release Date: May 31, 2024
Genre: Contemporary Folk
Love and Blood, the brand-new release from songwriter and vocalist Cherie Camp features a stunning collection of deeply personal songs that capture the various chapters of the life of an artist, a mother, and a storyteller. Like complimentary colours on a colour wheel, the songs of Love and Blood assemble to create an immersive mood for the album that attempts to capture what we think about in the quieter moments, in stillness, after the events of the day.
“I suppose it reflects the uncertain, sometimes murky thoughts that come to me, to all of us I imagine, once the noise dies down and the light fades,” Cherie explains. “It’s a recording that the artist refers to as poetic confusion, an inward journey exploring themes of loss, regret, angst, inertia, resilience, courage and the inevitable process of letting go”.
The songs of Love and Blood revealed themselves gradually through the arranging and recording process. Produced at their home studio during the pandemic lock down, Cherie and her musical partner and husband, John Welsman, had the luxury of time to follow their creative instincts and bring these songs to life choosing instruments and sounds that would give each one a unique character and a cinematic feel. John’s long career as an award-winning film composer is evident in the enveloping texture and beauty of the songs which can best be described as audio photographs.
The title track, “Love and Blood,” is literally a confusion of dreaming and memory and a wistful allusion to the romance, the depth of feeling of youthful relationships. In “Blue Above and Below,” we find allegorical themes of familial history and the ache of missing fathers. While “Moving Day” deals with how to process change and disengage with the things that hold us to our past. “Talking to Myself” hints at passivity, at the disappointment of not acting on the things we dream or feel or think. The collection also includes a breathtaking re-imagining of Anna McGarrigle’s “Heart Like a Wheel.”
“These songs required a measure of reflection and perspective I didn’t have as a younger artist. I tried not to rely on craft but rather to follow an instinct line by line. I love serendipity and surprise in writing, and subtext in the music. We can put words on a page, but it’s the music that tells us how to feel about them.”
“The experience of producing this album was exhaustive but it was really fun too.” John notes “For me, after a career of listening and responding to the requests and directions of producers and directors, it was incredibly freeing to answer only to Cherie. That’s not to say she wasn’t a discriminating force throughout the process.”
Review
Cherie Camp’s EP, Love and Blood, dazzles with a collection of standout tracks that vividly showcase her immense talent as both a singer and storyteller.
“You Gotta Love the Moon” is a beautifully melancholic and introspective song that delves into solitude, quiet resilience, and the moon’s understated beauty. The chorus, “you’ve gotta love the moon… when she shines on this party of one,” captures its essence, portraying the moon as a comforting companion in darkness. With poetic lyrics and a calming melody, the song offers solace to anyone feeling alone, celebrating the moon as a beacon of gentle light and quiet strength.
“Moving Day” is a contemplative contemporary folk single that captures the essence of change and its emotional turbulence. The opening lines, “the road narrows as we go, are we there yet? are we there yet?” draw listeners into a reflective state, mirroring the uncertainty of new beginnings. The song explores themes of loss, memory, and time’s passage, offering a comforting reminder that while the journey is challenging, there is beauty in letting go and embracing new chapters.
Overall, Love and Blood is a masterfully crafted EP that showcases Cherie’s talent for storytelling and emotional expression. Each track is carefully composed and beautifully performed, offering a cohesive and deeply moving listening experience.
First off care to introduce yourself to our readers?
I spent a year in a foreign country in my teens. When I left home, I had room in my suitcase for only 4 albums: Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Leonard Cohen’s Songs of Love and Hate, Neil Young’s After the Goldrush, and Gordon Lightfoot’s Don Quixote. I played them on repeat, always from beginning to end – no track hopping – and these albums became the background for a seminal year in my life, suffusing my thinking and shaping my moods, and my work. I absorbed them on a cellular level.
Listening to an entire record from beginning to end, preferably with headphones on and the lights low, has always been a favourite activity for me. To lose myself in an immersive experience. My hope is that there are people out there who feel the same.
Love and Blood was made for them.
Tell us a bit about your recent release.
The songs on Love and Blood come from various chapters of my life. They were written in the background and, for the most part, never arranged and produced. I think they touch on the more murky thoughts and feelings that preoccupy us rather than the big ones, and they have a cinematic feel about them which makes sense, I guess. For most of my career in music, I’ve worked alongside my husband and creative partner, John Welsman, who spent years composing music for film and Television. We started recording Love and Blood in late 2019 in our home studio. So… with lockdowns and all, we had the luxury of time to produce these songs – time to explore sounds and colours, and textures. We had to draw on our own family talent – our two daughters on vocals and our son-in-law, Mack Longpré, on drums. John played just about everything else.
How do you typically go about the songwriting process? Do you have a specific method or creative routine that you follow?
Ideas always come when I’m not thinking about writing. They come at very inconvenient times – when I’m driving when I’m supposed to be paying attention to something else. Memory is therefore key. That and Voice Memos on my phone. I am not the most disciplined writer but I am tenacious. One line can live in my head and germinate for a while before I actually transcribe it. Words usually come with melodies attached, and I hear the chords too. So when I finally sit down at the piano, I know where my fingers want to go. And editing is everything, finding just the right way to say…With the songs on Love and Blood, I really tried not to rely on craft but to follow an instinct line by line. The process is slower, but less contrived somehow and more honest. Although I’ve had to write with parameters in the past, where I’ve had to sit down and write to a theme or a particular idea, these songs come from a different place.
Looking ahead, what are your plans for supporting this new release? Are there any upcoming tours, music videos, or additional content that fans can look forward to in connection with this project?
This album would be very challenging to reproduce on stage. So we have no plans to perform live at this time. We’ve produced a collection of lyric videos for the songs – some we even shot ourselves which was challenging and fun – and we’re considering opportunities to have screenings of the collection. A forty minute audiovisual experience!
Looking back on your musical career, is there a particular moment or accomplishment that you consider a turning point or a highlight?
John and I won a Genie Award for Achievement in Music/Original Song for the late Charles Officer’s acclaimed film Nurse.Fighter.Boy. That was a great moment for us, a shiny moment. But generally, I have to say, making Love and Blood was the most artistically fulfilling and satisfying experience of my life in music. So, a turning point and a highlight for sure. When I set out to make this album, I resolved to listen only to my inner voices, and to John’s too. To work intuitively and from a place that felt natural and authentic. It’s an amazing thing to work creatively with no outside expectations. There’s a purity and a freedom about it that I find exhilarating.
Last but not least, it’s time to pay it forward, what upcoming band or artist would you recommend your fans check out?
Mack, who played drums on Love and Blood, plays in Tara Kannangara’s band. We’ve been listening to songs from her new release, an EP called Extraordinary People. I love it. Check out her song “Apartment.” I heard it on the radio and it just jumped for me.