Canadian chanteuse CARI BURDETT releases first all-original collection, Don’t Forget
After nearly a decade of writing, recording, healing and finding her way back to her voice, Canadian singer-songwriter Cari Burdett has released her long-awaited second studio album, Don’t Forget, via Release Guru on vinyl, CD and on all streaming services.
The seven-song collection explores friendship, grief, belonging, healing, nature and love, bringing together Burdett’s distinctive voice with an exceptional group of Canadian musicians and longtime collaborators.
Produced by Toronto multi-instrumentalist Robbie Grunwald, Don’t Forget features Dean Drouillard on guitar, Brian Kobayakawa on bass, Joshua Van Tassel on drums, Grunwald on keyboards, Adrian Dolan on violin and viola, and Amy Laing on cello, with string arrangements by Dolan. The album was mastered by Heather Kirby.
Cari says,
“Spending those days in the studio with musicians I’ve long admired gave me an even deeper appreciation for the community of artists we share.”
Getting Don’t Forget out into the world marks the end of a long and challenging road for Burdett. Following her previous album, Magnolia — nominated for Best World Album at the 2016 Western Canadian Music Awards — an unexpected injury left her with a paralyzed vocal cord and forced the cancellation of a planned Canadian tour that included many presitigious jazz festival appearances.
The years that followed took Burdett through a profound period of healing that involved reconnecting with nature, along with her voice, identity and sense of belonging. That journey included artist residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and in the French Pyrenees, as well as an extended nature quest that included four days alone in the wilderness.
Burdett met Grunwald at the Banff Centre, and with additional support from the Canada Council for the Arts, she travelled to Toronto, where the two began developing and recording Don’t Forget with the musicians who would become the core studio band.
The project continued through the pandemic, and as Burdett’s voice recovered, she was finally able to return to the recording process and complete the remaining vocals with Grunwald in British Columbia with longtime collaborator Adrian Dolan.
“Don’t Forget is more than my first album of original songs,” Cari says. “It is the story of finding my way back to myself. These songs carried messages that I didn’t fully understand when I wrote them. Years later, I found myself living them.”
The results are pure magic, as exemplifed by Don’t Forget’s title track, with its slow-burning groove evoking classic Portishead, as well as the single “Where Is Love,” a gorgeous slice of pop-soul that would surely make Carole King smile.
Throughout, Cari’s take on adult contemporary songcraft offers an intoxicating mix of styles that in the end is entirely her own. Yet, at the heart of the record is an urgent plea for connection — to one another, to nature and to something larger than ourselves.
Cari concludes,
“I hope this album can serve as a reminder that love is everywhere, in the trees, in the air, in friendship, in grief, and in the people who carry us through difficult times.”