Singer-songwriter Holly McNarland is finishing up her long-awaited follow-up to 1997's "Stuff" with Matthew Good Band producer Warne Livesey, also noted for his work with Midnight Oil, The The, and Talk Talk. The album is slated for a spring release on Universal Music Canada.
McNarland first worked with the U.K.-based Livesey about four months ago at Vancouver's Warehouse studio. They completed two songs initially, then the producer returned a month ago to finish another three at Mushroom Studios. He mixed all five back at the Warehouse.
"He did such a good job that we asked him to mix the tracks that she previously did with Malcolm Burn and with Mark Howard," says Jonathan Simkin, who manages McNarland and Maverick signing Tiger Lily.
This new McNarland album has been a long time in the making. The songs she recorded with Howard (Marianne Faithfull, The Tragically Hip, Chris Whitely) were done three years ago in Malibu, CA. She also worked with Burn (Emmylou Harris, Better Than Ezra, Midnight Oil) about a year ago.
"(The album's) shaping up to be about five songs produced and mixed by Warne Livesey, one song produced by Malcolm Burn and mixed by Warne
Livesey, and then another five or six produced by Mark Howard and mixed by Warne Livesey," says Simkin.
Simkin, a noted West coast attorney who represents the Matthew Good Band, Nickelback, and Default, has been McNarland's lawyer since she made her 1996 debut EP, "Sour Pie". Back then, she was lumped in with media-dubbed "angry young women" like Alanis Morissette , P.J. Harvey, Meredith Brooks, Sinead O'Connor, and Tracy Bonham because of songs such as "Mr. 5 Minutes".
The tag followed her through the gold-selling "Stuff," but the singer with a voice bigger than her tiny frame has evolved through adulthood.
"She's still young, but she's got married and had a child since that last record," says Simkin. "To some degree, there's a lot of maturity that shows on the record, so she's definitely not the same artist that she was five years ago."
After "Stuff", which contained tracks like "Coward," "Elmo", and "Numb", and was released on Universal in America and MCA (now Universal) in Canada, McNarland retreated from the spotlight. A concert EP, "Live Stuff", was released in 1999, and she continued to write and record, while on maternity leave.
The new album, whose title has not been determined, boasts a variety of sentiments and styles, according to Simkin.
"There's definitely still some flat-out rockers, there's definitely still some pissed-off numbers that show her at her pissed-off best, but I think there's some stuff that's going to demonstrate some more tender sides of her that maybe weren't so apparent to people," he says.
"Even 'Stuff' had some numbers like that. 'I Won't Stay', the last song on 'Stuff', was very much a romantic acoustic number, so there was always that element to her, too. And even 'Coward' was a hit that wasn't a rock song, wasn't even that much of an angry song. So there's always been a lot of facets to what she does. But I'd say she's less of the angry young women now and more of the mature women."
Simkin adds that McNarland is putting together a band and will do extensive touring behind the album, likely starting around March or April.
