a d r i e n n e p i e r c e

What: Singer/Songwriter

Where: Vancouver

Visit: www.adriennepierce.com

Vancouver’s Adrienne Pierce isn’t exactly a rookie in the music world. The singer-songwriter has toured North America, the UK, and Norway, as well as playing shows at Lilith Fair, SXSW, NXNE, CMW, and the Toronto International Film Festival. She’s also had songs featured on programs such as Grey’s Anatomy, Veronica Mars, and a dozen more. Currently residing in California, Pierce is looking to drum up some buzz in support of her most recent release, Oh Deer, released in September 2010.

Pierce’s first proper release was 2004’s Small Fires. Since then, she’s shared her perky brand of singer/songwriter folk over numerous releases, including 2007’s Faultline and a number of EPs and compilation contributions.

Pierce’s songs are accessible and carry a degree of up-tempo indie-pop that fits just as well next to a wood stove during a Canadian winter as it would on a prime time medical drama. It’s that kind of universal appeal that explains how she’s won over critics and fans from various segments of the musical sphere.

 

It was in 2005 that I heard the American group Shivaree for the first time. One of their most well-known singles, “New Casablanca,” became the song to which I listened the most that year. Well, actually, it was not really the song in itself that haunted me for months, but rather the voice of Ambrosia Parsley. A voice boasting a rare sensuality and smoothness. We are now in 2011 and members of Shivaree disbanded four years ago. But the voice is still alive and well, and has been embodied in a Canadian singer and songwriter called Adrienne Pierce for a while. Many artists spend too much time trying to convince audiences that they are talented. As far as Pierce is concerned, no need to worry; the talent is naturally there. In “Oh Deer,” her third album, she lets it speak through atmospheric tunes that match a beautifully endearing voice and innocent yet poetic lyrics. The 12 songs on the CD were written over several years in Paris, Bologna, Death Valley, Kauai, Vancouver, and Los Angeles. However, listening to them is like taking an imaginary and intimate road trip across Canada. Whether it is the catchy “Guilty of Everything” (my personal favorite), the fanciful “Nightswimming” or the made-for-great-TV-show “Winner Takes It All,” her music spans genres and influences in the same fashion as the country boasts diversity of landscapes, people and cultures. And the more you listen to the album, the more you enjoy what it has to offer. Pierce reminds me of a younger Kate Bush. While very different in styles, the two artists share a creative intelligence that sets them apart from most of their peers. They are not afraid of using their uniqueness to create music that entertains and makes a lasting impression on listeners. “Oh Deer” is everything but mainstream. It is the kind of album that will brighten your Sunday mornings and warm your heart in winter. And that is exactly the reason why it is so good. By Cendrine Marrouat for www.examiner.com More about “Oh Deer” Release date: June 2010 Label: Insectgirl Records Produced by: Adrienne Pierce, Ari Shine, Marc Wild Mixed by: Dan Burns Album available for purchase at the following: www.adriennepierce.com, Amazon, CDBaby and iTunes. Continue reading on Examiner.com CD review: 'Oh Deer' by Adrienne Pierce - Canada Art Reviews | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/art-reviews-in-canada/cd-review-oh-deer-by-adrienne-pierce-review#ixzz1RUiDzolG

Pierce-ed through the heart with indie-pop vignettes. Deer, oh, dear!”

Adrienne Pierce Oh Deer! Vancouver, BC Mixed by Dan Burns // Mastered by Dave Collins

Adrienne Pierce, whose work has been featured on the indie-happy soundtracks of recent shows like Veronica Mars, releases her third full-length album - the cutesy, charming, folky indie-pop collection Oh Deer! On the first track, “Amargosa Hotel,” slide guitar is featured to give a dash of alt-country, while the base of the song remains a kind of spacey, reverby folk. “Museum” includes doo-wop backing vocals and sets the tone for a bubblegum (in the sense of a tight, infectiously hook-laden) indie-pop album. The next song, “Monsters,” is standout and could be seen as the Anglophone answer to her fellow twee-poppers and Québec-natives Tricot Machine’s 2007 cut, “Un monstre sous mon lit” (“A Monster Under My Bed”). A time-zone-crossed tale of love mixed with New Year’s Eve/Day, “Three Hours Ago,” follows, and is sung sweetly and tenderly by Pierce. Here, she uses an acoustic-guitar break to reflect on long-distance romance: “I wonder who you really are.” In “Arc de Triomphe,” Pierce plays with the clichés “speaks volumes” and “turn up the volume” to her lyrical benefit. The selection not to miss, however, is the funky “Come Over to My House,” which contains a rap that is quite choicely placed. The last three tunes on the disc are worth a listen as well, especially the bittersweet “Let’s Pretend.” All in all, Pierce builds on her track record of radio and TV friendly fare - that’s to say her music is catchy, lyrically nuanced, and not without its share of earnest moments.

(Insectgirl Records) Andrew Palmacci

www.myspace.com/adriennepierce

Canadian Adrienne Pierce has a very distinct vocal that gets your attention. It's a mesmerizing combination of Edie Brickell and Blossom Dearie that draws you in. She's written music for TV (Grey's Anatomy, Veronica Mars) and this is her third full length album. It's safe to classify her as folk pop, and the opening "Amargosa Hotel" has the guitar twang and dreamy quality often found on Sheryl Crow's work. The same feeling on "Black Sand" carries through, with a catchy beat to contrast her multi-tracking here. The storylike ballads like "Monsters" and "Arc De Triomphe" are soulful and effective. My favorite track though is the bouncy "Guilty of Everything" with a sweet melody and seductive confessions in the lyric.

CD Review Artist: Adrienne Pierce Title: Oh Deer Label: Insectgirl Records Released: June 2010 Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey Oh Deer is Adrienne Pierce’s third studio album. With an already lengthy resume of film and TV credits to her previous albums it isn’t surprising that this entire album could be a soundtrack for any upcoming film or TV show. Some songs are made for soundtracks and with Adrienne Pierce’s almost child-like vocals and arty-pop music beats it is most likely this whole album could be optioned. Such lovely and melodious tracks as “Museum” and “Monsters” take the listener on an introspective journey akin to a reflective walk on an autumn day. Pierce is very talented and managed to cultivate a unique vocal that is instantly distinctive and memorable. Her vocals seem to be a cross between the youthfulness of Cyndi Lauper and the mildly melancholia of Tori Amos. Whether she has a similar style akin to Regina Spektor, Kate Havnevik or Amos, Adrienne Pierce’s songs are delicious to listen to. Adrienne Pierce’s songs are intelligent and her lyrics are particularly affecting, such as on the track “Come Over To My House” which is a sharp social commentary with a fantastic reggae-rap section contributed by Sirah. The tracks on Oh Deer seem effortless even though they took years to create and on multiple continents. Oh Deer feels like a pleasant conversation between two strangers, a momentary flirtation that makes you smile for the rest of the day, a warm cup of tea on a chilly afternoon; a great album to put in your iPod or in your CD player and just sit back and enjoy. Track Listing: 01. Amargosa Hotel 02. Black Sand 03. Museum 04. Monsters 05. Three Hours Ago 06. Arc De Triomphe 07. Nightswimming 08. Guilty of Everything 09. Come Over To My House 10. Winner Takes All 11. Let’s Pretend 12. Telescope Written by : Kindah

Province Playlist: TV gives Adrienne Pierce her big break BY JOHN P. MCLAUGHLIN, SPECIAL TO THE PROVINCE SEPTEMBER 28, 2010 Adrienne Pierce independently released her third album, Oh Deer. Photograph by: Submitted photo, The Province There are a lot of ways to make money from a song, and West Vancouver's Adrienne Pierce figured out a good one early on: TV. It was all quite simple, really. She would look up the B.C. Director's Guild where it lists all the shows filming around here. The phone number was right there in the listing, so she'd call the production office, ask who was doing the music and could she send some of her work along? Her first big placement was on The Chris Isaak Show, the quirky and cool TV series filmed in Vancouver between 2001 and 2004. It was a hell of a first hit. "That's how I started -- I didn't know anything" says Pierce. "But it worked. And then I met people, got some lucky breaks where you meet somebody. One really nice guy put a lot of my songs in Edgemont and that helped me out a lot in the beginning." Then she signed with the management department at Nettwerk Records and their song-licensing division went hard to work with the rest of Pierce's catalogue. They re-released her first indie album, Small Fires, and her work began appearing on Grey's Anatomy, The Hills, Army Wives, The L Word and lots of other TV shows. Pierce relocated to Los Angeles to further her song-licensing and singer-songwriter career, and there would be two more albums with Nettwerk before they parted ways. It's been quite a meteoric rise, all things considered. She grew up singing around the house, driving family nuts, and took flute in school and learned to play piano. But it wasn't until she graduated in psychology from UBC that she learned to play guitar and quite suddenly started writing songs. She learned three chords, wrote a batch of tunes, learned another chord, wrote a bunch more, and on it went. Incredibly, two years later, she was on the Lilith Fair stage. "I had this friend who was really good and she's the first person who ever let me play somewhere," says Pierce. "She said, 'Come play Girls Rock the Boat in North Vancouver.' And I had some time and she asked if I would drop off her tape at Nettwerk to enter this contest to play Lilith Fair. While I was there, somebody who had seen me play recognized me and said I should drop off my tape, too. I always had them with me. So, lo and behold, they called me and said you're going to be at Lilith Fair this year. It was really shocking." Last week, Adrienne Pierce is independently releasing her third album, Oh Deer, and she'll be at the Media Club tonight ($10 at themediaclub.ca). From that album, today's featured free download on the Province Playlist is "Monsters" "I wrote that so quickly," says Pierce "and I didn't know if it was any good when I was finished but a lot of people reacted really strongly to it. It was something I was experiencing, I had just broken up with someone when I wrote that song. It's about those little voices in your head that are putting you down and telling you things aren't okay. And you wake up in the morning and everything's fine. That you shouldn't listen to those voices if you can avoid it." jpmac@gmx.net © Copyright (c) The Province Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/entertainment/Featured+Artist+Adrienne+Pierce/3588901/story.html#ixzz11HOOLU9f

- Adrienne Pierce -- Oh Deer (Insectgirl Records) Rating: 8 (out of 10)

Adrienne Pierce's third full-length album, Oh Deer, shows the singer/songwriter pushing the pop envelope every chance she gets. Form and content are ground zero for further experimentation on the 12-track disc which came out this week in Canada on Insectgirl Records.

Born and raised in West Vancouver, Pierce now splits her time between L.A. and B.C., creating engaging music that comes from all over the map. The new batch of songs were written in Paris, Bologna, Death Valley, Kauai, Vancouver and Los Angeles and recorded in some equally exotic locations: a cabin on the Sunshine Coast, a bungalow in Hollywood as well as two Vancouver studios.

Time and place are important signifiers in Pierce's musical universe where "Monsters," the "Arc de Triomphe" and "Black Sand" all get equal consideration. In true singer/songwriter tradition she lets listeners in on personal experiences filtered through an artistic sensibility that never stops exploring.

Visit www.adriennepierce.com for more details.

-- John Goodman

Read more: http://www.nsnews.com/health/Pierce+taking+into+exotic+places/3422227/story.html#ixzz0yCDqU1Ys

ADRIENNE PIERCE: Oh Deer (Insect Girl)

 

By TOM HARRISON FRI, AUG 27 2010 COMMENTS(0) QUICK SPINS

 

 

Pierce started under the influence of Ani Difranco but she has  come into her own. There is still a trace of Difranco's rapid fire half spoken half sung attack in some of her vocals but her winsome voice makes her sound more vulnerable. Sometimes Pierce is jaunty and upbeat ("Museum" is really endearing) and other times  awash in cool effects and rhythms (hear "Black Sand")  but it all adds up to a coherent album whose different approaches puts the listener on edge.  B  TH

Adrienne Pierce Oh Deer Chances are you’ve probably heard Vancouver-born singer-songwriter Adrienne Pierce before, even if you never knew it. With songs appearing in TV shows like ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Veronica Mars’, Pierce has gradually built up a small but loyal following both in her native Canada and internationally. After releasing her second album, 2007’s Faultline, with Nettwerk (the label that launched Sarah McLachlan’s career in the late 1980s), third album Oh Deer arrives on her own Insectgirl Records. With mixing, mastering and manufacturing funded by fan donations, Oh Deer is a lovingly crafted record that does her patrons proud. An invigoratingly strange and unusual collection for the most part, Oh Deer takes the folk-pop singer-songwrither template as the heart of its songs then largely upends it with subtle electronic flourishes and unpredictable arrangements. It’s an album that thrills mostly for its unique sound rather than the writing, and the production is crisp and clear from the outset. ‘Amargosa Hotel’ boasts a wonderfully evocative intro with added light electronic touches as Pierce sings ominously of a “raven’s beak wide open” with a slurred, sexy vocal doused with a healthy dose of reverb. At its core, it’s a sinuous, bluesy opener with an ever-deepening arrangement that takes it into another sphere entirely. Pierce’s voice is soon revealed to be a light, airy instrument that tackles the melody well, and the chorus brings an inspired change of tempo and rhythm. The album’s apparent ethos of taking primarily straightforward songs and crafting unique musical settings around them continues apace with ‘Black Sand’, which takes an off-kilter country/folk-pop melody and pastes it over a quirky rhythmic pattern that almost mirrors a hip hop sensibility. Oh Deer isn’t purely about doing contrary arrangements for the sake of it; the jaunty ‘Museum’ leads us into more standard folk-pop territory with an easygoing melody and straightforward sentiment over an acoustic guitar-led arrangement complete with “ba-da-da” background harmonies. The slower ‘Monsters,’ meanwhile, takes a moment for quiet reflection, as Pierce sings the compassionate lyric, “I want you only to find your way / you sounded so lonely when we spoke today.” Elsewhere, ‘Three Hours Ago’ takes a simple idea as its core and builds a flowery, whimsical structure around it. The odd changes in rhythm, tempo, and melody are all here too, and the latter part of the song even evolves into a largely solo, acoustic bluesy lament before returning to its original setting. The following ‘Arc De Triomphe’ is rather curious, too, grafting an insistent melodic hook (“As it speaks volumes I turn up the volume and drown it out”) onto a weird pseudo-march time drum pattern. After the powerful ‘Nightswimming’ (not an REM cover), there’s no denying that Oh Deer takes a turn toward more conventional fare with a run of more acoustic-based folk pop songs. The melodies are unfailingly pleasant, and the funky ‘Come Over To My House’ even features a completely leftfield rap, but for the most part these songs are decent examples of Pierce doing something in a setting without much studio trickery. However, they don’t necessarily live up to the rest of the songs. The album ends on a comfortingly strange note with ‘Telescope’, which juxtaposes sparse verses with a fuller chorus as Pierce wraps her breathy, reverb-laden vocal around a hypnotic melody. It’s a fitting end to a record that succeeds largely because of its vision and imagination; Pierce challenges both herself and her listeners with some genuinely surprising developments. Not all of it works all of the time, but the ambition and desire to take risks is refreshing, at times recalling fellow Canadian Jane Siberry (with whom Pierce toured in 2008). Oh Deer offers no apologies, serving notice that Adrienne Pierce is still most definitely one to watch. [Insectgirl; April 5, 2010] Digg this! Post this to MySpace Share this on Facebook Tweet This! Email this to a friend? Written by: Matt Barton Tags: adrienne pierce, oh deer This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 at 10:23 am and is filed under albums & EPs, reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Today's Indie Artist Suggestion: Adrienne Pierce Posted at 02:40 PM on March 04, 2010 Hear Adrienne online today on our "Seize The Day" show (5 PM EST, 2 PM PST) at www.womenofsubstanceradio.com. If Adrienne's voice and songs sound familiar, you may have heard her on Grey's Anatomy, Veronica Mars or in the movie Couple's Retreat. This Vancouver transplant to LA writes powerful songs like Sheryl Crow, catchy melodies similar to Marie Digby or Kate Voegele with a a sprinke of Indie quirkiness. Her vocals are reminiscent of Leigh Nash or The Sundays. She has toured internationally and is constantly releasing new material, so go to her website to take a listen. www.adriennepierce.com