Singer-songwriter Ingrid Gatin is a bit of a wandering spirit.
The listener might not hear it in the lush tones of her newest record 1000 Lives (to be released on Tuesday, Feb. 5) but then again, maybe they will. From the opening moments of the album’s first track “My Ship, My Crown,” Gatin takes her audience on an indie-folk journey of sorts, employing a laundry list of instrumentation including piano, accordion and more, anchoring it all with her passionate, soulful voice.
Since the release of her 2009 debut effort Broken Tambourine, Gatin has called Sackville and Montreal home on a temporary basis while continuing to maintain her Winnipeg home as well. Gatin was an artist in residence at Struts Gallery in Sackville during three months at the outset of 2012.
Gatin will perform at Plan B on St. George Street in Moncton on Thursday, Feb. 7.
When asked why she is calling Montreal home for the time being, Gatin says she has a fondness for the city. While she is quick to avow that she loves her hometown of Winnipeg, the new venues, experiences and possibilities that greet her in Montreal were simply too good to pass up.
“Being in a city like Montreal is lovely because it has so much to offer. Winnipeg is really great; you can see a great art or music show almost any night of the week. I’ve played every venue in Winnipeg though. I simply arrived at a point in my career where basing myself out of Montreal and having the opportunity to get to know the venues and the people in the city while building my audience makes most sense.”
Gatin and producer Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire) began recording 1000 Lives in Manitoba before heading across country to Montreal to complete the record. The inspiration that Gatin draws from immersing herself in these new communities is inevitably bound to come out in her music.
“I absolutely love people and find that meeting people and being in new communities to be rather inspiring,” she says. “I like to make myself a part of these communities and really get a glimpse of what is going on right across the country.
“I am the type of person that has to be writing all of the time rather than being faced with all this pressure to come up with a batch of songs. As much as I love to travel, I have to also have the freedom to be able to go to a piano when I need to work out a song. I love to be in the circumstance of letting new music flow naturally. When I was 19 and 20 years old, I would thrive off the pressure of needing to write. It took me a few years to realize that personal happiness was important to me and that I am better off to create as I go.”
Article published in the February 1, 2013 edition of the Times & Transcript