By Amanda AshJenn Grant's music has always mirrored her emotions. Orchestra for the Moon, the Halifax, NS-based singer-songwriter's debut, showed us her spunky, wide-eyed naivety. Then, her 2009 release, Echoes, brought us to a heavy place filled with heartbreak, loneliness and mourning. Now, with Honeymoon Punch, Grant is ready to pull us out of the depression that Echoes left us in and show us the goofy, happy friskiness associated with cuddling a loved one on a couch. Yup, this whimsical sweetheart is totally drunk on cupid's scotch. The record kicks things off with the groovy, up-tempo "Oh My Heart"; you can tell by the growl in her voice that she's smitten. The jazzy, sultry, bold woman she unleashes via her playful lyricism is completely contagious, tickling every mischievous bone in your body. "How I Met You" and "Walk Away" toy with synthesizers, marking a departure for the folk artist, but they work beautifully with each song's get-up-and-dance attitude. This lovebird's real portrait is painted by "Getcha Good," where she kicks off her boots and wraps herself in her favourite patchwork quilt while smiling coyly at her significant other: "I'm your lady/I'm your fire/Catch me if you can/I'm wild for you." Rawr.
How would you sum up the time that's passed since you released Echoes two years ago? Making [Echoes] was a very personal journey and I think that after that was completed, I wanted to move on and make something that would really lend [itself] to a fun live show. Since then, I basically feel like I've been doing the regular thing like touring, but also I got engaged, bought a house, got a dog and I went to Egypt for a month. I was kind of doing a lot of things.
Was it a conscious decision to make it more upbeat? I did feel like I wanted to make something… I felt ready to make something happier and fun. But that's just because that's how I feel; I'm really happy. I have a really wonderful partner and great stuff going on, personally. I think all of my records to date are little reflections of my life's journey. Like Orchestra for the Moon, it was pre- any type of huge relationship when I wrote that album and it was kind of starry-eyed. And then Echoes was "Aww, I'm sad," going through heartache and stuff. And this record, I feel confident, self-assured and really happy. I know where I'm going; I just feel like I can stomp my feet on the ground a little more.
When did you start writing material for the album? It was when I went to Egypt, which was March [2010]. I just went there because my best friend lived there for a year. I went over there and wrote "How I Met You" and "Getcha Good" in her apartment in Cairo. Most of the other songs I wrote throughout the year. There were a couple I wrote before that. "All Year" I wrote before going away to play some shows in the States while having this premonition, a feeling that it was going to be difficult to go over there and play; I'm psychic! But that song kind of changed over time. This is the first time we made a record and sat with it. We went to record at the cottage the last week of May. [Beau, In-Flight Safety keyboardist and album producer] Danny [Ledwell] and I had the record all summer and just kind of tweaked things, worked on things, listened to it and let it sit. We didn't work on it all the time, but kind of let it sit and we'd go back and listen. Usually, I feel frantic and I want to record now and put it out right away, but it was nice because there was no pressure. We were also listening to music a lot, Danny and I. We had a lot of time together at home, working on our house together, our garden and cooking and stuff. We would listen to records like Phoenix together and talk about music so much that it just seemed like, "Why would I work with anybody else other than my boyfriend?" who is my producer and knows me better than anybody. It just seemed like all the arrows were pointing to that. But I also wanted to be really careful with that, to make sure that my relationship was in game before the career stuff. But as it turned out, it was the most fun working experience everywhere; it was such a good fit.
Do you feel like this album is you drunk on love? Yeah! Yes.
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