Mo Kenney

BY Jason SchneiderPublished Oct 31, 2012

This 22-year-old Halifax singer-songwriter sounds extremely poised and confident on her debut album, and that's only partially due to the support of her producer: Joel Plaskett. In fact, the spritely Kenney could easily be mistaken for Plaskett's kid sister, not just because of their physical resemblance, but also their shared knack for writing punchy folk-pop. Even without Plaskett in her corner, Kenney would be a shining new talent on the Canadian folk-rock scene, but together they've created a gem of an album.

How did your relationship with Joel Plaskett develop?
I met Joel the first time when I was 17. He came in to listen to some demo recordings me and some other local bands had been working on in Halifax. On my 20th birthday, I received a call from his manager, Sheri Jones, inviting me to Gordie Sampson's Songwriting Camp in Ingonish, Cape Breton. We hooked up when I got back to Halifax and that's when plans to record my album were laid out.

Do you feel this record captures a specific period in your life or were some songs written spontaneously in the studio?
Three songs on the album were written during the time Joel and I were in studio. Those were "Déjà Vu," "In My Lungs" and "Scene of the Crime." All the other songs are ones I have been writing since I was 16. That's what I like about this album: instead of being a depiction of a specific period in my life it's a collection of all kinds of different experiences and time periods.

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