When the three singing voices and the three songwriting voices of the talented trio that comprises the Canadian contemporary folk group The O’Pears meld seamlessly together, musical magic happens. All three of the band members, Lydia Persaud, Jill Harris and Meg Contini are exceptionally skilled vocalists, musicians and composers in their own right. Together, they embody the adage that the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.
Their latest album, Stay Warm, is an evocative ode to the season which delights millions and is derided by millions more. It is a heartfelt examination of the sometimes-tumultuous emotions that coincide not only with the coldest part of the year, but also the one immersed in the good, bad and the ugly of the holiday season.
Stay Warm is not a work of melancholy, for there are joyful elements and melodies and harmonies that are both inspiring and uplifting. It is a work of honest and authenticity, something that has been a hallmark of the music of The O’Pears since Harris, Contini and Persaud came together while studying music at Toronto’s Humber College.
“We have been calling it a winter album and it has some seasonal songs on it. We have some interludes on it that are folk traditional tunes that are very familiar and often played during the holidays. We wanted to keep it more focused on winter because that is such a huge part of the Canadian year, especially when you are in places like we are now, which is a small town in the prairies. Some of the places we have been to recently have snow into May,” said Harris from snowy Manitoba at the time of the interview.
“Since we came together as a band six years ago, we have been hosting annual holiday shows, so that aspect has been a part of this band since its inception. And then when we started talking about our own experiences, not only with the holidays, but with winter, that became the real inspiration behind the songs that would come to make up this album.
“We actually released a single a year ago called Quiet Now that isn’t on the Stay Warm album, but it really is the starting point for the creation of the album. When we sat down to write that song together is when we started talking about our experiences with the holidays and how they can be really difficult. They can be hard on people and we know that our own families had experienced some loss and some difficult times during this season. It was apparent that I was something we don’t actually hear during the season. We didn’t want to make a kitschy, sweet, sappy Christmas album when that’s not the reality that everyone faces.”
The result is a collection of songs that encompass and envelope the joy, heartache and the large, conflicted emotional middle ground that most people experience during winter and the Christmas and New Years commemorations.
Since the formation of The O’Pears, and especially since the release of their debut album Like Those Nights in 2016, it’s been a steady ascent for the trio, including extensive touring throughout Canada, as well as a unique tour of Europe, playing exclusively in old churches in 2017. Along the way, they have shared the stage with the likes of Joey Landreth, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Weaves, Royal Wood, The Good Lovelies and more. Earlier in 2018, their burgeoning popularity and already impressive pedigree earned them the Folk Music Ontario Stingray Rising Star Award.
Besides the fluidity and enchanting vocal harmonies, what gives the music of The O’Pears a unique spin is the trio’s ability to meld and enmesh a variety of styles seamlessly into their dynamic, and at times esoteric brand of folk music.
As evidence, one need look – or listen – no further than the title track for Stay Warm, which is imbued with a lush production vibe that owes as much to the pop and soul sounds of the 1970s than anything modern digital wizardry could ever come up with.
“That song was sort of inspired by that 1970s tape sound, and that was something we wanted to include for sure. When we’re playing live, it’s pretty stripped down, but because you get to explore more production which you’re in the studio, that’s something we really wanted to do. For this song, we wanted to explore overdubbing some vocal layers as well which, obviously you don’t get to do live. So that was a fun thing about being in the studio for this album,” said Harris, giving a lot of credit for not only the superior production of the title track by the entire Stay Warm album to their producer Joshua Van Tassel.
“Stay Warm was actually brought to the group by Lydia, and it’s the story of a relationship and trying to hold it all together, but it’s comparing that to fighting through the winter seasons by using the cold and the discomfort as an analogy of the challenges of a difficult relationship. And that was one where we felt so good performing it, it felt raw and real. And since people are always saying ‘stay warm’ to each other during this season, we just thought it should be the name of the whole album as well as the first single.”
Another potent track is the cinematic Lady Winter, which was brought to the sessions by Contini, and is the next video single for the band, being released later this month.
“It had to do with someone she knew in Alberta who loved the mountains and would teach skiing and talking to her about his loves, which were the mountains. So, she was imagining this presence of the mountains being Lady Winter and this sort of gliding, cascading avalanche kind of imagery. When she brought it to the group, we wanted to find a way to give it this eerie sound, so the melody and the production moves in that,” Harris explained, adding that the emotive and truly lovely Find The Sun is for all those who may not find the colder, darker months of winter as entrancing or enthralling as the songs would have us believe they are.
“We talked a lot about this subject as well, because there are so many people who go through a lot, emotionally, in the winter, when you consider things like seasonal depression and the fewer hours of daylight and the cold. During that period of time when you’re living in kind of darkness and it’s grey skies you’re often feeling like something is missing – and it could just be the sin. It could be warmth, or it could be a person from your life and just this extended feeling of missing that and being hopeful that maybe you can find it again.”
Another wonderful track, and one that highlights the supremely tight and enchanting vocal harmonies between Harris, Persaud and Contini is the O’Pears’ cover of Joni Mitchell’s River, which brings the album to an apt and emotionally satisfying conclusion.
“Knowing Joni was turning 75 this year was something we weren’t even aware of when we decided to choose the song. When we were going through the promotion of this album recently, the CBC was putting together an article for Joni’s 75h birthday and use our cover of River to accompany the piece. That was really special for us, and we were so honoured because we are huge Joni Mitchell fans, and we love that song. To us, that’s a song you hear more during this season, but we love it year-round.”
While the group is in the midst of a winter tour, they recently completed a fun excursion through the prairie provinces earlier in the fall, playing house shows in small rural communities primarily – ones a little of the beaten path, but where audiences are attentive, appreciative and the communities themselves full of their own local flavour and stories
“One of the most special things for us is being able to travel, even being involved in folk festivals. One of the first festivals we ever did was in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and we had never even been to the east coast. We met amazing people in that town and found that in all of these communities everybody is so generous and sweet, and they want to get to know you and look after you,” Harris said.
“Because we have been doing this for about six years now, it’s been a real progression in getting to know people when you go to their towns. On that western tour, we stayed in seven or eight different towns and over the 24 hours we spend with those people, we really get to know them and, as you say, this isn’t something we’d be able to experience if we were in a different genre or different groups. This type of intimate performing allows you to get to know people in a community.
“We have been so pleasantly surprised what a lot of these people do in their communities, they really do care and I think the people who are hosting these shows and supporting these shows are trying to expand their communities’ horizons even more and be more open-minded and that’s a really positive thing to see. It’s very inspirational for us.”
Before Christmas, the O’Pears perform in Sangudo, Alberta (99 kilometres northwest of Edmonton) on Dec. 15, the Fernie Arts Station in Fernie B.C. Dec. 17. before a show at the Ironwood in Calgary on Dec. 20. After Christmas, the trio stays in Ontario for shows in Kitchener, Utopia (near Barrie), London, Fergus, and Waterford.
For more information on the band, on Stay Warm, and upcoming shows, visit http://www.theopears.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
