Serena Ryder Serenades Waterloo

CORDWEEKLY.COM

Wilfred Laurier Univeristy's Offical Student Newspaper Online

APRIL ROBINSON

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Serena Ryder strolls onstage with confidence as her short, playful skirt sways along with her. She sips wine and sets down the glass. A small, attentive audience murmurs by candlelight.
And then she sings.
It’s a sound that’s bigger than her 24-year-old presence; bigger than the room. It has depth and breadth. The fullness of her voice sends a hush over the crowd as she sings a soulful opener without instrumental accompaniment. It raises the hairs on the back of my neck.
With these opening notes, she sets the tone for the evening at Starlight Lounge in Uptown Waterloo.

Ryder continued her Canadian tour last week on February 21, following the November 2006 release of her major-label debut, If Your Memory Serves You Well. The album follows Unlikely Emergency (2004) and a live EP from 2002.
She has a powerful, expressive voice that sounds like a cross between Janis Joplin, Patsy Cline and Fiona Apple.
Her vocal stylings are reminiscent of a sexy singer in a smoky jazz bar: deep and husky but beautiful – capable of three octaves. It’s soulful and mature.
It was a perfect canvas for her new album, a collection of vintage Canadian-made tunes from the past century, which, with her artistic touch, she makes her own.
The small-town girl from Millbrook, Ontario followed her fiery a capella opener with a handful of original pieces, playing acoustic guitar, and for one song, the harmonica.
Her four-piece band then joined her to break out songs from her new album including Leonard Cohen’s “Sisters of Mercy” and “This Wheel’s on Fire”, co-written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko of The Band. These tunes continued to capture the audience, picking up the tempo and the mood of the performance. But Ryder’s voice continued to outshine any instrument.
The momentum continued with her latest single, “Good Morning Starshine”, an uplifting tune celebrating the simple joys of song. The anthem was originally written by Galt MacDermott for the 1967 hippie musical Hair. The song is breaking through radio and television airwaves. And she recently filmed her first video for it, which, she confessed to the crowd, was a little embarrassing.
“They told me to dance with random people on the street,” she said with a laugh.
On a recent tour with Canadian greats Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman (formerly of The Guess Who), Ryder worked with Bachman to write “Out of the Blue”.
“It’s the first full-on pop song I’ve ever written,” she said, before playing the tune at the Starlight last week. But the bouncy and simplistic love song was a little too poppy and radio-friendly compared to her repertoire of folk-blues. It doesn’t exemplify the songstress’ full capabilities.
Following that, Serena dug deep into her blues roots for a charming performance of Zal Yanovsky’s “Coconut Grove” complete with xylophone keyboard sounds and an articulate guitar solo.
Ryder didn’t fail to impress with two more original songs, also found on If Your Memory Serves You Well.
“Just Another Day” was a powerful and inspirational tale of self-determination. And “Weak in the Knees” was convincingly heart-wrenching in both lyrics and music.
A percussive finish with “Sing, Sing” from her last album – a toe-stomping, hand-clapping a capella piece – was enough to bring Ryder out for two encores.

Kyle Riabko was the opening act of the evening.