KARYN ELLIS: Even Though the Sky Was Falling (Mathilde’s Home Productions) A singer-songwriter with Karyn Ellis’s life experience should have stories to tell. A classically trained musician who set out to sing opera, this bright Ontario girl got sidetracked into pop music and weird day jobs, including singing telegrams for a living. Even Though the Sky Was Falling, her sophomore CD, proves this is a woman with stories. Opening track Be My Girl begins with the lyric, “My hands are tied behind my back. To the chair. To the wood. To the side of me that is afraid,” and then Ellis turns this S&M image (Ellis was inspired by CSI episodes) into a statement about women breaking free of bondage in whatever form. Two songs later, Ellis performs an up-tempo stomper with a low, rumbling electric guitar; Duane Eddy lives! Often her songs tug, musically and lyrically, with contrasting emotions. Low has a bouncing rhythm, even though Ellis sings plaintively, “Why am I so sad?” The title track, written for a friend who died, has an uplifting quality. Musically, the disc has genre-defying arrangements, the studio calling on adults and children to sing, and musicians to play toy piano, glockenspiel, french horn and trombone. Rating 4 out of 5 — Marke Andrews, Calgary Herald, May 11, 2010
