Georgia Sound: The Non-conventional
Folk Duo (An Interview)
(photo source: Georgia Sound)
Gloomy Wednesday afternoon
sitting in my office hustling my time getting some upcoming projects organized.
Turned on my iTunes and first track that came up was Georgia Sound. That reminded me, an interview I did with them
during the summer, and first experience with their live performance. Couple
months later, their last EP album was still on top of my playlist...
The sound of folk music has never
been so inspiring until I met Georgia Sound, a Canadian band consists of
members Ryan Roy and Shannon Magee from Calgary. Georgia
Sound was born in late 2011, when the two band members met at a local open mic
performance. Before meeting the duo, I didn’t know what to expect since I was
never a huge follower of folk music. That feeling was changed after I heard the
first track on their website, meeting them personally, and listening in their
performance live at a Calgary flood relief charity concert. There is a special
unique music bond or connection, and chemistry of the band members that, to me,
is inspiring.
In terms of their talents it’s a
unique pairing, with Roy’s (the guitarist and vocalist) self-taught acoustic
style and Magee’s (the pianist and vocalist) classical music background, there
is that rawness and sense of perfection which could give rise to a broad
spectrum of music to be explored. As for the duo, it’s about maintaining the
aesthetic of folk music while underlining the modern tone - it’s the new
“folk-pop”, they call it. Perhaps that’s also one of the reasons why Georgia
Sound achieved incredible success, hitting number 1 on Muzooka and ReverbNation
charts, and even reaching the airwaves in UK, Spain and France. Aside from
that, the duo was already well known, given Magee an experienced musician and
Roy’s fame in the social media as the Facebook prankster, a witty campaign that
he created which attracted news outlets in the UK and US.
Their debut 5-track EP, One Way Path is the experimental product
of Georgia Sound, an official “meet and greet” of the band to their fans. The
album defines the band’s current identity and musical path by proving each
member’s passion and talent, and its great potential to reach higher in the
music industry. Songs such as “Give Me Something” and “One Way Path” parallel
the tones of English indie pop band The XX. Though the catchy pop melody
creates connection to mainstream audience, the background chello and banjo
sounds, and lyrics send invitations to fans that enjoy indie-folk music. Roy’s
vocal is highlighted in majority of the tracks this album, although Magee’s
talent equally shines in her upbeat solo “Fine This Way”. The duo expressed
that in future works, they wished to focus on songs where both of their vocals
“match”, like a duet. One of the most interesting things that Georgia Sound
told me was of the last 20 songs they wrote, none of which has the word “love”
in the lyrics. It’s fascinating since many of their songs express the emotion
of love in one way or another. This further shows the duo’s talent that they
could transcend messages without actually incorporating the words. They do hope
however, to write their first “love” song. “We are working on it” Roy said.
“Our first song with the word love in it will be a special one”.
Georgia Sound is currently
traveling with other bands across the nation to perform. Roy and Magee said one
of the challenges they found as local musicians is “having difficulties finding
the proper place to perform”. It’s not an easy task because their genre of
music may not necessarily fit the overall atmosphere of the venue. They are
however, the first music group that was welcomed by Chapters to perform
openingly in public. Georgia Sound breaks the conventional folk duo in many
ways - by incorporating mainstream elements in music, active in the social
media, and the kind of openness coming from both their music and personal level
that you may feel strongly connected to. Their EP is currently for sale through
iTunes as well as ReverbNation. With their passion and talent I think it’s only
a matter of time before Georgia Sound reaches a new peak in their music career.
**Update**
Georgia Sound’s latest single – “Something New” can now be downloaded on iTunes
Canada - https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/something-new-single/id686107919
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