Woke Myself Up

According to Julie’s Doiron’s web sight Woke Myself Up is her 11th album

A Canadian singer and songwriter Julie Doiron started performing since she was 18. This period of her career takes us back in early 90’s when she releases her first solo album under a name Broken Girl. However, this nickname didn’t attract her attention for a long time - most of her 10 albums have been released under her own name. Nowadays, Julie Doiron is known as one of leading ladies in the music world of independent labels. Moreover, while being busy with her own solo project she was also engaged in a number of Canadian indie rock bands, today, for example she is a member of Shotgun & Jaybird. In 2000 she won a Juno Award for her album Julie Doiron And The Wooden Stars. However, her name still associates with Erick White, a leader of noisy indie rock band Eric’s Trip, which was the first Julie’s band. This year Julie Doiron appears with her new album Woke Myself Up, which was recorded for the first time in her career with aforementioned Erick White who is also regarded as a master of lo-fi recording. In a way, this reunion has influenced the sounding of the album, Julie became more concerned in sound experimenting and the way she expresses her ideas as a performer, but her main feature remains untouched: her lyrics are still very confessional and devoted to a themes of family and people’s relations.

Woke Myself Up sounds much heavier than many of Julie Doiron’s previous albums

Despite a renewed rock men line up Woke Myself Up is still very much typical for an acoustic guitar devoted singer from North America. The album’s main and basic feature is Julie Doiron’s voice, which strikes a listener immediately with its charming and sometimes dramatic intonation. The first track I Woke Myself Up is a nice energetic rock piece with a loud bass and slightly distorted guitar, Julie sings in duet with herself here mostly in minor interval and this creates a pretty catchy effect as the song itself is based on a major chord progression of guitars. There is a series of songs where Julie expresses a diversity of woman’s emotions, for example Yer Kids. A reunion with Eric’s Trip musicians actually reanimates Julie Dorion’s rock roots on Don’t Wanna Be Liked by You. The song’s bright and loud sounding of crunchy bass and dirty guitar periodically interchanges with short calm bridges where Julie’s voice remains with acoustic guitar Tête-à-tête. One of the most interesting and unusual songs of the album No More manages to combine all the strongest sides of Julie. It has a subject to discuss, simple but catchy melody and a specific sadness in the voice’s intonations that create an eccentric Bjork-like atmosphere.

Woke Myself Up may find a great positive response from indie fans

Julie Doiron is a pretty contradictory artistic figure. She has a strong material, an original vocal manner of performing and she even managed to find her sound. But this very sound that she advocates became a stumbling block. Deliberately raw, full of unpredictable incidents like cat’s “mew” on I Left Town, which was to all appearances recorded accidentally but finally was left on the song’s background, and other problems concerning dynamics of performing. But, could Joily Doirton keep the same originality and home warmth of her songs if she refuses from this direction in favor of crystal sounding. Probably the most of low budget indie bands’ fans wouldn’t approve such a decision. A narrow profile of her creative works can afford to have devoted fans but on the other hand it carefully keeps her from a mass popularity. Woke Myself Up would hardly enlarge a number of listeners of Julie Doiron but those who appreciate a non standard approach to music making will definitely find this album interesting. And as concerns her long time fans, this album will surely find a great positive response from many of them and become a great sequel to Julie Doiron’s discography.