Kerri
Coombs
Discography
The Songbirds
The Songbirds album has been released on your preferred streaming platform.
During the pandemic, like everyone in entertainment, I found myself with a lot of free time. After weeks of gardening, baking bread, cooking meals from scratch and birdwatching, I went back to the pastime I know best—processing complicated feelings in difficult times through poetry set to music. The resulting album features themes of quiet contemplation, the cultivation of psychological resilience, and the sociology of revolution. Produced by Michael Rush, The Songbirds will be released one song at a time to your preferred streaming service over the course of 2022.
Nobody drops an album like it’s 1999 nowadays. We dribble them out one track at a time. The idea is to game algorithms designed to generate billions of dollars in profits for executives and shareholders in corporations like Spotify, Google or Apple. Although listeners who rely exclusively on these exploitative platforms will have to wait all year to hear the whole album, you can pre-order a physical copy or digital download of the Songbirds now.
Become a Patron…
Don’t have a CD player? You can support my work through Patreon and get insider access to my music, videos, stories, essays, and other interesting & eclectic content that will not be published anywhere else. Over the course of 2022, in addition to releasing singles and music videos, I’ll be publishing never-before-shared diary entries stretching all the way back to the eighties, and a serialized murder mystery set in the Yukon during the Gold Rush.
Underdressed
While I love working in a studio with all the associated bells and whistles, as an anti-capitalist rebel who has always preferred not to keep a day job, for many years I couldn’t raise enough funds to book a studio for more than a day or two at a time. I craved more freedom to experiment, to create more complex arrangements, and to get my new songs sketched out as soon as I’d written them, when the emotional vibe was still fresh. So I started recording my songs at home, then branched out to producing demos for other local artists. These home recordings span a period of about ten years.
Listen to the album…
Spare Change
When I was a globe-trotting troubadour, I rustled up enough spare change busking and playing coffee shops to book a couple days of studio time to record some of my songs. This album is the result. At the time, I was lugging around a hammered dulcimer, a beast of an instrument with 122 strings that all need tuning before every single performance. I had learned that the weirder your instrument, the more interest (and donations) it generates from the passers-by. Spare Change features several compositions on that instrument mingled with a few angsty teenager songs backed by guitar.
Listen to the album…
Produced by Kerri Coombs
Composium
Conceived and produced in two different shared flats in Montreal, Composium builds on a broad definition of “traditional music”. The project showcases new tunes written by masters of Irish, Scottish and Quebecois music styles that evolved to accompany community-based dance forms. Focusing on the skill of the musicians and the quality of their tunes rather than their commercial success, the album features tunes written and performed by many ordinary people with day jobs, alongside world-renowned Juno award winners and nominees.
Listen to the album…
Royalty Free Instrumental Music
Living Midnight Ditties
Before we amicably parted ways, my husband Wyrd Knight and I collaborated to create several indie games for rapid game dev challenges like Ludum Dare and One Game a Month. We came up with the game concepts together. He did the programming and I created the art and music. You can watch us make a wee game in one day in this cool time lapse video spanning about ten hours of creative fury.
None of our games are commercially available any more, but why let a good ditty go to waste? These clips are short and designed to infinitely loop. They come in a variety of fun, cartoonish moods. You can use them (with credit) for non-commercial purposes. If you expect to make money, just send me some.
Videos
A sociable musician, I’ve performed with dozens of groups in a variety of musical styles. Subscribe to my music channel on YouTube to be the first to hear of new content. Here are some of the highlights…
Lockdown Solo Show
My Living Room
Dr. Phil Harmonics Jug Band
Errington Hall
BC Folk Song Project
live in Grandma’s Kitchen
BC Folk Song Project
featuring Susanne Vigneault
Skewlines
McMillan Arts Centre
Skewlines
the Islands Celtic Festival
About the Artist
I was born in Ottawa and raised in Calgary. I lived and performed in Toronto, Montreal, the United Kingdom and Ireland before settling in Vancouver, Canada. My curiosity about the world, its people, and its history inform my introspective, sometimes quirky lyrics and diverse melodic tastes. As a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, I’ve played with over a dozen musical collaborations in venues around the world. I’ve produced several concerts, concert series, and festivals, and share my enthusiasm and unique approach to self-directed learning with students of all ages in a variety of styles. I’m the proprietor of FireDance Media, the president of the Islands Celtic Festival Society, and the creator of the BC Folk Song Project.
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