Cynthia Hamar
Light a Fire
Métis singer-songwriter Cynthia Hamar has released two albums and two singles. She’s been an artist in residence and participated in showcases at several locations across her native Canada. She was the recipient of the Victor-Osten Performing Arts Award (2022) as well as the winner of the 2021 Bent River Records Songwriting Competition, and was recently invited to represent MacEwan University as a performer at their 50 year celebration. “Light A Fire” is the second single to be released off the upcoming LP “Joint & Marrow.” Here’s our review.
This track is a classic definition of Americana music. It’s folk with the lyrics and storytelling. It’s reggae with a dobro and kick pattern on the 3. It’s a little jazzy with a sprinkle of tasty piano in the second verse. It’s gospel with it’s gorgeous wispy B3 solo. Most of all, it’s stunningly unique due to the vocal stylings of Hamar.
Pretty sure this is a live recording with the whole band. Track starts with a tender dobro feel, a subtle pattern from the bass and percussionist and an easy electric part that immediately has us comfortable. The room she leaves for her voice is warm and engaging as she sings about the need for space and silence. If you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss some oh so gentle backgrounds from a male voice, tucked away in the mix. With the pre-chorus we begin to get a gospel feel as she asks the listener to “light a fire inside these bones.” When the chorus drops, it’s like a Bob Marley jam with a dobro, and stylistically perfect. The B3 solo that comes after is pure gold. The note choice, the pulls, the Leslie - all of it is spot on. It’s so good you don’t even hear how well the bass line compliments it with its own reggae perfections. Second verse goes back to the folk feel, with more emphasis on the piano this time. The energy has picked up considerably from the first verse, and deservedly so. Same goes with the next pre, and the chorus. The end comes after a beautiful outro chorus and simple jam from the band. Kudos to Producer Paul Johnston for his work on this track, it’s going on our personal playlists for sure.
Vocally its quite difficult to find a voice to compare her to. It’s part Tom Waits, part Chrissie Hynde, part Patty Griffin, but mostly unique. With her raspiness, you wouldn’t expect her falsetto to be so clear - but it is. You can’t learn how to sing like this, you’re born with it. From a writing standpoint, she masterfully displays how to blend genres in this one track. If you listen to her other tracks like “Shaken,” “Come Alive” and “Fortify” (all beautiful, by the way), you hear similarities but this track far exceeds them in showcasing her talent as a writer.
As you can probably imagine, we run across a lot of artists on this blog that sound the same, or songs that sound the same, etc. Individuality is becoming harder and harder to find in an industry that uploads 60,000 songs to Spotify everyday. Thankfully, Cynthia Hamar has come across our path and we can’t wait to hear the full record that this track is on. We’re fans now.