The
mere suggestion that someone is living on, or near a fault line, usually
conjures up images of earthquakes, chaos and uncertainty, and while it is true
that some of Adrienne Pierce’s songs from her CD Faultline may evoke those same
images, for the most part this is a collection of songs that says, ‘Hey while
everything may seem a bit crazy at the moment, everything is going to work out
just fine.’
The immensely talented
Pierce, who possesses a knack
for creating vivid word pictures, which are painted on the canvass of her life,
recently delighted her audience at the Red Elephant in
Although Adrienne Pierce’s songs
will often tackle serious issues such as depression, broken relationships, or
the war in
Pierce talks about her melodic rock song, “Beautiful,” the opening track from
Faultline, “I wrote that song, at a time,
when in
The singer/songwriter has an
easygoing lilt to her voice, and when combined with her lighter melodies, they
often belie the more serious issues that her lyrics tackle.
“It is deliberate (the lighter elements), and
it is not masking what is being said, but I feel very joyful when I make music.
I want people to connect through the lyrics, and find different things as they
listen repeatedly, but I also (hope) that they find some joyful aspect to the
music, as they listen to it. It is not calculated, but it is very natural for me
to go in that way. It is intentional. You make many decisions during production,
and you have to consider which way you are going to with everything, what to
keep in, and how bright you want it to sound when you master it. Every decision
that you make affects the end result. It’s not an accident that it ends up that
way, but it is not a calculated decision before I start to write.”
Her song “The Downside Of Love,” examines the aftermath
of emotional upheaval, when relationships go south. The song takes a direct shot
at a medical profession that often times simply prescribes another pill, and a
pharmaceutical industry all too willing to supply them in an effort to alleviate
symptoms, but never addressing the underlying issues.
“I am not suggesting what
people should do, but I have been alarmed by commercials on television for drugs
(to help people cope), and the side effects that these so called solutions can
cause. I wrote this song as a reaction to those commercials, and (to address)
how these pharmaceutical drugs are often prescribed to people without a lot of
consultation. I don’t want people reaching for Prozac, if they can avoid it,”
says Pierce.
The theme of trying to find
oneself in the midst of emotional distress continues
with
her song, “Laundry And Dishes,” one of the few melancholy tunes on
Faultline.
Pierce demonstrates once again her
artistry, as she paints a poignant picture, “I
lost my phone / lost my coffee cup / make things disappear / then I make things
up / I lost you / then I lost my way.”
“Sometimes you don’t know if people will be able to
relate to a song like “Laundry And Dishes,” even though it is a common theme. I
have had the strongest reaction to that song, of all the songs on the album, and
it’s not one of the songs that we have pushed. Nothing has put it out there,
other than people finding it,” Pierce says, noting that there has not been much
in the way of marketing support for the song.
“Laundry And Dishes,” comes from
deep within Pierce’s own life experiences. “I was sitting in
Adrienne, what about the ominous name for the CD
Faultline?
“Hmmmm, I have to admit that I had a lot of trouble deciding on a name for the
album. It wasn’t an easy decision, and I didn’t want to name it after any one
song. I didn’t want to draw attention to one song, and have that song represent
the theme of the album, more than any other, because that’s not the case. I
wrote most of the songs in either
Pierce explains there is a
second symbolic reason for choosing
Faultline
as the title of her current CD. “It also felt like things were changing quickly
(in her life), and I didn’t have any control over it. They were just natural
forces that were going to do, what they were going to do. I didn’t feel that I
was completely on solid ground. It was also an exciting time, as I was traveling
a lot and meeting a lot of people. I was writing with a lot of different people
as well. I would meet people for the first time, and then I would go and start
writing a song with them. It’s kind of a nerve wracking thing to do.”
One of Pierce’s favorite collaborators is Niko Friesen,
with whom she co-wrote “Fool’s Gold,” “I Don’t Know,” and “One Perfect Day.” She
describes him as a major contributor to the record. Pierce and Friesen first
hooked up, when he started playing drums a number of years ago for Pierce’s
band.
Despite being a tremendously
gifted artist in all aspects of her music career, Pierce recalls being shocked
(her word) that she was invited to perform at one of the 2004 SXSW showcases in
It was while traveling to
SXSW in 2004, that Pierce first met Thom Russo, who shared production credits,
with Jeff Trott (has co-written with Sheryl Crow), for
Faultline.
Russo, who engineered all of the songs on the album, happened to be sitting
beside Pierce on the plane, they exchanged information, she gave him a copy of
her CD, he went to her show, and both a friendship and professional working
relationship began to form. During her return engagement at SXSW in 2007, Pierce
performed many of the songs which appear on
Faultline.
With a record deal in her back
pocket, Adrienne Pierce is thriving in