RR Logo Adrienne Pierce - My Heavens

Adrienne Pierce cover art My HeavensIt was about five years ago in the West Coast Canadian city of Vancouver that we first met Adrienne Pierce who was opening that night for Jane Siberry, who has since renamed herself Issa.  Although, the audience that night had come mostly to see Issa they had completely embraced Adrienne Pierce by the time she had completed her solo set, accompanying herself on guitar.  Over the years Ms. Pierce has firmly established herself as a good songwriter whose melodies and lyrics flow more like well written poetry that is further enhanced by her ethereal soprano vocals.  If you are looking for a genre label, something for which this magazine has little regard, Adrienne Pierce could best be described as soft Pop.

Adrienne Pierce is back with a brand new album My Heavens and she wrote the music and lyrics for six of the ten songs and collaborated with her hubby musician / songwriter Air Shine on the title song “My Heavens,” “Oh Well,” our favorite tune “If Ever,” and “Something Silly.”  The duo also self-produced, recorded and mixed the record.

If commercial radio was not mostly driven by money instead of good taste “If Ever,” would be a chart stopper. This is the best song that Adrienne Pierce (in collaboration with Ari Shine) has ever written or recorded. Nicholas Allen Johns’ accompaniment on keys is marvelous and his drumming adds another layer.  The arrangement and the orchestration are simple but pretty and Adrienne Pierce has never sung better than she sings “If Ever.”  This is a song about a relationship, but it is more than that, it is about two people who are forever connected, even though things seem to be coming to an end. It is about a person who beats themselves up emotionally and they feel inadequate, yet the person who loves them says if only you could see yourself as I see you, and then “If ever you need some understanding / I’ll be standing by / To guide you to a softer landing / At least you know I tried.” This however, is not a song about a woman pining away waiting for him to return evidenced by the words “…but I’m not going to crawl.”

Oh yes while we are salivating over the song “If Ever,” let’s not forget there are plenty of other good songs on My Heavens.

We really like both the song order and rhythm of “Hard Headed Heart,” a quicker tempo fun song that takes a look at all the things we act out or think about doing when we are crushing on someone or in love and the other person walks away. The song is open to interpretation on a number of levels. This is a women bonding song, not necessarily by intent, but we think that it will be and we envision Adrienne Pierce’s female fans singing along with her at her concerts.

“Let It Go,” is chalk full of good advice about how to deal with anger. Adrienne Pierce has always been a writer who writes about everyday experiences and emotions that people go through. She never does so in a manner that is depressing, as she almost appears to approach her music with a childlike innocence. Ari Shine’s acoustic guitar work is stellar and he has a beautiful solo about the mid-point of the song. The strings arrangement completes another pretty tapestry on an album of beautiful songs.

Ari Shine plays the Rhodes piano on “Oh Well,” a song about meaning what we say and then keeping our end of the bargain. There are so many wonderful layers to the songs on My Heavens and Mr. Shine and Ms. Pierce have done a splendid job with this album. The album closes with the a cappella “No Words.”

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Reviewed by Joe Montague

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