Beautiful Seed - Corrinne May in Concert
3rd August 2007, Friday
NUS Cultural Centre Hall, 8pm
By Jonathan Fong
Singaporean musician Corrinne May returns home for a concert appearance in NUS this August, quite possibly her only concert performance in Singapore for this year. The last time she performed at the NUS UCC Hall was to two full houses in Feb 2006.
This time round Corrinne will perform songs from her upcoming third album, Beautiful Seed, as well as favorites from her previous two albums, Safe In A Crazy World and Fly Away. Tickets are almost sold out (we found a pair being exchanged on Yahoo Auctions Singapore for a cool $140!), so pull out whatever special favors you can muster to land seats for what promises to be an unforgettable, magical evening with Ms. May.
Corrinne kindly agreed to answer some questions we were curious about, giving us some insight on what she’s been up to, and what to expect at her show back here.
Local Singaporean musicians often face the struggle of convincing their families to be supportive of their musical aspirations. How has your family reacted towards your decision to study music in the Berklee College of Music and to you choosing a career as a singer songwriter?
My family has always been very supportive of my music and for that I am truly blessed.
My parents were against me going overseas when I was 18 years old, because they felt that I was still too young, but when I was 23, after graduating from NUS, they put their support behind my decision to go overseas to study music. I am truly grateful that my family helped to financially support my decision to attend Berklee College of Music.
I am also glad that I waited till I was an adult to go overseas to study. Being older helps one to adjust better to the drastic change of being in the situation of being alone in a new country. It also helped me know what I wanted to achieve in the time that I was overseas.
I think that the decision to stay on and work in the US and to be a singer-songwriter was a gradual one. It was not some abrupt spur of the moment decision, but it was a decision taken over the course of time and circumstances. Thus, I think it was easier for my family to accept and support, because they knew that I was serious about the decision, and that I was in a good situation to make music my career.
I think that having Kavin, my husband and music producer here in L.A as well helps them to be o.k with my decision to stay and make music here. It helps my parents have more peace of mind, knowing that I have someone here who will be here for me. Of course, I miss my family in Singapore and they miss having me there, especially for the big family celebrations like Christmas and Chinese New Year, but we try to keep in touch as often as we can, be it weekly phone calls, video conferences, or trips back home whenever we can.
In the past 8 years since you’ve moved to Los Angeles you must have played countless gigs and concerts. Share with us some of the most memorable experiences and any forgettable ones.
One of the most memorable ones was during one of my first few solo performances at a coffeehouse called the Un-Urban Coffeehouse. A macho looking guy was seated in front of the stage and after I sang ‘Journey’, I looked over and saw him wiping away tears from his eyes.
As for forgettable ones, a few years back, my friend and I were taking turns to busk on 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica one afternoon. While I was busking and singing ‘Angel in Disguise’, a cop on a bicycle pulled over, stood in front of my speaker with a noise-level meter reader, took the reading, and cited me for playing too loud! I felt quite upset. It wasn’t like I was shouting and screaming or playing for a rock band. I think the cop just had a bad day.
Tell us about the experience in working on your current album, Beautiful Seed. Are there any particular themes or issues that differ from your last two albums?
It’s been an intense couple of months working on ‘Beautiful Seed’. We started pre-production on the album, ie. talking about arrangements, ways to produce the record in March 2007. At about the same time, I had just had a heart procedure done to correct a heart rhythm ailment and so I was still recuperating from it and it was hard to be patient during the healing process especially since we had a deadline to complete the album by July. So, that was one of the challenges we faced.
Apart from that, the recording of the band, and the strings went into full swing in April and May and it was so wonderful to just build the album up over time and to see it slowly blossoming. We rented a grand piano and set it up in our living room to record the piano parts for the album and it was so nice to be able to have a piano to play with in the house for 3 weeks.
We engaged a guitar player from Australia called Mark Punch who was recommended to us by our engineer, Helik Hadar. He is such an amazing player and Kavin and I loved working with him. The vocals were recorded in our home studio.
Kavin and I had a good productive time working on the album together. This is the first time that I have shared production duties on an album. We worked on the arrangements together, sat in with all the musicians together, worked out guitar parts, bass parts and vocal parts together, tracked the strings at Westlake Audio in Hollywood together, and sat in on all the mixes with the engineers.
It truly represents a milestone in the way that Kavin and I work together and I must say we both enjoyed the process immensely.
As for themes, I believe that ‘Beautiful Seed’ is an album that hopes in change, positive change. It is an album that seeks to remind people of the beauty, hope and joy in life, in all it’s ups and downs. I think it is an album that hopes to sow seeds of change.
I think people often forget how the smallest, most seemingly insignificant things can have such beautiful possibilities. All it takes is one person to make a difference in this world. People like Mother Teresa, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. testify to this fact. But often, we are so afraid to try, to speak up, or to make a difference.
I named the album ‘Beautiful Seed’ because I think that a seed is a wonderful metaphor for our lives. We are all like seeds. Seeds grow unseen in the soil and then sprout, and some seed become the biggest, most majestic trees and others grow to eventually bear wonderful fruit, and yet others, grow to provide shade. We are like trees. When we are in our mother’s womb, no one can see us growing, but we are there. And all the potential for our lives is present in that moment, small as we are at that point in our lives, we are who we are now because of what we’ve gone through. And just knowing that, makes me sad to read about the increasing numbers of abortions that occur. People have forgotten that all the potential for life comes from something small, seemingly insignificant, seemingly lifeless.
Recently, I read about how scientists managed to grow a date palm plant from a 2000 year old seed. How amazing.
Aside from your family and friends here, list some of the things you miss the most about being away from Singapore.
Food, Food, Food. The greenery. The rain.
What would be some the proudest moments of your career thus far?
‘Safe in a Crazy World’ topped the album charts in Singapore for two weeks.
I was really happy about that. Other than that, every time I’ve sold out a concert in Singapore, I’ve been joyful. My winning the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Award in Texas, was also a proud moment for me.
It was also lovely to receive the COMPASS Young Composer of the Year award and the Wings of Excellence award for my contributions to the local and regional music scene. My alma mater NUS also recently awarded me the Outstanding Young Alumni Award. That was a wonderful moment too.
Where do you draw inspiration from in writing your songs? Are there any musical influences that currently inspire you?
From prayer, from reading, from journaling, from my observations about life, from my own life…all these inspire me with ideas of which some evolve to become songs.
As for musical influences, Imogen Heap, Keane, U2, John Mayer, Joni Mitchell,
classical music….all these have made their mark on me.
Lastly, what can fans expect of the upcoming NUS show? Seeing as how tickets are almost sold out is there any chance you might schedule one extra performance for those who missed out?
Sharings on the songs, premieres of the songs from ‘Beautiful Seed’and a selection of favourites from the previous albums ‘Fly Away’ and ‘Safe in A Crazy World’.
I’ll also be sharing the stage with a string ensemble, a band and a grand piano.
I believe that tickets are sold-out. Sorry, I won’t be scheduling another extra performance.
