VANCOUVER FOLK MUSIC
FESTIVAL 47
Featured Act: Leif Vollebekk
Upcoming Release
Revelation
The album New Ways was released in 2019.
During the pandemic Vollebekk made his
new album Revelation which is due in September.
- ONE SONG Moondog from the upcoming LP Revelation
- PLAYLISTS 2019’s New Ways on Spotify and YouTube
- VIDEO 2017 Polaris Prize performance All Night Sedans
- ABOUT FESTIVAL 47
Leif Vollebekk will play the Main Stage at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival Friday evening, July 19.
LEIF VOLLEBEKK FIRMLY AT EASE
Touring to preview his fifth album, Revelation
Montreal’s Leif Vollebekk has an easy and precise way with a song. The multi-instrumentalist’s lyrics are erudite – he graduated in philosophy from the University of Ottawa – and his playing intricate. He sings clearly with insight. And he skilfully envelops these qualities in an energized warmth.
Moondog, the first song released from his upcoming album Revelation features ruminations on love, knowing and not knowing. His vocal and guitar interplay is passionate and deft. If the song hints at what the album’s 10 other tracks hold, it will mark another step forward in his ouevre. Vollebekk caught attention in 2017 when his album Twin Solitude was a shortlisted finalist for the 2017 Polaris Music Prize and in contention for 2018’s Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year. He released New Ways in 2019.
Due in September, his fifth recording was developed during the pandemic with an “exploration that began with Carl Jung’s I Ching and continued into the science of alchemy and the mystery of the divine.
“During the pandemic lockdown, I was drawn to biographies and books about science. I guess I was looking for something to ground me,” says Vollebekk. “When I read Carl Jung’s Dreams, Memories, Reflections, I was taken aback that he wrote so freely of having premonitions in his dreams and by his fascination with alchemy.
“When I read about Isaac Newton’s life, I discovered that this man of science secretly practiced alchemy in his own laboratory and looked for signs of the apocalypse. The more I read, the more otherworldly all these great scientists were. Dmitri Mendeleev said his breakthrough for the arrangement of the elements came to him in a dream. Is it really that different from Paul McCartney hearing ‘Yesterday’ in a dream?”
Excerpt from Moondog
My mind keeps circling back to you
Just like the universe it begs me to
What frightens me is what frightens you
Oh, babe, what are we gonna do?
What are we gonna do?
I’m breaking free with a deeper will
The one I seek is a seeker still
Always reaching
Never teaching
I know nothing who am I to instruct
Moondog, you’re outta luck
Sometimes there’s magic, sometimes it’s hid
Half of magic is just hiding
I always loved you, just didn’t know I did
One day I just let the light in
It was a barnburner in Galena, Illinois
Fate hit me like a bolt of lightning
–––––––
Vollebekk keeps good musical company. While he self-produced the new album and plays piano, guitar, bass, B3 organ, harmonica, accordion and Moog synthesizer, he called on Tchad Blake (Peter Gabriel, U2, Tom Waits, Tracy Chapman) to mix the disc. Musicians include ace drummer Jim Keltner, steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, bassist Shahzad Ismaily as well as Anaïs Mitchell (Bonny Light Horseman) and Angie McMahon on vocals.
08 June 2024
Vollebekk in the studio
About Festival 47
WHEN
The 47th Annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival runs from July 19 to 21
TICKETS
Early Bird tickets are available and you can purchase them at The Festival
HEAR
Listen to the excellent 40-song Festival sampler curated by the discerning ear of Artistic Director Fiona Black. And while you’re there check out Dobet Gnahoré singing Nadodo and Grace Petrie singing The House Always Wins
VIEW
The full artist line-up and Main Stage 3-Night line-up
PLAYLISTS
On Spotify
On YouTube
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_msSqZvldzCx4M18AVfKqJxmLqS-piYwt0
