MUSIC

 Singer-songwriter Colyn Cameron of Wake Owl has been immersed in the world of music for the past 10 years. Now based in Vancouver, British Columbia and Portland, Oregon, Cameron was originally born and raised in southern California. "In the beginning I was mostly into rhyme stuff/hip hop," Cameron notes, "I wrote rap basically. I used to go around the school ground rapping my verses to whoever would listen. Then about seven years ago I picked up a guitar and taught myself basic stuff and immediately began writing songs." After graduation Cameron trained in organic agriculture at Emerson College in England; worked on different farms throughout the U.K., Germany, Chile, and Canada; and traveled the world. Cameron found his journeys to be a catalyst for writing songs. "My writing process is always changing. I usually find the most inspiration after these long periods of not having too much of my own space, touring or traveling. A lot just tends to pour out rather quickly," he reflects. Upon returning to Vancouver, Cameron spent some time playing in bands before deciding to record the songs he had written after his journey, and thus began the Wild Country EP. "With this EP I was really focused on just creating recordings I could be proud of and felt connected to as a group of songs. I wanted to capture and represent, in all its instrumentation and arrangement, what those songs mean to me," he says. The result is a five-song EP that harvests raw, honest, emotion through Cameron's words and melodies.

For almost a decade Andy Shauf has been building a cult following that hangs on his every word. The dark storytelling and bold gift of melody he displays in his recordings and intimate live shows have drawn comparisons to the early work of Paul Simon, Elliott Smith, and Neil Young. On November 6, Shauf released his first full-length record in over four years, The Bearer of Bad News. It is also undeniably his best, capturing a journey of long winter nights spent writing and hot summer days spent on the road with friends. Recorded alone in the basement, the album is 11 songs built on a weathered piano, a warm guitar, a clarinet, and the melody of a broken heart. At its heart is Shauf's one-of-a-kind voice and dark knack for story. It eventually found its way to producer and engineer Jonathan Anderson, who gave the songs a humble trademark polish and helped them find a way to speak for themselves.