Toronto folksinger Tamara Lindeman’s makes music among friends under her moniker the Weather Station.
Lindeman performed at Shivering Songs on Saturday at the Cedar Tree Cafe and joined boyfriend Ian Kehoe (Marine Dreams) on the Capital Complex stage that night.
“I think that we are we sort have been traveling towards one another for a long time,” said Lindeman about Ian Kehoe of Marine Dreams. “He’s been playing folkier and I’ve been playing more like him.”
The collaboration continues under You’ve Changed Records which just announced a series of duets with Lindeman and fellow songwriters. The project is called “The Weather Station Duet Series.”
The label was formed in 2007 by Ian Kehoe (Marine Dreams) and Daniel Romano, who were both members of Ontario’s Attack in Black, and Steve Lambke (Baby Eagle) from Constantines.
The first three collaborations will feature Marine Dreams, Romano and Baby Eagle. The two song singles have a Feb. 12 release date.
Kehoe and Lindeman have had widely separate musical careers. Lindeman independently released her debut album in 2009, which was as different as it could be from her second release under You’ve Changed Records in 2011.
Her recent release, All of It Was Mine, had a lighter sound.
“My first record was very intense and very dark, and I made it in my bedroom and All of It Was Mine was very easy and it was a couple easy days,” said Lindeman.
“It wasn’t intentional. It was just a response to a loss in my life so I was writing about that, and I wanted to specifically.”
The story behind her newest album questioned loss, and explored what was left.
“It’s a theme of ownership and questioning what’s yours,” said Lindeman. “And what’s the meaning of objects and solid things you surround your life with.”
While Lindeman was writing and recording as the Weather Station, Kehoe was busy in the studio doing the same for his self-titled album as Marine Dreams.
Kehoe’s album was released in 2011 and said the recording process was quick, much like what Lindeman said about her most recent release.
“I’m kind of still trying to cultivate that part of myself so it wasn’t really a period where it came really quickly,” said Kehoe. “But it’s just a natural case where I had accumulated enough thought to make this record.”
Attack in Black released at least one album a year from 2005 to 2009. Kehoe had time to breathe when some band members began exploring their solo projects.
“It became such a thing where all of us were able to easily write enough songs to be the leader of all of our bands which is instinctively what happened,” said Kehoe.
Despite the different avenues Lindeman’s and Kehoe’s careers have gone, they’re now doing a recording together and sharing the stage.
It’s easy to hear how talented both artists are, not only as performers, but as writers.
One of Kehoe’s poems was even published in the Shivering Songs zine that was being passed around during the festival.
“I think that maybe lyrically speaking if you listen to the language, it’s a little different,” said Kehoe.
Lindeman said she writes more externally, while Kehoe focuses more internally.
“Me myself my soul which sounds egotistical when you say it aloud,” said Kehoe.
“But I think the feeling of what we’re trying to express comes from a very similar space,” said Kehoe.
