Canada's Eclectic Chanteuse
Anatomy looms large for Vancouver's Veda Hille (say "vay-duh
hill-ay"). Her second CD, entitled Spine, is now available
in the United States. Keeping with the anatomical theme, her
first CD, produced in 1994, is called Path of a Body.
Although she thinks categorizing her music is
"useless," as it is with "anything as ephemeral as
an art form," her own attempted summary of her musical style
is "fierce and literate music, jazz, angular, pop,
beautiful."
"It's not music that everyone will like," she admits.
Hille's audience includes people who are, as she explains,
"more interested in thinking than, say, boogying down. It's
not lightweight music."
This year marks her "virginal appearance" as a
performer and attendee at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.
Performing solo at Michigan will be quite a change--when she can,
Hille tours with a four-piece, all-male band. The band is
raucous, with a punk rock vibe. (Her guitarist used to play with
DOA).
In contrast, Hille's own background includes art school and
studies in classical piano. She began performing on stage at age
six. In addition to vocals and piano, she plays tenor guitar
(four string), and a little banjo and accordion.
Hille's current project marks a departure from her previous
work--she's using computer manipulated sounds and collaborating
with a sonic artist, combining electronica with her own
personally-based songwriting. "I want to continue to respond
to what is contemporary, in my own voice," Hille says.
"I like to push the boundaries of what I know,
musically."
Although she prefers the music to be more about
"human-ness" than "woman-ness" she
acknowledges that part of her work that is written from a woman's
point of view. "There is a real influence of blood, dirt,
and kids that is more direct in a woman," she says.
"But the best stuff surpasses gender, orientation and
politics, and becomes high art."
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