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BRENDA WEILER
http://www.brendaweiler.com/
[BIOGRAPHY]
[PHOTOS]
[PRESS]
[TOUR DATES]
[AUDIO]
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BIOGRAPHY
Four years after her last studio release, Brenda Weiler returns with End The Rain, her bravest and most personal album to date. Her sixth album is scheduled to be released on September 4th on Minnesota's Speaker Phone Records. End The Rain was born of the overwhelming mix of feelings Weiler experienced after losing her older sister to suicide in late 2005. Having been raised in a musical family, it made sense that Brenda would explore the range of emotions she was feeling through song, as evidenced in lyrics from the title track, "I'm not going to say what can be sung." The result is a powerful collection of songs that beautifully articulates a personal journey through loss.
The songs on End The Rain are arranged in the order they were written, allowing the listener to follow Weiler through her experience and grief. The album opener, "Not Forgiven" was the first song Weiler wrote after her sister's death, coming quickly after a long period of silence. In it she sings of the guilt a survivor feels, the size of her burden evident in the catch in her voice as she pleads, 'God, let this pass through me.' "Noise and Sound," an upbeat mantra for change, expresses the desire to feel normal again, while "Those Neighbor Kids" touches on the insufficiency of language to express sympathy and our discomfort with true expressions of grief. End The Rain closes with the title track and the haunting words, 'Can I say goodbye when I'm not done with you?'. Weiler originally envisioned the album ending with a song expressing the peace she found at the end of this process, but neither that feeling nor that song came, and the result is refreshingly honest.
End the Rain was recorded at Shortman Studio in Minneapolis, MN over a period of a week in February 2007 with the help of co-producer and engineer Darren Jackson. The songs were recorded live, vocals and guitar tracked at the same time, with no effects added to either. The result is an honest, intimate sound, highlighting the nuances of Weiler's pure vocals, personal lyrics and clear guitar sound.
Weiler originally started writing songs while in her hometown of Fargo, North Dakota after graduating from high school. Choosing the open road over college, Weiler spent much of the next eight years touring and writing, releasing five albums to critical acclaim and great regional success. Weiler became known for her ability to connect to her audience, regardless of the size of the venue, as well as her insightful songs and compelling voice. Weiler moved to Portland, Oregon from the Midwest five years ago but is planning a move back this summer. She will be touring in support of her new album this fall.
Weiler has become involved in suicide prevention and awareness, helping to organize a benefit walk in her hometown to support the work of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). She's also helped form a local AFSP chapter in Fargo with emphasis on education and survivor support. Although End The Rain was written for personal reasons, she hopes the album will help bring awareness to suicide prevention.
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PHOTOS
Click on a thumbnail to download that hi-res JPEG (suitable for publication):
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TOUR DATES
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PRESS
Performing Songwriter
BRENDA WEILER - End the Rain
by Lee Zimmerman
Written in the aftermath of her sister’s suicide and recorded in a single week, Brenda Weiler’s sixth album is imbued with a sadness and sobriety that befits such tragic circumstance. Etched with remorse (”I never expected something to happen / Something so wicked / Something so out of control,” she intones on “Out of Control”), these songs make the pain palpable.
Within these haunted environs are quiet musings, telling of shattered bonds borne via a weary strum. Yet for every example of tentative desire (“Not Forgiven,” “Wish for the Sun,” “Something Bigger”), there are also hints of reconciliation (“Noise and Sound,” “The Will”). Sparse and sublime, the music feels both intimate and compelling, the downcast arrangements casting an ethereal afterglow. It’s rare to witness a performance that’s so honestly affecting.
Duluth Budgeteer News
BRENDA WEILER - End the Rain
by Matthew R. Perrine
"End the Rain" is quite a perverse pleasure. Or, more accurately, it's almost sickening to derive any pleasure from it whatsoever.
A little background: Portland-by-way-of-Fargo singer/songwriter Brenda Weiler was enjoying quite a little career until her older sister, Jennifer, committed suicide in October 2005.
To deal with her grief, Weiler completely withdrew, even neglecting to pick up her guitar for months.
But when she decided to return to music - much to the benefit of the world at large (especially those among her devoted cult following) - something magical happened: "Not Forgiven."
Then "Falling."
Then "Leaving" and "Wish for the Sun" and ... soon enough, a full album's worth of material was born.
However, having others hear what she wrote - these songs that chronicled her feelings following the premature death of her sibling - was never her plan.
It's impossible to determine what happened to allow us into this tragic world, but we're all the better for it.
"End the Rain" is a fascinating 11-song cycle of emotions, preserved intact as the album is presented in chronological order.
So that leaves us, the listeners, unsure of how to properly respond.
On one hand, the tracks are timeless gems. "Noise and Sound," in particular, is exceedingly alluring - only topped by 2003's Dealership-esque "California" - as it features Weiler transforming her persona into something along the lines of a female Elliott Smith (one of her primary influences).
Yet, on the other hand, it just feels wrong. All of it.
For starters, "End the Rain" is more than a little voyeuristic: Most of the songs were written with Weiler alone in a room, crying ... the guitar in her hands the closest thing to a warm embrace.
And perhaps the most troubling aspect out of all of this is that this is an album that shouldn't even exist.
Weiler should have never had to write these songs, however beautiful they may be.
If you want stark, breathy folk stripped down to its raw, emotional core, you've got it - but the heart-wrenching loss felt by Weiler's family is sometimes just too much to bear.
This is as epic and engrossing as anything her idol Smith ever got the chance to record, but it's not a recording to take lightly.
VenusZine
BRENDA WEILER - End the Rain
by Erin Wolf
"Time will not heal," folk singer-songwriter Brenda Weiler intones on the first track of End the Rain, an album with lyrics born from the suicide of Weiler;s older sister Jennifer. Written during the intense recovery and rebuilding period Weiler experienced, the 11 tracks here serve as letters written - and traced over and over in Weiler's mind-as a point of purification.
Building from opener "Not Forgiven," where Weiler implores, "Do you see me here all alone?," to closer "End the Rain," where she shakily resolves herself to question "Can I say goodbye when I'm not done with you? / How can I say goodbye when you didn't?," Weiler channels her grief - her lyrics raw - but her dulcet voice sounding like a folky Feist. In a genre grounded in storytelling tradition as opposed to pop-novelty, End the Rain can be appreciated for its ultimate tangibility.
End the Rain, despite its deeply personal subject matter, is a far stray from Weiler's earlier albums, which are equally moving in their personal lyricism, simplistic palpability, and unabashedly stripped sounds. This album especially is meant to spotlight the story, in line with folk tradition. Weiler's clear and tremulous alto lights up the dark, lyrical corners of a waiting room, where she sits with her guitar, working through her grief. In a steady trail of words meant to strengthen, Weiler attempts to explain and fix an incident that can only be righted through the catharsis that song can bring.
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AUDIO
Click on an audio track below to download a 60 second clip:
Brenda Weiler - End The Rain [2007]
Not Forgiven [mp3]
Leaving [mp3]
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