Vancouver based songstress Hilary Grist describes her new CD “Come and Go” as “the soundtrack for the feature film that is your life.” However her music is literally the soundtrack to the lives of characters in popular television shows like Grimm, Being Human, Continuum, Arctic Air and Degrassi.
She comes to Lethbridge to play the Owl Acoustic Lounge, July 5 with her band— her husband Mike Southworth on guitar and Dominique Fricot who will be playing a set of his own. Both of them play guitar with her while she plays piano.
“ We’re just getting prepared for the tour,” she said adding she is pleased with her new full length album.
“ I recorded it here in Vancouver with my husband Mike. I collected a lot of songs for it and it soon became clear that there was the common theme of the beauty of the fragility of life,” she said.
“It’s the type of album you can put on either when you need a pick me up or when you want to go running in the rain,” she said.
“But there are some darker undertones,” said Grist who placed fourth in the Peak project competition in 2011
There is a bright light to the darker undertones,” as her song “Waltzing Matilda” was recently featured on an episode of Degrassi.
“So I’ve got my fingers crossed for more,” she said.
A couple older songs “Say Goodbye and “Swallow Me Up” were featured on a episode of time travel science fiction show Continuum. She is always pleasantly surprised to hear her music on popular television shows.
“ It’s really rewarding,” she said.
“ I really enjoy connecting with people through their favourite television shows,” she said.
“ It’s a really beautiful thing to share their lives in that way.”
She just completed a video for “Chemical Reaction.”
“ We painted the 10 foot high walls of our apartment in chalk for it. We turned the whole apartment into a giant chalk board,” she said.
She doesn’t tour as often as some artists.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a road dog. I like to tour about once a year. I’ll be touring western Canada and in the fall I’ll start booking Ontario and Quebec,” she said.
“ I love meeting people and seeing all of the friends you make and the old friends you already have. And we’ve got family just outside of Taber, so this is a great excuse to meet them,” she continued.
“ And we get to see this beautiful country. I’ve seen a lot of major cites, but it is neat to see the character each one has,” she said.
She said the live show is pretty laid back.
“ It’s definitely a feel good, relaxing set though it isn’t mellow. It’s very intimate and we tell stories about the songs. It’s not a rock and roll show. It’s nice listening music,” she described.
