Reb Fountain - EP Review: Hopeful & Hopeless
This beautiful little collection of songs was recorded in my
favourite live music venue, The Wine Cellar. I remember many fond times,
snuggled into one of their many couches, feet up, mulled wine in hand listening
to talented people performing in the intimate space.
It should also be mentioned that this collection of songs is a beautiful tribute to Fountain's dear friend, Sam Prebble. Dealing with the loss of her friend and musical companion, and with their collection of works unfinished, Reb naturally knew that to reconnect was through these incomplete works, to bring us Hopeful & Hopeless and the upcoming album Little Arrows.
There is something very poetic and soulful about Reb
Fountain's songs. With enchanting vocals, gorgeous lyrics and polished, sweet
tunes, Fountain has established herself as a very strong singer/songwriter.
After being in the finals of Battle of the bands in the 1990’s,
Fountain vanished from the music scene and experienced the adventure known as
Life.
After training as a jazz vocalist in Seattle, getting a
degree, becoming a Mum, her craving to have the time to write, perform, learn,
create and share her music with others grew strong.
Hopeful & Hopeless is an assembly of silky smooth vocals
with heart felt stories. My personal favourites from this EP are Gold, a
song with attitude, brashness and with that perfect amount of sassiness, and Dance
With Death Alive, another song that showcases the pure tone of Fountain’s
voice.
If you want to listen to a group of songs that are raw and emotive,
this is for you. It also should be mentioned, that with the knowledge of this
EP being recorded in the Wine Cellar, you can feel the ambience and mood
these songs would set in a live venue. Even though I have not seen Fountain
perform live, I can imagine it would be an incredibly beautiful experience.
About Reb Fountain
Perhaps it’s more like what didn’t happen: She got her first guitar at six and by the age of thirteen she had mapped her poetry onto melody, writing lyrics to the sound of her acoustic guitar. She’s been singer/songwriter for three bands Immaculate Sun, Like Water and Beckoning South with talented musicians like Pete Woods (Salmonella Dub/DJ Rockwood), Tony Harlem (Future Stupid), Mark Tyler (Salmonella Dub) and Pete Hobbs (Lesley Speaker/Kitset); trained as a jazz vocalist at a college in Seattle performing with great musicians which drummed out any insecurities about playing live; lived and recorded in major musical cities like New York, Vancouver and London all the time living and breathing music.
Yet you could be forgiven for not knowing who Reb Fountain is. If you’ve been at one of her gigs you certainly wouldn’t have forgotten her. Or maybe, by chance, you would’ve heard one her low-fi 4 track recordings with Like Water on Indie Hit Disc (#5 and 8), doing the rounds on RDU and Radio One. There’s no doubt, with her immense talent and productivity as a singer/songwriter, that she should’ve made several records in the last decade, but that hasn’t been her path until now. She’s been a lover, a fighter, a mother, and a writer; got a degree, two gorgeous kids, plenty of knowledge with wisdom to boot, strong political leanings and a great big heart wide-open to the world around her. Fortunately for us it pulses deeper and stronger everyday with desire to have the freedom to write and play, perform and learn, travel and share music with others.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Reb Fountain
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