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Secret Spot

Melanie Dekker album cover
Release Date: March 2, 2018
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This album “SECRET SPOT” is available for you on iTunes, Spotify, & Melanie’s albums here in her website store.

Secret Spot – Full Album Release

  • Friday March 2nd, 2018 (release date)

This is a spirited and dynamic Melanie Dekker album, recorded with award-winning Canadian producer Sheldon Zaharko, and supported by Creative BC and the Government of British Columbia.

The grant allowed this project to flourish, in that the players we wanted could be hired, I could work with a now award winning engineer/producer, Sheldon Zaharko, and we could work in the studios that felt the best. Of note, “Front Row” got special treatment as it was recored in The Warehouse Studio, and it turned out to be the last time I would record with my long-time touring partner, the late David Sinclair.

A collection of 10 songs that will take you to a few special corners of your heart. There is depth & variety, and the more you listen the sweeter the details get. The pace is somewhat like walking through a city on a sunny day where the wind is howling and seems to chase you, as its strength differs with every turn you make.  “This folk-pop record was mostly influenced by the last 100 shows, journeys experienced with my family & dearest friends over the last 5 years, and paying attention to the ‘quiver’ you get when something makes the hair on your arms stand up.  The music I listened to these past few years (‘City & Colour’, ‘Tom Petty’, ‘The Band’, ‘John Mayer’, ‘Ed Sheeran’) and inevitably some heartbreak also played a part.”

Keith Scott (Bryan Adam’s guitar player) offered an exciting addition to campfire kitchen party feel of “Te Amo Mucho”, and and the moving E-Bow part in “Memories of You”. “Te Amo Mucho” was a song I wrote within about an hour as I was recalling the scene of watching my Dad watching sing along to the Vaqueros in Baja, Mexico only a few weeks earlier. And “Memories of You” was a song I had written about my own love heartbreak, whereby the intensity amplified as it got melded the heartbreak of a different kind – my tennis buddy, had been murdered by his own brother. Images seemed to get stronger the more I played them over in my head, though I didn’t focus on the sorrow. Rather I focused on the images I missed and held dear most.

The backbone of most of the tracks are my acoustic guitar, and then I coloured the songs with my favourite musicians and instruments. I also dared to use my fingers on the piano track on ‘Always Gonna Be’, gently strummed the Ukulele on ‘More Human’, got funky with the Wurlitzer piano on ‘Better when we do’, and gently hammered it all home on a Rhodes Piano on ‘When it’s over’ – the final and most gentle track.

The Players

Flavio Cirillo – Drums
Dylan Weightman – Drums
Elliot Polsky – Drums & Percussion
Allan Rodger – Drums & Bass
Jeremy Holmes – Bass
Eric Reed – Banjo & Slide Guitar
Paul Pigat – E. Guitar
Keith Scott – E. Guitar
David Sinclair – E. Guitar

Paul Rigby – E. Guitar
James Stobbe – Accordion
Marina Hasselberg – Cello
Terry Townsend – Trumpet
Allan Rodger – Keys, 12-String Guitar
David Sinclair – BG Vocals
Keith Scott – BG Vocals
Jay Riehl – BG Vocals
David Borys – BG Vocals
Vicky Sjohall – BG vocals
Jeremy Holmes – BG vocals

The CO-WRITERS

Nadine Strom, Steve Soucy, Allan Rodger, David Borys

V.I.P’s WHO ADDED ESSENTIAL HUMAN INGREDIENTS

Producer Zed Productions, False Creek, Vancouver, BC
Mastering – Zen Mastering, Gabriola Isl., BC
Art & Design – Len Rooney (www.lenrooney.com)
Photography – Len Rooney, Mark van Hees, Dave Allen aka Meep.
Photographic LocationsGranville Island Market, Vancouver, BC, a quick stop at R&B Brewing co. in Olympic Village, Vancouver, BC, and a park in Kelowna, BC (Vinyl insert only).

Where you can find more

This album and more is available for you on iTunes, Spotify, & Melanie’s albums here inside her website store.

Lyrics


M.Dekker / S. Soucy

1. Memories of you

Now it’s just everything that reminds me of you
My 6th sense turns on the devil’s muse
My head gives my heart a talking to
But I just can’t fight with the memories of you

Girls & guitars stopped you on a dime
We binged on chocolate ‘round midnight
Starlight eyes ’n moods like the tide
Philosophized over the meaning of life-time

You said you’d do anything for me
And I said I would never leave
A perfect plan suddenly ceased
A punishment ’n I pray for reprieve

You You You You

You were drawn to slow songs in ‘G’
Your hands told a good story
I loved ya most when you sat next to me
We didn’t plan this grand finale


M.Dekker / D. Borys

2. Front row

It’s time we got a little higher
Drop some – coloured pins on the map
Live by the words of my mother
Love it all – when it comes to looking back

Let’s buy tickets on an airplane baby
Get loosey-goosey all around
Travel in style, play a little crazy
Turn never into now

We keep waiting on someday
Some say – someday never comes
Well, she showed up while I was sleeping
Waking me – to the beat of my own drum

Let’s buy tickets to the front row baby
Love it when it gets really loud
Sing-along-even-if-we-get the words wrong
Turn never into now

It’s not all about the money
Honey, don’t let it get ya down

Let’s buy tickets for the lottery baby
No harm dreaming out loud
Lucky numbers find us eventually
Turning never into now


M Dekker

3. More Human

In a bind that I can’t bend
No sleep for days on end
Cause things went so badly
Words I wish I didn’t say
The wine got in the way
And I am truly sorry

I want to take it back
Undo what’s been done
Never have I felt
More human, more human

Now alone I eat from a chipped plate
My words withdrawn too late
I hope that you’ll forgive me
Maybe somewhat wiser now
With my mistakes abound
Oh I have loved you badly


M Dekker

4. Ginned Up

No pennies from heaven
Just giggle water and backseat bingo
Gary had his hottie jacked up
‘N Used a bit of that Gansta lingo

He carried a torch for Diane
Though he never called her by her name
Just called her: “Baby, Darlin’, Sugar, Sweet-ie”
His sunshine, when it rained

She’d get ginned up & extra pretty
Home for lunch, ya he’d be
He said I dig it when you’re beside me

Ginned up & extra pretty
She like to sing for their three babies
She was fly, she could’ve gone pro
All her dreams were all about living now
and watching their babies grow

The youngest heard his mother’s name
At nine years old
The day he heard the neighbour call
Is Diane home
The smile on Gary’s face
that could’ve said it all
“That’s your Mom son,
she’s my sugar baby darlin’ sweetie”


M Dekker

5. Try Me

Legend has it, you can put your troubles in
To a basket you then send floating
Down a river down the trouble goes
They’re gone now to where nobody knows

Let your basket carry away your struggles
Which suck the life from your spirit and your soul
Hang on to logic & dreams baby
Trouble can’t swim upstream

Hand me what you got – anything you want
I will rise above the crazy
Hand me what you got – anything you want
Go ahead and Try Me, Try Me

It whisks away with your worries ’n sins
And all the times you didn’t win
Fill them with heartaches & pain
All you never want to see again

It’s all in your mind, take it away it’s story time
It’s all in your mind, now unwind


M Dekker

6. Always Gonna Be

There’s always gonna be
Somebody faster smarter prettier
Don’t sweat it baby
Do the best you can with what you’ve been given

That’s what Mama told me
So in this way, is how I’ve been livin’
Good, bad & the ugly have a shoot out
Somewhere, sometime each one goes down
Your best bet, is keep your head high
And your feet on the ground

After – someone hurts you,
a lesson’s learned
Despite – good intentions, we all get burned
Chasing love, is like watching the sun
melt away sweet sugar

There’s always gonna be
Somebody faster smarter prettier
That won’t stop me (no no)
I’ll find a way with what I’ve been given
That’s what mama told me
And in this way, is how I’ve been livin’


M Dekker

7. Te amo mucho

I never heard my Dad sing, but he sure likes to play music loud
Likes to dance up a storm, the polite guy in a crowd
As a young boy at school, he was told not to open his mouth
By a daft music teacher who did not like his sound

His campfire stories reveal a tough & intelligent man
‘Letting go’ is not his strong suit, and such things you can not plan

Well, I was there when the cowboys of Baja played his favourite song
He looked like a young man again, as if no-one had ever done him wrong
Te Amo Mucho, I’ll be damned, he sang along

And as the moon shone over the devine Sierra hills
It told us to love everything, and sent us a feel good chill

At the end of the song the stars caught the light in his eyes
He quickly wiped away a tear that he left in those magical skies


Allan Rodger

8. Secret Spot

Follow
I’ll take you to my secret spot
And I will show
All the precious things I’ve got
Follow…whistle, Follow…whistle.

At the edge of town
Cut across the tracks
Thru the fields, Thru the woods
Thru the trees
Take the trail to the cliff
To the end of the beach
Where stars hang down in reach

It’s across this bridge
To the end of the ridge
Where the sky, Meets the sea
Meets the sand
Where the moon beams bright
On a star filled night
I know you’ll understand


M Dekker / N Strom

9. Better When We Do

Wouldn’t it be nice to take away
Everything that makes you jaded
And wouldn’t it be sweet if you felt
Pretty every time you got naked

Wouldn’t it be cool, to never fake
‘Cause we think reality’s not great
Wouldn’t it be freedom just to say
I love you, every time you feel that way

Sometimes we don’t want to dance
Sometimes we don’t want to care
And sometimes I don’t want to sing
But I feel better when I do

Wouldn’t it be wise to break it down
Un-complicate your emotions
Isn’t it a lift when you’ve found
A way to see the other, way ’round

Playin’ the fool
While keeping it cool


M Dekker

10. When it’s over

When it’s over, you just know
Look over your shoulder, as you let go
Of the highest highs and the lowest lows

Looking for words, turns out
that none of them matter
The pain, the love, turns out
cannot be measured

You break down, you break free
As heartache shatters thee
To re-live the scenes, only
keeps them familiar
To take them apart, only
serves as a slow killer

We catch on, we move on
We feel weak, while we stay strong

I think it was love, maybe not enough
I think it was love, maybe not enough
Baby Not enough

When it’s over
That’s when you start over

Album Review

Melanie Dekker's A Born Story-Teller

Melanie Dekker boasts quite the résumé. As well as opening for Bryan Adams, Faith Hill, and Russell Peters, the roots-pop singer-songwriter has performed in front of Bill Clinton and played shows and festivals all over Europe and Canada. In short: Dekker knows how to write a slamming country-pop tune.

Secret Spot proves she hasn’t lost her touch. A master of creating relentless earworms, the artist owes her success to keeping it simple. Relying on acoustic-guitar strums, the performer rarely adds more accompaniment than light drums, bass, and keys, instead investing her talent in catchy choruses and sing-it-again lyrics.

Dekker’s true gift on the album, though, is her storytelling. “I never heard my dad sing, but he sure likes to play music loud/Likes to dance up a storm, the polite guy in a crowd,” she intones on “Te Amo Mucho”, telling the tale of how her father found his voice. Title track “Secret Spot”, meanwhile, intimately describes a route through the trees to the edge of a beach—a map that seems to correlate perfectly with the singer’s home in Deep Cove. Secret Spot also sees the artist dabble in more diverse instrumentation. Standout track “Memories of You” shimmers with an aching electric-guitar riff and Dekker’s artful vocal acrobatics, while “Better When We Do” offers a playful take on female self-love with jazz chords and velvety trumpet accents.

Dekker isn’t transforming the genre on her new record—but that’s never been her goal. Rather, the album offers a master class in roots-pop at its very best—and a must-listen for any Vancouverites looking to make a mark on country music.

--- Georgia Straight, Vancouver, Canada

_______________________________________

2. SECRET SPOT CD. (March 2, 2018) - Gesegnet von ihrem untrüglichen Gespür für ungemein natürliche, ohrenfreundliche Melodien finden die zehn neuen Songs der kanadischen Singer-Songwriterin gleich beim ersten Hören ihren Weg in Sinn und Seele, und spätestens bei der zweiten Begegnung gehen sie nicht mehr aus dem Herz. Mit ihrer 2018er Song-Sammlung verfeinert sie ihre grundeigene Gratwanderungs-Kunst zwischen reinem Wurzelwerk und allerlei Pop (& mehr)-Affinitäten, nutzt sie bei aller gefühlter Erdverbundenheit gern auch sicher gesetzte Fremd-Stilmittel, um ihre attraktiv angerauhte Stimme noch eine Spur geschmeidiger in das geneigte Gehör zu tragen. Auch wenn es vorwiegend die vollen Akkordklänge ihrer Akustik-Gitarre sind, die die Basis der reifen Roots-Stücke zwischen Folk, Country und Roots-Rock (mit allen möglichen Stil-Feinheiten dazwischen) bilden, so schafft sie mit mithilfe begabter Freunde und trefflich dargebotenen Instrumentalglanzstücken auf E-Gitarren, Mandoline, Banjo, Akkordeon und Trompete vielschichtig schillernde Abwechslung; volle, nie überfüllte Band-Besetzungen wechseln sich ab mit Momenten solitärer Intensität, wenn die Meisterin des gesungenen Lächelns ihre Stimme allein zu Ukulele, Klavier oder Rhodes Piano tief in die Seele sinken lässt. Zwischen Twang und Schwung, Highway und Heartland, wiegendem Folk-Rock und knochentrockenem Country, beseeltem Gospel-Hauch, gefühlsseliger Ballade und reif-rauchigem Shelby Lynne-Soul reicht uns Melanie ein Sing-Songwriter-Schmuckstück von ehrlich-eingängiger Natürlichkeit, das selbst in den melancholischen Moll-Momenten dem Lauscher ein Lächeln schenkt. (cpa)

--- 2. Glitterhouse Mailorder, Germany

Melanie
by Tom Harrison | Mar 6, 2018

The one song on Melanie Dekker’s new album that wasn’t written by her but Allan Rodger has become the title track, Secret Spot. That alone speaks volumes about how Dekker has grown confident in herself enough to shine a light on someone other than herself.

Anyhow, it’s a nice, meaningful gesture in a record that isn’t a bravura me-me-me performance but which reflects years of growing up in public. Dekker has been touring Europe regularly, where presumably she’s developed a following and a base, as well as developing an identity.

That experience has guided the record, which touches on many genres, mixes instrumentation (brass, banjo, several purposefully chosen keyboards), vocal arrangements that can be both lightheartedly playful and solemnly holy.

Although it’s bracketed by songs that appraise a broken, ended relationship (Memories Of You, When It’s Over) it isn’t a concept about lost love, but is more upbeat than that though no less intimate. Secret Spot isn’t the most aggressive song on the album, Ginned Up is, nor is it thematic. Yet,  in its own understated way, comments on where Dekker is now.
http://www.tomharrisonmusic.com/2018/03/06/melanie-and-pacific/

--- 3. Tom Harrison, Vancouver, Canada
(Demolisten, The Province, Sound Proof, History of Vancouver’s Rock & Roll Book)
- by Kate Wilson, Georgia Straight | March 8, 2018