Solstice Cafe presents Melanie Brulee

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Saturday, April 27th, 2013
8:00 PM

"A delightful, slightly twisted cabaret-pop solo debut...written through the lens of a woman who knows who she is and perhaps even knows what she wants." New Canadian Music

"Une voix riche..." Melissa Hetu, BRBR, TFO

SOUNDS LIKE? Edith Piaf and Stevie Nicks walking down a cobblestone road in Paris in high heels while Eartha Kitt and Leslie Feist ride past on vintage bicycles.

WHAT'S THE STORY? The year is 1990. All the cool kids are wearing doc martens, sporting piercings all the way up their ears and listening to INXS. Melanie is eight years old and regularly steals her step-sister's guitar from her closet to pluck away at strings, playing by ear. Until a string breaks. So the eight year old decides she's gonna give herself the second ear-piercing she's been dying for. With the guitar string.

Over a decade later, Melanie made her first trip to Australia and found herself learning chords from fellow travelers and borrowing guitars along the way, writing in French and in English and busking on the streets of Byron Bay. Twenty-twelve marked the beginning of a new era for Melanie � she acquired her first electric guitar (a sexy black Gretcsh) and formed a new project complete with a killer horn section. Her debut solo release, Sucr�/Sal� (Oct 2012) is a 5-track EP which includes lyrics in French and in English and has been described as "quirky and inventive...with instrumentation that adds Euro flair." �Wonder�, was chosen as a theme song for a play- �Mister Baxter� (Quickening Theatre)- in which Melanie performed original music at Theatre Passe Muraille.


Twenty-thirteen is shaping up to be a big year for Melanie. April will see her tour BC on the Via Rail onboard entertainment program and she'll be crossing Canada a second time in the summer with Anique Granger who is also a bilingual artist. Between releasing a compilation album with Ladies In Waiting (a collective of independent Toronto-based touring artists- of which Melanie is a founding member) and releasing an EP and touring with her folk-country the Ole Fashion, Melanie continues to leave her pawprints across Canada.
Melanie is known for outgoing, engaging performances with an retro-meets-modern vibe and has carried her busking roots with her ever since. She now exudes a confidence onstage that can only come from being exposed to elements and variables that buskers have to live with. "I grew up as an only child for my formative years and I think that made me more at ease in public spaces," she says now. "I was a little shit! 'Hey, look at me!' were probably my first words," she'll tell you matter-of-factly. Being able to address and engage a crowd without needing a microphone has played to her advantage ever since.
There are many characters in Melanie's performances. The sassy French-Canadian arsonist, the twangy country star and the family-minded folkie are among her musical disguises, and none of these personalities outweighs the others. "These are all parts of my experience; they are just intense, heightened versions of what I've been through and how I've felt."
After turning 21 she spent the better part of the next seven years between her hometown of Cornwall, Ontario and the rainforests outside of Byron Bay, Australia where she formed pop-rock trio General Electryk, as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist.
Back and forth between Canada and Australia, the reformed General Electryk featured Melanie with Australian drummer and producer Angus Donnelly, Ontario bass player Jason Ryan, Cornwall-born lead guitarist Marc D. Muir and Morrocan percussionist Noureddine Ismag. The band supported Chantal Kreviazuk at Cornwall's Lift Off Festival in 2010 � and a year later Melanie earned the award for "Musician of the Year" honours in Cornwall. General Electryk's debut album "Petty Little Things," produced by Glenn Forrester (Sarah Slean, Barstool Prophets, Enter the Haggis) was relesed in October 2010 and then most of the tracks were reissued on 12" vinyl in February 2012.


Despite seven years of alternating between Canada and Australia, she made the move to settle down in Toronto, where she continues to write, perform � and tour � her new material beside the likes of seasoned folk artists such as Andrea Ramolo, Jadea Kelly, Cindy Doire, Jay Aymar, Dave Borins, Corin Raymond, Sarah Burton and Faye Blais. 

influences
edith piaf
eartha kitt
sarah harmer
feist
stevie nicks
coeur de pirate
vanessa paradis
chris isaak