TalentCast is not a company or foundation, TalentCast is a voluntary project of 3 people (Catself (Agnieszka Holm), MissY and Johan Jongerius) who are enthusiastic about promoting independent music.
To reduce a sublime complexity to base simplicity, in Australian Aboriginal mythology, the physical world we inhabit runs parallel to a greater, spiritual dimension called The Dreaming. The Dreaming is the source of all creation, a sacred realm that imbues the waking world we live in with meaning. In the Aboriginal belief, The Dreaming is more real than the real world.
Montreal singer, songwriter and soul miner Angie creates at the convergence of these two streams, pairing natural, tangible vitality with an inner-born, epic sensuality that spans the lands of real and imagined. And she’s never even been to Australia.
“I believe the creative process starts with the dreams more than the music,” Angie posits. “There are always certain dreams or visions that stay with me, and even weeks or months later they’ll still be there like a cloud over my head. And music really helps me put that into perspective and bring it into a more real dimension.”
A formidable foe demands a formidable talent, and here Angie is as fearsome as they come, wielding a twin-chord attack of the piano and vocal variety, supported by a full band (bass, drums, violin and cello) and a deadly array of writing. Whether it’s sweeping emotional arcs in the manner of an Amos or Amy Lee, or feather-gentle evocation reminiscent of countrywomen McLachlan and Kreviazuk, on the eve of the release of her album debut, the fittingly titled Once Upon a Dream, Angie has already risen to the level of her peers.
Born into music on Canada’s East Coast, the Acadian from Prince Edward Island-cum-Montrealer knows that big countries demand big ideas.
Larger challenges for an expanding talent were inevitable, and by 2007 a relocated Angie had become part of the musical firmament in a vibrating Montreal city scene with an independently released four-song EP in her hand (“The First Set”), and 2,000 downloads, over 80,000 MySpace listens and more than 200,000 YouTube views courtesy of an ever-widening presence on the web. To wit: she is the only Canadian artist thus far to have had an album funded by fans – an international array of more than 500 folks willing to put their money where their love is – on Sellaband.com.
On the topic of showmanship, as in music as in performance, Angie is adept at both creating space and using it, properly according the live venue the respect it deserves, and deservedly taking everything she can from the experience and sharing it thusly.
“It feels like the ultimate challenge followed by the ultimate reward,” Angie explains. “And sometimes when I’m living in the moment, I feel like that moment kind of stands outside of time, and I feel like I always have to go back and find that moment. That’s where I feel like there’s something else going on inside of me that’s not the every day Angie that you meet. Even though I’m quite comfortable being the girl next door as well, I like to have permission to get outside of that once in a while.”
As it is with any accepted reality, subjective and universal by turns, so too is the just-released, full-length, full-band, full-on Once Upon a Dream. The culmination of a life’s journey on both sides of the dream divide, a nuanced rendering of realities stark and not, fulfilling and harrowing, empty and entrancing, Once Upon a Dream is predicated on engagement, but, smartly, never forgets about the entertainment.
“My personal experience of my music is that it transports me, it allows me to feel certain things – it’s a very emotional music. But for me when I say emotional, it’s not always sad and dark and depressing: there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and that’s why it’s a necessary emotional journey.”
“At the end of the day it has to be fun too, which is why I’ve always liked the theatrical aspect of performance, having all the senses stimulated, which is something I bring to my live shows, and which brings a kind of closure to the whole dream ideal I have in my head.”
