Sarah Burton can't wait to get to Thunder Bay to see the final cut of the first video from her new album.
Local videographer Warren McGoey shot Burton's Love To Love You in Toronto before he moved home. It will be Burton's first time in town since she played Canada Day at the Waterfront last summer and the first time she's played Thunder Bay since Make Your Own Bed made an evolutionary leap in her band's sound.
For Burton, there's something serendipitous about watching a video in Thunder Bay that was shot in Toronto. Nearly a decade on the road has melted her sense of place as the core of community and inspired her to make a home out of people.
Touring since 2006, Burton has community and stories about nearly every cranny of the country. On her first musical trek across Canada, she was backing up Lakehead University alumni Ory No'Man.
She was surprised years later when women were jumping up on stage at the Black Pirate's Pub to plant kisses on Pat Phillips, a local drummer who played on her Fire Breathers record.
As she makes -- or doesn't make -- her bed every morning on tour, she's making a metaphorical bed of the musical life on the road.
"For me to connect to my community, I need to travel to my community and that's what's amazing about what we do, is to take part in such a widely-spread community,” Burton said.
“I conflict with myself on community of place versus community of multiple places. It's an evolving home away from home and that's a bit of the theme of the latest record.
"It's all about making your own decisions and coming to grips with the fact that you're responsible for the things that happen in your life, whether you like it or not. You take charge of your own life, whether it's good or bad. Obviously, there are things you can't control but you still make your own bed in how you deal with the situation."
Her song, I Will Be Free is about finding "home" on the road just like Ocean Time considers finding a piece of paradise wherever you go.
Burton said Make Your Own Bed would be a coming-of-age record if those words didn't describe every record she's ever made. But this album is a radical departure from her folk/country history and that's not the only reason it feels like her first.
When Burton was 13 years old, her 29-year-old piano teacher passed away. She gave up piano after bouncing through a few teachers and never finding a mentor as inspiring as the one who introduced her to both Tori Amos and Slipknot.
She turned to the guitar as her songwriting quill and it wasn't until she was taking music in college years later that her fingers returned to the piano. Make Your Own Bed is a compilation of those piano-written pieces Burton has been building since 2005, over which time she produced three other full-length records.
"Obviously, I have those other (albums) and I love those and they showcase a snapshot of where I was musically at whatever time. We still perform all those songs but as far as putting my musical brain together, it makes more sense to me.
"This is a coming-out album -- or something."
Sarah Burton will perform at The Foundry on Thursday, Aug. 20.
