Amanda Rheaume - If You Never Live

Ottawa’s own Amanda Rheaume has released her third album called “If You Never Live”. “If You Never Live” is comprised of six soulful, deep thoughtful written songs.

After seeing Amanda on stage just once I then became an instant fan of hers. To me Amanda’s ability to write and create songs that you can relate to is what sets her above many artists. With having influences such as Sarah McLaughlin, and the Indigo Girls just to name a couple Amanda blends and carries forth their music with her own blend of Folk and Rock sound. If there is an album out there that you haven’t been able relate any part of your life to the songs to, look no further this is the album that you can relate to.

“All That You Are” starts off “If You Never Live”. Amanda’s vocals in this track are what really shines out to me. The fiddle that is played in the background of the song is a nice added touch to the song. Adding the fiddle to the song I find it gives the song a Folk feeling to it and compliments Amanda’s vocals. I also like how the fiddle is played; the bow is strung across a bit slower than the rest of the instruments in the song. Having this song at the start of the album shows that Amanda is more than just a songwriter she is a Songstress.

“Alone” in this track I like how the song starts off slow and you can hear Amanda’s fingers slide around between chords on her guitar. This is a song that I would like to hear played two ways, first there is the way that it is played on the album, the song starts off slow and then the tempo of the song speeds up and the rest of the band members join in, the other way that I would like to hear the song be played would be just to hear Amanda play Solo and have the tempo stay the same throughout the song as it is played at the start of the song. But in keeping in tune and inline with the rest of the songs on the album the way that it is recorded is admirable.

When I listen to the lyrics in “If You Never Live” I feel this is the song that may have had Amanda’s deepest thoughts come out onto paper as she was writing this song. The guitar picking at the start of the song to me gives the song the feeling of the song title. I also notice a different deeper feeling tone in Amanda’s voice when I listen to the song. There is also the fiddle being played in the song it can be faintly heard throughout the track, adding the fiddle was a nice added touch to “If You Never Live”.

“Out Of Hiding” is one of my favoured songs on the album. An upbeat Jazz sound and feeling strikes me as I listen to this song. I really like the guitar at the start of the song; it creates an upbeat feeling to you when you hear it being played. The song just simply gets you moving, I don’t think there is anyone who could listen to this song and not move one part of their body to the song. I also like how Amanda sings along at :40 seconds into the song it fits into the song perfectly.
The album release party with Amanda and her six piece band is Friday, June 15 (2007) at Zaphods in Ottawa. I highly recommend attending this event. You can also pick up the album and her other albums at www.amandarheaume.com and www.myspace.com/theamandarheaumeband