« Eden is a Bazaar »…what a different concept. The unconventional Janie Renée has decided to write about the idiosyncrasies of life, and perform a little myth-busting. Already in our youth, we’re led to believe certain things that may or may not be the truth: did Snow White really live with seven men and no one questioned her virtue? Why was the apple bite a sin for Eve? Well, Janie Renée reminds us that perception is in the eye of the beholder and that truth can only be interpreted through that lens. Is Eden really a paradise and could it be chaotic all the same? Her pen translates a boisterous sense of humour and a blend of artful poetry, and makes words dance around the syncopations of jazz. Her marked preference for Latin rhythms shines through although we sense she avoids being pinned into one particular style or another. In this album, she leads us through an exploration of an intricate yet delectable world of stories, and hope. In this production, Janie Renée not only wrote (or co-wrote) every song, but she also wrote the arrangements, some of which are unpredictable yet thoroughly enjoyable. And of course, the mastery here, is to write most of this in French because the language itself has to be molded to the temperament of jazz. If Emily Claire Barlow, Jill Barber and Stacey Kent have all recorded French albums in which they sung other people’s tunes—maybe someday, they’ll be singing these ones too!

« This project was made possible in part by the Government of Canada »