BRR Team

Kate Blechinger is a talented, award-winning Edmonton based vocalist, arranger and composer. Blechinger released her debut album, Under a Dancing Sky, on Bent River Records In November 2018. Since then, she has been finding a unique place in Western Canada’s music scene with her innovative fusion of Jazz and folk and commandingly smooth vocal deliveries. Today we reached out to Kate for an update and had insightful conversations about her musical background, inspirations and living life as an artist during Covid-19.

Nowadays, between her job teaching music to toddlers and babies, Kate finds herself back in the learning environment herself studying developmental psychology through online courses. She says, “It’s really fascinating actually, and It’s been in the back of my mind for a while now.” As she adapts to the difficulties of teaching young children online, she imagines a surplus of psychological research to come out of these times.

Although Kate is best known as a vocal performer, she is also familiar with many instruments. Her early childhood experiences with classical piano became one of her biggest strengths as an artist today. She is more often than not conceptualizing her detailed musical compositions on the piano stool. She finds inspiration in acts such as Esperanza Spalding and Kristin Korb’s to continue her passion for the upright bass to this day after taking lessons at 13 to join a community Big Band. She speaks on some of the unique advantages and insights of multi-instrumentalism: “Even if I tend to write a little beyond my ability, familiarity with instruments does help with arranging and conceptualizing different ideas.” Nowadays, Kate finds herself to be a musical chameleon playing a range of different styles.

Kate has a very personal style of writing reminiscent of the confessional styles of folk music. Talking about her music brought back some of her early influences and opinions on Canada and Edmonton’s musical identity.  Earlier in life, she felt empowered by Canadian acts such as Broken Social Scene, Feist and Metric. “The collaborative nature of the early 2000 era Canadian indie acts started to really make me want to be a musician”.  These early influences moved her to get involved in folk festivals and more local concerts, which only fueled her fascination and love for all music and opened her eyes to what’s possible in life.

“I’ve always been drawn, no matter the genre, to the music that moves me, sometimes regardless of technicality.”

The three sections of Constanza Pacher’s Typography II classes were split into two groups to create concepts for the cover and album packaging design for upcoming Bent River Records releases: Breath and Being by ROYA, and Going Down Slow by Kevin Dean. Each artist then made the difficult decision of picking a winner to receive an honorarium and work with Bent River to have their designs sent to press.

This is always an exciting collaboration with very impressive work from the second-year Design students, made possible by the generous support of our Provost, Dr. Craig Monk.

We are very pleased to announce the second of this year’s two winners:

ROYA – Breath and Being
Winner: Jay Berg
Runner-Up: Alejandra Hernandez
Third Place: August Schaffler
Honourable Mentions (in order)
Dana Kozak
Cézanne Trodden
Grace Zimmel
Rochelle Kriewaldt
Sachin Aheer
Ashley Le
Carolina Odashima

Congratulations to Jay, and to all the students who participated in this year’s album design competition!

Each year, Design students from Constanza Pacher’s Typography II classes pitch their concepts for the cover and album packaging design for upcoming Bent River Records releases. This year’s projects were Breath & Being by ROYA, and Going Down Slow by Kevin Dean.

It is always amazing to see the variety and originality of concepts that the students come up with, and it is no easy task for the artists to choose the respective winners who will each receive an honorarium and work with Bent River to have their designs sent to press. We are very pleased to announce the first of this year’s two winners:

Kevin Dean – Going Down Slow
Winner: Sohee Kim
Runner-Up: Kiera Elkins
Third Place: Vik Chu
Honourable Mentions
Anthea Pou
Xenab Azam

Congratulations to Sohee, and to all the students who participated in this year’s album design competition! Thank you also to our Provost, Dr. Craig Monk, whose generosity and support makes it possible for this project to continue!

We’ll be announcing the winning design for ROYA’s album very soon!

Bent River Records is pleased to announce the first edition of our Songwriting Competition, open to all students in the Department of Music at MacEwan University. The contest was conceived as a way to honour the generous and ongoing support of one of the label’s major donors, Dr. Craig Monk, the Provost & Vice-President, Academic at MacEwan. The call for entries is now open!

DEADLINE for Submissions: 4:00 PM MST on January 31, 2021

ABOUT THE COMPETITION: This contest is open to all current students in the Department of Music at MacEwan. The task is to compose a song based on a set of parameters that will be shared once the candidates have contacted us to express interest in participating in the contest. 

Email us at bentriverrecords@macewan.ca with “Songwriting Competition 2021” as the subject line, to express interest and receive the secret guidelines.

PRIZE: The winning composer will receive $750, and the song may be recorded for inclusion on the upcoming 2021 music department CD. 

Please see the attached document below for more information and entry details.

The Bent River Records (BRR) team would like to acknowledge the generous and ongoing support of our Provost, Dr. Craig Monk. With his $50,000 donation pledged across the span of five years, Bent River is able to engage students across the design department in an album design competition. Dr. Monk’s donation also funds the production of vinyl recordings of our artists.

In his current administrative role as Provost, Dr. Monk serves as the principal academic officer for MacEwan and leads a talented and dedicated team of deans and academic associate vice-presidents in the shared pursuit of an exemplary undergraduate experience for students. 

Recently, Emily Roth (BRR intern and student in the Department of Music) was able to ask Dr. Monk a few questions about his gift, and about his role at MacEwan.

1. What is your favourite part of your job as Provost? Is there anything that you can share with us that you would rather not do?

I spent five years as Dean of Arts and Science at MacEwan, and I got to know a lot of people across the University and in the community beyond our campus. I have been able to make many more of those connections in my three years as Provost, as I now have responsibility for all of our academic functions. I got involved in administration out of the fear that I did not know enough about the things that go on in institutions like ours, and Provost has proven to be an ideal position from which to learn about every little corner of MacEwan.

Not surprisingly, a Provost has a lot of tasks that are similar to the tasks that are unpleasant in any job. I don’t like long meetings, difficult conversations about performance, or reducing budgets. But, personally, I never enjoy doing anything for the first time. By my second or third time meeting with a group, or visiting a venue, or working a technology, I am more comfortable. Happily, through my third academic cycle as Provost, I have some familiarity with most of the things I am asked to do.

2. As demonstrated by your continuous financial support of Bent River Records, you are a fan of music. Why do you believe music is important in our lives?

For the longest time, I have associated the happiest times in my life with music. I remember the cassette tapes I took to high school parties, the CDs I discovered with my university friends, and the concerts that stand out in my memory. I can even remember the song that was playing during the best day I ever had at any job I ever held. But I have come to realize that music was never simply the soundtrack to those happy experiences; music helped make those experiences happy. Music is the material that binds us all together.

3. Your annual donation goes towards the production of vinyl records at Bent River Records. How did your love of vinyl begin, and why did you decide to make vinyl production the focus of your donation?

I had a wonderful job in a record store while I was an undergraduate. This was in the late 1980s when North American record labels stopped producing vinyl. The music I associate with those great years can be scarce in original vinyl pressings, and so that makes collecting a fun challenge, and the re-release of those records has been an important part of the LP resurgence. I understand that Bent River could function without producing LPs, but if my support can help the label keep participating in the growth of vinyl, I am happy to try to keep that going.

4. Our mission at Bent River Records is to provide mentorship, educational, and research opportunities for MacEwan students and faculty, as well as recording artists. Is there anything you would like to say as to why you decided to support our mission?

I apologize if some people have heard this story before, but I was walking back to my office from Roundhouse one day, and I saw in Allard Hall a display of work done by students in designing album covers, sleeves, labels, and download cards. I joke that it turned out to be an expensive walk! It just struck me in the days that followed that vinyl is where my desire to support students, my boosting of Bent River, and my love of LPs could converge. I still believe that continuing to produce vinyl gives Bent River the most opportunities to engage students across campus because of the many ways that students can get involved.