TOURING RESUMES IN THE ATLANTIC BUBBLE, AS P.E.I. MUSICIANS VISIT N.B.

Thanks to the Atlantic Bubble, East Coast musicians are getting a few more opportunities to play around the region of late, as touring returns in a reduced way. For some, that means finally getting to perform around new releases.The pandemic struck at a particularly poor time for P.E.I.'s Rachel Beck, who was just finishing up her latest, Stronger Than You Know, when the touring world shut down for her. 

Now, Beck is back on the road, part of a show called Saltwater Songs, featuring three P.E.I. singer-songwriters. They play Friday night in Saint John at The Imperial and Saturday night in Fredericton at the Playhouse, in suiitably-social distancing settings (reduced capacity, seating bubbles). Joining Beck are a couple of Juno winners, Catherine MacLellan and Tim Chaisson (The East Pointers), sharing their music and backing each other up. So it's a hot new band, with MacLellan on guitar, Beck on keys and Chaisson on guitar.

Here's a look back at Beck's latest release, which I initially reviewed in June.

P.E.I.'s Beck returns with a second set of shimmering pop, produced with East Coast atmosphere by Daniel Ledwell. This one leans a little more into the pop side than her self-titled debut, her mellow and moody vocals wrapped around electro keyboards and beats on cuts such as "Dancin'." But it's not about partying; "We take and take and take and take," she warns, "We're dancin' on our grave."  The message, gracefully delivered throughout the six-track E.P., is that together we can make a difference, and given what's happened in the past few months since the songs were written and recorded, it seems timely and prophetic.

There's an empowering tone to the songs, especially lead track "Warrior," inspired by the strength Beck sees in her young daughter. It's both a celebration and a hope for the future: "Lift up your voice, cut through the noise." The title cut connects those hopes to nature, our best source of strength when we embrace it: "Just breathe in and let it go, you're stronger than you."

The set closed with Beck back at the piano for the quiet, intimate "Tonight," intense and romantic in its calm beauty. The real strings, from Islanders Kinley Dowling and Natalie Williams Calhoun perfectly soar into that nighttime, and show the Beck-Ledwell team work old-school magic as well. The E.P. is ethereal, uplifting, and even a tiny bit mystical.