SYDNEY, N.S. — They met in high school and now Sarah Ellen Morrison and Neil LeMoine are working together with a band that has just released its first single.
The love of music was apparent from the start, says Morrison, who fronts the six-piece group that backs her and includes LeMoine on guitar, Catrina Macphee on keyboards, Liam Ring on sax, T.J. Ploughman on bass and Andre Sautiere on drums.
“I met Neil in Riverview — we went to high school together,” said Morrison. “We did coffee houses together and hung out and jammed together in high school.”
Morrison is a singer and her jazz-influenced delivery is the sultry main flavour in “Heatwave,” now available for download on all major platforms.
“We’re very excited to finally release a song that is representative of our new sound. This song shows the different styling that we have now as a six-piece.”
LeMoine is confident the single will do well. The melody was written by Liam Ring but the song was written by the entire band.
“We’re hoping to get airplay and reach as many ears as humanly possible,” says LeMoine, who handles the band’s management and outreach and originally hails from North Sydney.
Morrison, originally from Sydney Forks but now based in Halifax, grew up in a musical family where her father and brother played numerous instruments.
“I was always encouraged to be involved in dance and piano and band and choir. And then when I was about around 10 I started to write my own music. That’s where my passion lies — in writing and poetry.”
While she describes her present group as a six-piece soul-funk group, Morrison loves all genres of music, citing jazz as a big influence.
“I’m definitely heavily influenced by jazz — I always have been,” says Morrison. “My favourite album growing up as a kid was 'Come Away With Me' by Norah Jones — I’ve always loved her.”
Morrison and her band were performing last weekend at Nova Scotia Music Week. Over the winter, they’ll be working on their initial EP which they hope to release next year and they hope to do a Canadian tour next summer.
Although no dates are initially scheduled, they also hope to perform in Cape Breton at a later date.
