Although Compostela, the latest outing by indie folk singer/songwriter Jenn Grant, is coming out in the United States next week, it’s already garnered her significant — and deserved — attention in her native Canada. The record led to Grant receiving two Juno Award nominations: Adult Alternative Album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. (As the Toronto Star boldly put it, “If you can resist this, you are made of stone.”) In addition to further refining her songwriting, Grant also used Compostela to work with a range of musical figures, whose collaborations add even more dimension to what is an emotively complex recording. Among many others, artists such as Ron Sexmith, Buck 65, Don Kerr, Sarah Harmer, Rose Cousins, and Jonathan Goldsmith all join in Grant’s musical world.
The title Compostela, meaning “field of stars” or “star field”, is an allusion to the legend related to Spain’s Camino de Santiago, which holds that the dust of pilgrims who walk that trail formed the Milky Way. For Grant, this has a strong personal resonance, as the name Compostela came about through some of her mother’s last words: “I will meet you in Spain.”
Grant tells PopMatters further, “I wrote all of these songs in a camper trailer beside my house. It was the perfect spot to reflect on the years past and to begin this exploratory musical experience alongside my producer and partner, Daniel Ledwell.”
Compostela is out on 19 May via Star House Collective.