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Serena Ryder shows happy side with Harmony

New album sees singer experimenting with many styles

CBC News

Posted: Nov 29, 2012 4:12 PM ET

Last Updated: Nov 29, 2012 4:10 PM ET

A new, happier Serena Ryder has emerged in Harmony, the newest album from the power-house Toronto vocalist.

In love for the first time, she has wandered away from her soul-searching folk image in favour of experimenting with her three-octave range.

In an interview with CBC’s Deana Sumanac, she describes the relaxed atmosphere of recording her new album in “The Cottage” — a converted, cedar-lined garage at the back of her Toronto home.

Ryder said she felt free to experiment with different styles because there was no one in the studio telling her what to do.

Her foot-stomping single Stompa is has garnered radio play under different genre definitions, including modern rock, top 40 and adult contemporary.

Many of the album's other songs are about love, from the spirited What I Wouldn't Do to the touching piano ballad Please Baby Please.

According to Ryder, Harmony has helped her return to the kind of primal joy she always felt when singing and she’s ready to take that same spirit on the road.

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