“Middle Voice” is a vital snapshot for Kate Fenner; the title, aside from being a grammatical term to describe a subject that is both an actor andacted-upon, both agent and patient, conjures up a voice both in the middle of its life, and in-between feelings about many things: love, purpose, illness, death. A kind of sweet and earned ambivalence towards life and art, Fenner describes:
 “I recorded the bed tracks for this album after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer and slated for surgery to remove it. This diagnoses itself came after a fallow period of illness and getting sober. I had started to write again, and wanted to capture my voice on tape in the event that something went awry in the surgery. Tony Scherr, my old friend, stepped up immediately; we recorded all the beds in less than three weeks in short 3-hr sessions while my son was in school. We later added overdubs and a couple newer songs, once my voice had healed” – Kate Fenner
Share the new music video for “The Yield” at Vimeo.
Listen to “Middle Voice” on Spotify and follow Kate Fenner on Facebook.
Track List for Middle Voice
1. Two Minds
2. This Divorce
3. Beatrice
4. The Yield
5. A Marriage
6. Song & Dance
7. You’re a Big Girl Now
8. Fatal Fire
9. Hunter
10. Passenger
11. That is All
About Kate Fenner
Kate Fenner is a Canadian musician, currently based in New York City. The New York Times describes her vocal stylings as having a “lusty, alternative, Joni Mitchell-ish sound”. She was one of the primary singers and songwriters for the Canadian alternative rock band Bourbon Tabernacle Choir in the 1980s and 1990s. After its dissolution, Fenner continued performing as a duo with her former Bourbon bandmate Chris Brown. In 2000, she toured and sang with Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip on the “Music @ Work” tour. Fenner released a solo album, Horses and Burning Cars, in 2003, followed by her second solo album, Magnet, produced by Chris Brown.
Fenner’s music was also featured on the soundtrack for the “Mystery On Fifth Avenue” Apartment project by the New York architecture firm 212box. “Salamandre”, co-written by her and Brown, was built around four melodies of inspiration through four centuries of music, including Renaissance, classical, Victorian, a Venetian waltz, jazz, ragtime, blues, folk, and funk. “Salamandre” was commissioned and curated as part of the “Mystery On Fifth Avenue” by architectural designer Eric Clough.
In December 2004, through January 2005, Fenner was invited to be the opening act for blues artist B.B. King on a tour through the American South, at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, and at BB King’s in New York City.
At this time, Fenner also began to sing in several performance pieces for the visual artist Joan Jonas, among them “The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things”, originally commissioned by the Dia Beacon and subsequently performed around the world, “Reading Dante”, and “They Come to Us Without a Word”, which premiered at the Venice Biennale in 2015.
In November 2017, she released a third solo album, “Middle Voice”, followed with some performances. Fenner recorded it with long-time musical collaborator Tony Scherr. Musical contributors to the recording include Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Norah Jones, Chris Brown, and Tony Scherr.
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