Mark Berube

Half Quebecois, half Manitoban, born in a small town two and a half hours West of Winnipeg, but just seven years later found myself living in the shadows of apartheid South Africa in neighbouring Swaziland. Via Montreal, now in Vancouver, from an early age fell in love with the sounds of Bob Dylan, Keith Jarrett, Tom Waits, Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masekela, Nina Simone, Leonard Cohen....the list goes on and on as for most, excited for the next album 'what the river gave the boat', tour a lot, mainly Canada and Europe, thanks for taking the time to read this....www.markberube.com---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------Here's some reviews so far of WHAT THE RIVER GAVE THE BOAT:------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------- "Vibrant and outspoken, yet hidden behind a storybook feel, the record meanders through issues such as war, politics and the impossibility of privacy. Berube’s triumphant vocals paint a picture of many worldly concerns, taking everything that is dark and gloomy and transforming them into a series of mini-tales with no resolute ending. On “Cloudy Day,” African influences can be heard through the jazzy percussion (Berube grew up in southern Africa) while Berube sings, “We’re picking up the pieces on a cloudy day,” alluding to our backwards way of dealing with socio-political issues. “Tomorrow” is fatalistic and grim yet strangely empowering; we don’t necessarily have control over our lives but we can make every moment count. The detail Berube incorporates into his lyrics makes it hard not to see what he sees, and if What The River Gave The Boat can be so alluring, I can’t imagine that his next album, What The Boat Gave The River, would be any less spectacular." EXCLAIM, Canadian Music Newspaper--------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ ------ ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------"The re is a deeper quality to people with a range of experiences, a bedrock vein of self-awareness, compassion, strength and insight. It’s a quality that Vancouver songwriter Mark Berube embodies...What the River Gave the Boat places quirky songs beside melancholy introspections, all overlaid with unashamedly literate and poetic lyrics." FFWD, Calgary, AB---------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------"One of the best of the year...folk music without going on about it. Rare and raw and perfect. " EDMONTON SUN, AB---------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------"The re’s a jazz-inspired breeze that drifts through Mark Berube’s latest release, What the River Gave the Boat, but the music is by no means so easily categorized. No, nestled amongst the jazz is any number of globe-trotting sounds—they’re not always easy to spot, but they are there, from the Parisian melody that weaves its way through “Pretty Little Bird (The Saint of Vancouver)” to the folky slide guitar and handclaps of the following track, “Cowboys.” Through it all, though, Berube’s thoughtful, evocative lyrics provide a unifying thread that holds the album together. Mark Berube sounds a lot like Tom Waits. Actually, “sounds” is a bit of a misnomer. Berube has none of Waits’s signature growl, and his instrumentation is far more acoustic than what Waits traffics in these days. But where the two do overlap in a serious way is in the lyrics. Much like Waits, Berube uses wonderful, poetic language to narrate tales of hardship and woe. Though the principle draw of What the River Gave the Boat is found in the bones of Berube’s songwriting, the rest of the record is nothing to sneeze at either. What the River generally tends towards traditional folk instruments, and they’re used to colour the songs in a variety of ways." VUE WEEKLY, Edmonton, AB---------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------"He has a fascinating voice and his work on various keyboard instruments is framed by a string quartet, bass, percussion, guitar, dobro and trumpet. Berube matures with every album and this might well be his breakout to a wider audience." THE RECORD, Guelph, ON---------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------"I have just added a whole star to this review and for good reason, Mark Berube’s fourth album What The River GaveThe Boat seems to be a multi-layered task force of sound and soul. Initially the first three tracks ‘Cloudy Day,’ ‘Pretty Little Bird’ and ‘Cowboys’ are reminiscent of The Gothic Archies. I half expected to hear some of Friendly Rich and the Lollipop People riffs at times, but even though the first three quirky songs were upbeat with accordion playing and playfulness What The River Gave The Boat took a dramatic turn for the tracks ‘Tomorrow,’ ‘Yebo Mama,’ and ‘Alarms’ which were heart wrenching and simply gorgeous. These tracks were full of delicate piano playing paired with soul enriching lyrics. I’ve added these two tracks to my IPod and I listen to them continuously." AnE VIBE, Canada, 4 1/2 Stars------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ -- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------"Van couver has no shortage of secondgeneration hippies and beatniks looking to make an impact on the world through wise words and subtle sounds. The truth is most if them are either totally self-righteous or totally self-indulgent and, therefore, basically annoying as fuck. It's no small wonder that so many people hate poetry. However, when you do come across a person who isn't simply talking (or singing) to hear their own voice and they have any sort of talent behind their words, it's totally captivating. Mark Berube is one of these people. What the River Gave the Boat is his fourth album and it serves as a good example of how to blend intelligent lyricism, interesting musical arrangement (not your typical boring folk bullshit), and effectively understated delivery into something even some redneck from Manitoba might pay attention to." NERVE MAGAZINE, Vancouver--------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ ------ ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------"Ber ube's tales are just as at home in his native Vancouver as the war fields in the wrenching "War Without An End". Singing the sorrow in "Alarms", Mark Berube's voice carries the weight of someone who has seen it all and conveys that experience through that voice. It's not just the choice of his words, which he does stunningly, but the salt and grit of experience and empathy in his voice that makes What The River Gave The Boat enough to sprain whatever existential muscle it is that ties the heart to the soul." ANY GIVE TUESDAY, Internet Music Review Zine-------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------"Wes t Coast by way of Manitoba and South Africa, Berube plays a dusty piano in the style of Guelph’s Evan Gordon or Vancity’s Geoff Berner. There is a traditional style buried among the boneyard, a world music that is not built on imported exotic drumming but a common soul bond where memory is a cockroach, scrambling among the debris, its survival guaranteed but the reason uncertain. Closing track Barber Shop is a spoken word poem that crests on a visit to New York. Its adagio-like string-fuelled poignancy so stirring it could be renamed the Berber Shop." DURHAM NEWS-------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ -