Gena Perala's 'Exactly Nowhere' CD Is Announced + Review

Gena Perala is a multi-talented Vancouver songwriter, singer, poet, youth worker and bike polo player. Her style of music has been accurately described as ‘Jewel meets Peaches.’ Her first solo album ‘This Ain’t Pretty’ was released in 2008 and is still on rotation at CBC Radio. Gena started by performing in the Vancouver Poetry Slam before bringing her love of writing and her love of singing together.  She was cast as herself as a slam poet in 2009 feature film “Love Happens“, starring Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart. Around this time, she won the ‘Rock the Vote’ audio contest for her poem expressing the importance of voting. She has since performed for the United Nations, on the PNE Main Stage, at the Stanley Theater, up the East Coast and all over Vancouver. Along with her solo pursuits, Gena plays in two Vancouver bands, “France”, a music collective playing everything from big sounding anthems to delicate lullabies and “Tomgirl”, a melodic indie pop band who released their first EP in 2011. Most recently one of her songs can be found in an independent feature film “Me, my mom and a whistle”. (via media release)

I had the chance to get an advanced listen to her upcoming album that really wowed me. She mixes the sounds of folk and pop music to create catchy yet mellow songs. The strong point for me was her intelligent lyrics, clearly from her poetry background, that never hung around for too long as the melody swept you away. This was especially evident in the album’s title song Exactly Nowhere and, perhaps my favourite, Fine. Although I couldn’t understand the words in La Fin (I’m really not much of a Canadian, not knowing French), I loved that song. It’s a great song that sounds positively French and is the first single with a video here. I’m definitely excited for the release of the album, so make sure to check out her music!

Gena’s new album, ‘Exactly Nowhere‘ will release at an event at The Chapel Arts on June 16 at 8pm. $12 for a single ticket or $20 with a digital album download included. Check back after the release for my interview with Gena, and if you have any questions for her then submit them to me on twitter!