Alex Whorms continues to shine in her favourite holiday song, releasing a video covering Joni Mitchell’s River — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
“Joni Mitchell’s River has been my favourite Christmas song for years,” says the Ajax-born, Hamilton-based singer-songwriter. “I heard it for the first time when I was about 13 … My family was watching an old rerun of Ally McBeal — it was the episode where Robert Downey Jr.’s character sang it, and I couldn’t believe how beautiful the song was. I immediately looked up the lyrics and taught myself how to play it on the piano. I’ve pulled it out again and again every year.”
“It’s cool for me that the lyrics mention ‘skating away’ because I was a competitive figure skater for most of my life,” she marvels. “Skating is extremely therapeutic for me … It feels like flying. With so many concerts to perform and events to attend, the holidays can start to feel pretty overwhelming for me, so the line ‘I wish I had a river I could skate away on’ holds real meaning to me.”
The video was recorded in one take live, with Konrad Swierczek producing the audio and Zach Symak directing. It comes at the close of a busy year for Whorms, who released her second EP Burgundy in September, snagged the 2019 Hamilton Arts Award for Emerging Artist in Music, performed at Canadian Music Week and Hamilton’s Festival of Friends, and completed Canada’s Music Incubator’s Artist Entrepreneur Program.
Watch River above, and keep up with Alex Whorms via her website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.