Sheena Legrand is ready to take a long-overdue joyride in her comeback single Green Light — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
For her return to recording after a 10-year hiatus, the Winnipeg folk-pop singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist — formerly known as Sheena Grobb — has taken on a whole new moniker to better reflect the new direction of her life and music. On the hauntingly beautiful Green Light, Legrand gives voice to the prayers of anyone who’s ever wished that life would stop throwing up roadblocks — only to realize they were the one in the driver’s seat after all:
“Give me one green light
Come on let’s go
Turn turn for me
Train left long ago
What if it’s only sight we’ve been looking for
Green brings out your eyes when you realize
It’s time to let go.”
“When I wrote Green Light with Winnipeg producer Jonny Kirouac, I was pleading for some force outside myself to change my situation,” Legrand says. “However, as happens with most of my music, when I look back on what I wrote and what I was dealing with, I understand how the first green light had to come from within me. Green Light gives us permission to let go of old stories so we can be open to a fresh start.”
In Legrand’s case, that meant carving out a new identity to better reflect her standing in an industry that almost requires women to stay eternally youthful. After releasing three albums under her maiden name, she put a pin in her career to raise a family. Recently, she found herself wondering if she still had a place in music — only to realize she was under no obligation to conform to anyone else’s stereotypes.
Instead, she set out to reaffirm the talents that had earned her a nomination at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Some professional coaching helped her take the quality of her vocals to a new level, and with the help of producer and co-instrumentalist Kirouac, she upgraded her music.
Her forthcoming album, the appropriately named Back to Life, will show how she’s managed to retain the strengths of her earlier work — sweet melodic hooks, intricate keys and delicately layered vocals — while adding loops that take her sound in a new direction.
Now she’s looking forward to heading back to the stage — and beyond. “When it comes to dreaming big, I’d say the sky is the limit. There’s been a shift in my availability, but travelling as a family is something we’re very much open to, so all of a sudden, the possibilities seem endless again. I love the spot I’m in!”
Check out Green Light above and below, and catch up with Sheena Legrand on her website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
