Gwen Harris : Gentle Voice Goes A Long Way

Sometime last year I was going around Youtube looking for covers of "Dosed" (Red Hot Chili Peppers). I found a bunch, but was only truly touched by one cover. And that was by Gwen Harris, who seemed to sing the song with more honesty than any of the other artists I had come across. No offence to the other artists of course, but something about the melody and the vocal provided by John Frusciante are meant to be so gentle, and that's exactly how Gwen does it. And the fact that she doesn't veer away from the guitar line really adds to the perfection of the sound. Frusciante himself enjoys a good deal of simplicity at times, so I think he'd love this. Do you think you'd love it? Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNfvXyLars8

Lovely sound. She doesn't press too hard with Frusciante's vocals and seems to flow through Anthony's vocals perfectly. Essentially, she stripped it down and proves what a fantastically thought out song it is. Brilliant lyrics aside, the melody hits you right in the heart. Minors on top of majors and so on, Frusciante is definitely a musical genius (as are Flea, Chad and Anthony), and I'm very glad Gwen decided to cover that song. Truly great cover.

So, as always I'd like to remind you to subscribe to Gwen's channel if you like her sound. But, if you're not too sure yet, I urge you to have a look at her channel. She's got a bunch of great covers as well as some fascinating originals. Now, although I'm not a major Coldplay "fan" or whatever, I absolutely adored her cover of "The Scientist" (Coldplay). Gwen seems to have that brilliantly shaky sound in the depths of her voice that makes her sound ever so melancholy at times. And with that marvellous sound I think she took "The Scientist" as far as it can go in terms of melancholia. Have a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4iQ8xs08sg

Love it! And once again Gwen's got that guitar sound down just right. Scratchy, raw and honest. She doesn't mess about with "perfection" but aims for the emotion. Well, in my opinion at least. Maybe she just plays the song and does it just right! But, I do think she has something particularly special. Her voice reaches out despite how gently she uses it, and that can be incredibly powerful. So, I'll definitely keep listening to her and urge you to subscribe to her channel and "like" her Facebook page, which she updates frequently.

Now, regarding her originals, I had a hard time picking out one to share with you. They're all very emotion based and warm, really. Nevertheless, she uploaded an original a couple weeks ago entitled "Far From Home" that I just loved. Essentially, it's a lyric video, which allows you to get lost in the melody while following the lyrics on screen. So many times I have a hard time splitting my attention but with the lyrics on screen I can really focus on the melody while still taking in the lyrics. So, that was a definitely a nice idea. I did it myself with one of my tracks last year but it took forever to put together. So, I truly respect Gwen for putting that together. It was brilliant! Check back tomorrow for another fantastic artist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeCBJ9_v0bc

Alex Hamel