While Team GDW have followed the social media pages of Nepean, ON singer-songwriter Graven for several years now, we have never had the pleasure of crossing paths during our travel and concert-going adventures. Graven is certainly not alone – there are many, many artists on our bucket list to catch in concert one day – but it seems that for every name we finally scratch from that list, ten more appear. We will never catch them all – but it sure is fun trying…
Thanks to fellow GDW author Douglas McLean, Graven’s name appeared on our pages to close out 2024, when Douglas proclaimed that a show attended featuring this artist proved to be his most memorable concert experience of the year. “It is utterly fascinating what this Ottawa guitarist, songwriter and producer can do on stage … Graven takes you deep into the heart of the artform and leaves you applauding for more” (Douglas McLean). With our own plans to be in Southern Ontario during the US Memorial Day weekend, once learning that Graven happened to be performing at The Edison Room in Burlington on the Saturday night – we knew that this was an opportunity too good to miss. Tickets bought!
Performing to an intimate (yet very eager and participatory) crowd at this recently new venue – located at the rear of The Block Co., an artisan cheese shop (owned and operated by Troy – a fantastic, super friendly host and all-round fine gentleman) – Graven spent eighty minutes sharing many of his popular tunes, while road-testing a pair of new pieces and tossing in some excellent covers too. “How’s everybody doing? Thanks so much for being here,” Graven offered as he commenced the show. “This is my first song. It’s about baseball. It’s called Middle Relief because I’ve always felt that the middle relief pitchers, apart from the starting pitchers and the closing pitchers, never get the fame or the glory.”
Along with “Middle Relief,” Graven would share a handful of other tunes from his most recent 2024 “Always Everything” album – notably “Technicolour,” “Autumn You; Winter Me,” and “Comforter” (taken by request). Dipping back a little further into his 2022 “Simple Complex” album, Graven would share tales on how the pandemic gave birth to cuts such as “Music Magic” and “Exploded.” And with a brief foray into his 2015 “Channelsurfing the Seas of the Cinematic Mind” release, he would explain why he wanted to perform “Movies of the Mind.” “This is an older song of mine, but I’m going to try and play it,” he shared. “I’ve tried resurrecting a few older songs, sometimes to some success, sometimes to not much.”
If asked to recall three highlights from this show, I would have to start by offering thanks to Graven for acknowledging this pair of fans in the room. “I want to show some respect to Martin and Lesley, who came all the way from Pennsylvania,” he announced mid-set. “Come on folks! That’s cool shit, to be here tonight. Thanks for spending your night with us.”
As for the second highlight, Graven’s interpretation of “Aside” by The Weakerthans proved an excellent choice for a tune to cover. “I recently revisited this song on a long car ride, from their album Left and Leaving,” he recalled. “Damn, John K. Samson is such an incredible songwriter. The great songs can pass the test of time, but they can also mean different things to you at different points in your life. In my 20s, it meant something different – maybe talking about an era of my life that I didn’t quite get yet – but now I get that part of my life and I’m there.”
Taking the honors for top highlight, however, goes to a particularly moving moment during the early half of the show. Following the performance of an unreleased tune titled “Your Hate Keeps Holding You Back,” a member of the audience approached Graven, visibly moved by the song’s message, and asked the artist for a hug – to which Graven willingly obliged. “That’s the first ever post-song hug I’ve ever gotten on stage, so that’s so frigging awesome,” Graven offered. “Thanks for sharing that, it was real nice.”
Of course, heartwarming moments like these often take time to fully digest, and Graven would take to his own social media to reflect on this occurrence. “Something pretty mind blowing, timeline shifting and heart bursting happened on Saturday. When I finished … folks kindly enjoyed it, but a guy I’ve never met walked up to the stage – while legitimately sobbing – and said, ‘I need to hug you after that song.’ So, I hugged him for a few solid seconds, and the set went on,” Graven posted – adding extra sensitivity and understanding with his closing sentence: “People are often so trapped by their feels – but when someone feels ok (especially a man) visibly letting a river of emotion out in public space to music – game changer!”
Set List:
- Middle Relief
- Hard Time
- Dark Autumn Nights
- Your Hate Keeps Holding You Back (*Unreleased*)
- Music Magic
- Movies In The Mind
- Exploded
- Aside (The Weakerthans cover)
- Technicolour
- Teenage Memory Machine (*Unreleased*)
- Trees Lounge (Hayden cover)
- Autumn You; Winter Me
- Thin Skin
- Just Enough
- Comforter
Photo Credit: Artist Social Media (Official Poster)
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
