Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"The Mask And The Mirror"

The Manitoba-born Loreena Mckennitt is one of the most singular artists on the planet. She's also one of the most decorated. The two-time Juno Award winning musician has sold close to twenty million albums, been nominated for a Grammy twice, has three honorary doctorates, is both an Appointed Office and Appointed Member of the Order of Canada, she's been awarded The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, she's an Appointed Officer and Knight of the Republic Of France, and she's an indcutee into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and The Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Trust me, when I say, there's more: like her appointment as Honorary Colonel of the Royal Canadian Air Force or her Billboard Music Award for International Achievement, 1997. I'll stop there, but I think you're getting the idea. Loreena McKennitt is a decidedly distinguished artist. Speaking of which, let's talk about that art. Over the course of her career, McKennitt has put out ten studio albums on her own Quinlan Road label, including Elemental, The Visit, The Book of Secrets, Lost Souls and 1994's The Mask And Mirror, which is being treated to a 30th anniversary edition. An international best-seller, The Mask And Mirror went to number one on the U.S. World Music charts. Like much of McKennitt's work, the album was influenced by her travels and as it searches for the meaning of spirituality and religion using 15th century Spain as its lens, The Mask And Mirror is stirring and affecting work. From numbers like "The Mystic's Dream" to the the riveting "Full Circle," The Mask and Mirror uses Yeats, Shakespeare and St. John Of The Cross as its lyrical spirit guides. It's remarkable work. McKennitt's brand of folk, world music and Celtic Fusion is wondrous and rousing and 30 years later, like all of her work, The Mask and Mirror sounds as timeless as ever.

www.loreenamckennitt.com (http://www.loreenamckennitt.com)

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"The Blood Of Others"

If you're job is to tell your audience a little bit about a titan like Bruce Cockburn, then you're job is not an easy one. But let's give it a shot. The Ottawa-born Bruce Cockburn is one of the most celebrated, revered, and beloved musicians on the planet. Let's just start there and work our way around. With just under 40 albums to his name, including High Winds, White Sky, Dancing In The Dragon's Jaws, Stealing Fire, Nothing But A Burning Light and his fabulous new one The Blood Of Others, Bruce Cockburn's five decade career is an endless stream of highlights. Let me give you a partial list: He's got 13 Juno Awards, 22 Gold albums, and six honorary doctorates. He's both a member and an Officer of the Order of Canada, an inductee to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as well as the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame. Let's keep going: He's received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Earth Day Canada's Outstanding Commitment to the Environment Award and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Medal and he was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame. I'll stop there, but I think by now you're getting the idea. Bruce Cockburn is a rather decorated fellow. For his new album The Blood Of Others however, he turns his gaze to other decorated folks. Taking its name from the Simone de Beauvoir novel, the album is a striking compendium of covers of tracks that informed Cockburn's musical identity. Ranging from folk to pop to blue to gospel, the fifteen tracks on The Blood of Others range from numbers by Elvis Presley to Ian Tyson to Robert Wilkins to Johnny Mercer. It's a stirring collection that's not only invigorated by Cockburn's interpretive genius, it's also a respectful musical tipping of the hat that's deeply satisfying.

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"Absence And Her Sister"

Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine first came onto my radar in the late eighties when I was a college radio DJ and I was super into their band Cordelia's Dad. Formed while the two friends were studying at Amherst, Cordelia's Dad's raucous mixture of folk and punk showed up weekly on my radio show in between the Pogues and The Replacements. Because they were such an unategorizable outfit, over the course of their ---- album career, Cordelia's Dad opened for both Doc Watson and Nirvana. After the band broke up, Eriksen dove deeper into the music of the world, plunging into East African Gospel, Bosnian folk, South Indian Classical Music while completing his Ethnomusicology PhD in the process. Hailed by everyone from T. Bone Burnett to novelist Nicholson Baker, the Grammy Award-nominated Eriksen's wide range of interests find him just as inspired by Bad Brains as he is by Yugoslavian Folk. From albums like Soul of the January Hills and Every Sound Below, his solo output is rich, varied and wonderful and his work has been covered by everyone from Alison Krauss to Joan Baez. As for Peter Irvine, the percussionist worked as a lawyer for years, but in between he joined Eriksen to play on the Oscar-Winning Cold Mountain soundtrack as well on Eriksen's solo work and for Cordelia's Dad reunion gigs. The two longtime collaborators' new album Absence And Her Sister is steeped in folk minimalism and Gothic Americana as it surveys the ancient songs of their native New England. Spare and arresting, raw and immediate, Absence And Her Sister flows with quiet urgency as it sails through the geography of a place that is both real, imagined and eternal. It's a riveting listen. Eriksen and Irvine are on tour this month, and they were kind to chat with us between gigs.

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"One Last Heist"

A singer/songwriter, a Professor, an author and the creator of the beloved cabaret-style multi artist extravaganza Cabinet Of Wonders which has featured everyone from novelist Rick Moody to Kristin Hersh to Steven Page, Wesley Stace is a man who, as the expression goes, wears many hats. The British-born, Cambridge educated Stace first came onto my college radio radar in 1989 under the name John Wesley Harding. I was immediately on board--his songs were literate, urbane and cheeky, but also heartbreaking, self-aware and wise. The John Wesley Harding character put out close to twenty marvelous albums including Here Comes The Groom, Why We Fight and Adam's Apple. Reverting to his birth name, Stace has put out just under ten albums, including his marvelous new one, One Last Heist. Satirical, soulful and catchy as ever, One Last Heist is a brilliant blend of witty pop smarts and atmospheric ballads. Over the course of his career Stace has recorded with Springsteen, Lou Reed and Roseanne Cash, written international best-selling novels and taught at Princeton.

www.wesleystace.com (http://www.wesleystace.com)

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www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com)

Threads + Bluesky+ IG: @emberspodcast

"One Last Heist"

A singer/songwriter, a Professor, an author and the creator of the beloved cabaret-style multi artist extravaganza Cabinet Of Wonders which has featured everyone from novelist Rick Moody to Kristin Hersh to Steven Page, Wesley Stace is a man who, as the expression goes, wears many hats. The British-born, Cambridge educated Stace first came onto my college radio radar in 1989 under the name John Wesley Harding. I was immediately on board--his songs were literate, urbane and cheeky, but also heartbreaking, self-aware and wise. The John Wesley Harding character put out close to twenty marvelous albums including Here Comes The Groom, Why We Fight and Adam's Apple. Reverting to his birth name, Stace has put out just under ten albums, including his marvelous new one, One Last Heist. Satirical, soulful and catchy as ever, One Last Heist is a brilliant blend of witty pop smarts and atmospheric ballads. Over the course of his career Stace has recorded with Springsteen, Lou Reed and Roseanne Cash, written international best-selling novels and taught at Princeton.

www.wesleystace.com (http://www.wesleystace.com)

www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com)

www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com)

www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com)

Threads + Bluesky+ IG: @emberspodcast

"Don't You Push"

If Coleridge was right and friendship is a sheltering tree, then Julie Christensen lives in a very big forest. It's true. She knows a lot of people and she has a lot of friends. When you listen to us chat you'll hear organically how this Iowa native has moved through the world making friends everywhere she goes. Let's back up. Julie first landed on my radar when I was a high school DJ and SST Records sent our thrash metal radio station records by her band Divine Horsemen. The fiery post-punk outfit who even now bring to mind The Gun Club, are only part of the story, so I'll do what I can to fill in the gaps. After a stint in college and playing with the band Longshot who opened for John Prine and Asleep At The Wheel, Christensen left Iowa for Texas where she played with Passenger and did some more studying at the University of Austin. But it was her move west where things really picked up speed. She fell in with the rockabilly punk scene, joined Divine Horsemen with her husband Chris D of the Flesheaters, got divorced, found sobriety and then? You can tell I'm speeding along here because Julie tells her story far better than I can, but long story short, her old pal Roscoe Beck from Passenger became Leonard Cohen's Musial Director and he suggested Christensen sing with the legendary bard. And that's exactly what she did for nearly twenty years. Julie has a series of powerful solo albums like Love Is Driving and Where The Fireworks Are and her new single "Don't You Push" is a reaction to the darkness and frustration of what's currently happening in our country. As for her voice, well, putting it simply, Julie Christensen's delivery is as towering as it is graceful. Filled with equal parts muscle and finesse, her phrasing is poetic, precise and riveting. And she's a lovely person and just wonderful to speak to.

www.stonecupid.com (http://www.stonecupid.com)

www.juliechristensen.bandcamp (http://www.juliechristensen.bandcamp).com

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IG + THREADS + BLUESKY: @emberspodcast

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"Draw The Outline"

The Irish-born singer/songwriter Sorcha Richardson keeps moving from strength to strength. Her debut First Prize Bravery was nominated for the Choice Music Prize, her second album Smiling Like An Idiot went top five in Ireland and her new one Draw The Outline is already being touted as one of 2026's very best. And for good reason. From Fake Venice to Illinois Again, Draw The Outline is a stirring, sonorous and lyrically impressionistic song-cycle about finding a stable place in a turbulent world. Effortlessly exploring connection and isolation the album is a moving blend of folk, pop and indie rock that's brave and bold, yet vulnerable and wistful. Over the course of her career Richardson has lived in Brooklyn, supported everyone from Villagers to Snow Patrol and had a number one album on the Irish indie charts. She's deeply gifted and with this new album asserting herself as one of the great songwriters on the planet.

www.sorcharichardson.com (http://www.sorcharichardson.com)

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IG + THREADS + BLUESKY: @emberspodcast

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"Lift Me Up"

Over the course of a series of critically-acclaimed and best-selling albums like I Bificus, Superbeautifulmonster and 2024's Champion, Bif Naked has established herself as one of the most dynamic and arresting artists you're likely to run into. The Canadian singer/songwriter's refusal to be categorized has been the secret to her being able to move through genres like EDM and Pop-Punk and with artistic ease. Her I Bifficus memoir is an essential read and it details a life that found her moving from New Delhi to Kentucky to Manitoba. Bif Naked has played with everyone from Green Day to Sarah McLachlan to The Cult, she's released a spoken word record, voiced video games, appeared in videos by Moist and A Simple Plan, and acted in everything from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to The L Word. To get an idea of how fearless, bold and groundbreaking she is, the documentary One Of A Kind will give you a generous glimpse of the power and grace of Bif Naked. The pleading ache of her new single "Lift Me Up" finds Bif Naked sounding better than ever. Yes, she's busy, but we fit in a little chat.

"Pathways"

Filled with glimmering synths, jangling acoustic guitars and swirling psychedelia, Meltt's new album Pathways is one of the year's great pleasures. The Vancouver outfit's fourth effort is a sonorous and ethereal blend of catchy hooks, dreamy melodies and percussive invention. Comprised of childhood chums singer/guitarist Chris Smith, drummer Jamie Turner, guitarist James Porter and bassist Ian Winkler, Meltt's sound brings to mind everyone from The Stone Roses to the Crystal Fighters. The band is on the road as we speak and that's where I caught them. So let's meet Meltt.

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Stereo Embers:

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"Welcome Back Love"

The San Francisco-born Martin Luther McCoy is a straight up quadruple threat. An actor, guitarist, singer/songwriter, and producer, McCoy is one of those guys who does a lot of things really well. He's released a handful of brilliant solo albums like The Calling, Rebel Soul Music and his brand new one, Welcome Back Love, which we'll get to in a minute, he's collaborated with the Roots, the SF Jazz Collective and Lady Bug Mecca from Diggable Planets, appeared in films like Julie Taymor's Across The Universe, appeared in Yale Repertory Theater's Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts, 1, 2 & 3) and played live with everyone from Jill Scott to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. A smoldering platter of Neo soul, funk, pop, Afrobeat, gospel, hip-hop and R&B, Welcome Back Love is one of the most transformative musical experiences of the year. From "Reimagine The World" to "Warmth Of Other Suns," Welcome Back Love is deeply satisfying and soulfully precise. And Martin is not only a gifted artist, he's a really cool guy.

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"Automated Paradise"

The Bristol-born Jon Klein got his start with the late-seventies post-punk outfit Europeans. After their break-up he formed the porto-goth band Specimen, who put out a handful of winning singles, but splintered before an album could be released. In 1987 Klein joined Siouxsie and the Banshees and went on to record three records with them: Peepshow, Superstition and The Rapture. Although Klein left the band in 1994, from there he moved from strength to strength, playing and recording with Shriekbak, Thomas Dolby, Talvin Singh and Space Tribe. He toured with Sinead O'Connor as her lead guitarist in 1995 and he played everywhere from Pinkpop to Glastonbury to Lollapalooza. Klein is one of those guys who has always stayed busy: he played in the band SNAIL, toured Southeast Asia as the musical director for Dr. Penguin's Magic Circus, went to art school and knocked out a degree in Fine Art and Critical Theory, has his own production company called Ground Control, co- produced an album for Fangoria, which hit Number One in Spain, composed soundtracks for film and theatre companies and played in the supergroup, Spammed with Horace Panter, Rat Scabies and Terry Edwards. He's also a filmmaker, an international fine artist and he is a member of the Tuned In Community Music Project with Jah Wobble. Klein and Jah Wobble have put out several fabulous albums, including A Brief History of Now and their latest effort, Automated Paradise. A jittery blast of searing post-punk and cultural dread, Automated Paradise finds Klein in fine form, slashing brilliantly away through each composition with fiery resolve.

www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com)

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IG + BLUESKY + THREADS: @emberspodcast

Email: [email protected]