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Stringer known for powerful performances

Grizzly bears are high on the list of North American animals that Australian singer Liz Stringer hopes to see — from a distance — during her first Canadian tour this month.Moose? Not so much.
WEB-stringer
Australian singer Liz Stringer performs at Gilmore Guitars on Saturday

Grizzly bears are high on the list of North American animals that Australian singer Liz Stringer hopes to see — from a distance — during her first Canadian tour this month.

Moose? Not so much.

“I was chased by a moose when I was in Norway once,” said Stringer, who performs on Saturday, Aug. 29, at Gilmore Guitars in Red Deer. “I’m in no hurry to see a moose.”

So far, her wildlife sightings have been limited to garden-variety squirrels.

But the Melbourne-based singer/songwriter has been making a striking impression on Canadian audiences with her powerful, often dark-tinged tunes of love and loss.

Catch her riveting YouTube performances of The Devil and My Daughter or Ain’t No Healer, and you’ll see why Beat Magazine has likened her soul-stirring singing style to a “Baptist preacher leading a Sunday morning congregation down the path of righteousness.”

Stringer is often praised for penning “novella-like lyrics” with poetic stirring and visceral punch. And these comparisons to short-story writing are appreciated by the 35-year-old, who’s purposely taken a sparse lyrical approach in her four studio albums.

“In three or four verses you have to create an entire universe ... so you have to be very careful with which words you choose because you only have room for a few,” she said.

Stringer’s haunting tune High Open Hills still manages to convey a twist ending, in the spirit of Shirley Jackson or Guy de Maupassant, when the lover who’s longingly remembered at the beginning of the song is revealed to be a cad by the end.

Her narrative style is borrowed from traditional Irish music — which is probably her biggest influence.

“The only other music we had around the house was Beatles records or Beach Boys records,” recalled the singer, who grew up in a family of musicians, writers and artists — including her retired music-teacher dad.

Although Stringer’s tastes diversified as she grew older (“When I got to high school, I was listening to Metallica, Jeff Buckley and various Australian bands — as well as Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix”), her most enduring influence continues to be melody-driven folk.

Stringer’s following up her 2014 solo album Live at the Yarra with a new CD that’s in the process of being recorded in Portland, Ore. It’s Stringer’s first experience with a North American studio and, so far, she’s thrilled with the results.

Producer Adam Selzer (The Decemberists, Y La Bamba), hired some “amazing” studio musicians, said Stringer.

Since they weren’t overly familiar with her tunes at first, they brought no preconceived notions into the studio. And she believes this fresh approach “will turn out to be awesome.”

Her yet-untitled new album is expected to be released in 2016.

Although this is Stringer’s first Canadian tour, she’s one of Melbourne’s most lauded indie musicians, with a growing fan following in Europe.

Tickets to the 7 p.m. show at Bay 6, 4676 61st St. in Red Deer are $20 from Gilmore Guitars. For more information, call 403-872-0006.

lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com