Canadian indie alt-pop songstress Jeen releases a cover of The Pogues’ classic Christmas anthem, “Fairytale of New York” today. “It seems like the best Christmas song for the worst year,” says Jeen. “I’m an Irish girl too, so Shane MacGowan is an elixir.” With The Mahones’ Michael O’Grady on Irish whistle and renowned Toronto musician/producer Ian Blurton (Change of Heart, C’mon, Future Now) on lead guitar, “Fairytale of New York” is available to stream and purchase HERE. Last month, Jeen released her self-titled album produced with Blurton to much critical acclaim. Recorded in Toronto in 2019, the 12 songs on Jeen are her strongest yet, featuring Ian Blurton on lead guitar, Stephan Szczesniak on drums, Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene, Cookie Duster) & Ben O’Brien on bass, Jeff Heisholt on synths, and Kevin Fox on cello. The album cover art features photography by Matt Oswalt, American writer, actor and comedian and younger brother of comedian Patton Oswalt.
“It was great to finally make a big record like this,” shares Jeen. “I’m used to making records pretty much by myself, recording more lo-fi releases in my attic. But when I got Ian on board to mix 2018’s Gift Shop, things just clicked and I asked if he’d help me produce this. I was so happy to have full production after doing it on my own for so long. I’m not much in the way of more traditional singer-songwriter approaches, I always end up drifting… it’s art after all, and this is just how I like to make it.”
Jeen released Gift Shop on Red Brick Songs. With this LP, she honed her unique, vintage sound. Gift Shop features anthemic reverb-fueled indie-pop and is produced by Jeen and mixed by Blurton who plays guitar in Jeen’s live band and on the lead single “Any Moment” which he also co-produced with Jeen. “Any Moment” garnered the #10 Top Gainer on the Alternative Radio charts upon its debut, was officially added to The Verge on SiriusXM, and climbed the CBC Radio 3 Top 30 chart.
An established and successful songwriter with a penchant for crafting hooky, sync-worthy songs, Jeen became the vocalist and co-writer for Cookie Duster, the side project from Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene) and appears on their 2012 album When Flying Was Easy. In 2014, Jeen released her debut solo LP Tourist which immediately got picked up by NPR’s beloved and influential show All Songs Considered who featured lead single “Everywhere I Go” and highlighted Jeen in its 9 Creative Musicians You Should Know radio episode in 2015. The attention landed her a feature showcase slot at TIFF’s 2015 Canadian Music Café extensively broadening her reach in a sync market she had already well established herself in. Jeen’s 2016 sophomore LP Modern Life continued to build on her debut success with Consequence of Sound calling it, ‘…catchy, anthemic indie pop’. Both albums resulted in significant sync success for Jeen with song placements in various commercials (Google, Panasonic, Estée Lauder, Kraft, BlackBerry, KIA, Rogers, MasterCard, Molson) as well as notable movies and televisions shows (Cook Off, Republic of Doyle, Instant Star, Ruby Gloom, Degrassi, Killjoys, Hockey Wives, Workin’ Moms, MTV Catfish, MTV Are You the One). If her songwriting resume isn’t impressive enough, Jeen has also written for many recording artists including Great Big Sea, Serena Ryder, Res, Hawksley Workman, Brendan Canning, FUWA FUWA (j-pop) and Martin “Doc” McKinney.
