For Andrea Menard, music is therapy.
The Flin Flon-born songstress’s upcoming album, Lift, is all about the bright side of life.
“We tend to be surrounded with music sometimes that tends to [make us] talk about our pain,” Menard tells Global News. “And I was done and I decided to play joyful music because I needed a lift in my life.”
Due for a May 3 release, Lift is Menard’s fourth album. Co-written with her long-time collaborator, Robert Walsh, the work promises inspiring rhythms, melodies and lyrics.
“I just want to make music that makes me feel good,” Menard says on her website. “I want to speak impeccable words, as taught to me by my elders, so that when I sing them joy radiates from my heart and affects the people around me in a good way.”
A renowned singer, actress and writer, Menard, now in her mid-40s, was born in Flin Flon in 1971 to mom Margaret (nee Winterton), a nurse, and miner dad Dollard.
While she left Flin Flon at age two, she spent summers at the family cabin on Little Athapap and still considers the community her true home.
“It developed me,” she told The Reminder in 2008, referring to growing up in the area. “I think our bones and ourselves and our blood know where we come from, because there’s nothing that makes me feel better than the rocks and trees and fresh water.
“It’s a very big part of who I am now. I like to spend a lot of time in nature.”
Menard is now based in Vancouver.
