Toronto-Based Songwriter-Storyteller Andrea England Releases A New Body Of Work 'Evidence Of Love'

By Stevie Connor.

Nova Scotia native, award-winning songwriter and storyteller, Andrea England, who is the founder of one of the most popular songwriter circle concert series in Canada, Four Chords & The Truth, has released a brand new body of work, Evidence Of Love, her first release since 2012's Hope And Other Sins ( produced by Grammy winner Colin Linden. )

Evidence Of Love contains co-writes with internationally renowned artists, Tenille Townes, Liz Rodriguez and James Bryan McCollum, and the musicians contributing include Liz Rodriguez, Carleton Stone, Hill Kourkoutis, Christine Bougie, Lyle Molzan, Stuart Cameron and John Whynot.

The Toronto-based musician, whose songs have been recorded by everyone from Meghan Patrick and Don Amero to ex-Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, releases her long-awaited Americana EP which was produced by Juno award-winner Hill Kourkoutis (Aysanabee, Digging Roots).

It was shortly after Andrea had moved to Toronto that she met an impressive kid, Hill Kourkoutis, a multi-talented prodigy of 14, who was in the recording studio while Andrea was recording a previous release, Lemonade. Hill was there to soak in the process of making records. “And so, here we are. We’ve been friends and co-writers for a long, long time, like 20 years,” Andrea said.

The EP contains messages of love in it's various forms.

Of Evidence of Love and the lead single, Halifax , Andrea adds, "I started my life and artist career in Halifax, and my time there influenced a big part of who I am as a woman and songwriter - although I’ve never written about it as directly as I do on this latest release. Over the pandemic, thoughts and images of my early life in Nova Scotia kept flooding back.

I’ve since moved away from my home province to settle in Toronto, but I visit often; I suppose that I had to leave Halifax to get to where I am, but like the song says, I keep on going back. “Halifax” is the album’s first single because I wanted to start the album where I started. It’s a nostalgic song about a lost love forever connected to a place and a time - and to write it, I drew upon my first real heartbreak – one that literally led me to leave a city I loved."

Andrea adds, "It’s also about the conflict of loving a place, but knowing that you have to leave it to pursue your dreams. I write a lot of songs with and for other artists, but some songs I save for me - until it becomes clear to me that the time is right to release them into the world myself.

When I wrote the title track, Evidence of Love, last summer, I felt the time had come to tell some of these stories. In the end, I chose seven songs, each reflecting a different aspect of love, in order: nostalgic love, love of parents, loss, absence of love, betrayal, ideal love, and the love we take with us when we …go. Life is a work in process, I’ve learned, but love is essential to every part of it."

Evidence Of Love is available now on various streaming platforms, visit Andrea England's website or social media platforms for more information.

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