Atlantic Records
Canada has given the United States many things over the years. Mike Meyers, Jim Carrey and Alex Trebeck all hail from the Great White North. Musically, they have offered up such luminaries as Bryan Adams, Rush, and Shania Twain to name a few. Well, now you can add Serena Ryder to that list.Ryder's new CD on Atlantic Records Is It O.K. is her third release of folk-pop flavored songs that cannot help but rekindle images of that other Ontario songstress Alanis Morissette. While this CD does sound less like Morissette than her previous efforts, one can still hear the similarities, on songs like, "Weak In The Knees".  Ryder is NOT an Alanis clone, by any means. Throughout the album she delivers songs with an emotional intensity that forces the listener to sit up and take notice. The single, "Little Bit Of Red", is a break-up song delivered with stinging vitriol, while "Dark As The Black" slows her usual pace down a bit. Ryder wears her influences on her sleeve. The cream of the female rock cannon, like Janis Joplin and Melissa Ethridge are heard, but the sound is distinctly her own. Ryder is not just a vocal talent, she wrote many of the songs on this disc and when she straps on her guitar she reveals her more than competent ability with the instrument. The CD was released in her native Canada earlier this year earning her the "Adult Alternative Album of the Year" at the 2009 Juno Awards. Producer John Alagia, who has worked with John Mayer, and Dave Matthews adds some polish that was not on her earlier efforts. It is only a matter of time before listeners in the U.S. find out what Canadian audiences have already found out, Serena Ryder is a talent to be reckoned with.