General Electric

Article by Cheryl Brink
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October 22, 2010

CORNWALL - Musicians from two continents collaborated on General Electryk's album, which was over a year in the making and will finally be released next week. The 13 tracks on Petty Little Things are about family, journey and loss. "There are no filler songs on this album;' said drummer and backup vocalist Angus Donnelly, who is from Australia. "There's a lot of depth.''

Donnelly began working with Cornwall native Melanie McDonald when she was in Australia several years ago, helping her develop her musical and song writing skills. Eventually they formed General Electryk - with members in both countries - with McDonald as lead vocalist, and recorded this CD in a Cornwall studio with producer Glenn Forrester. McDonald said the project was a long time coming, with six years worth of songs being tweaked along the way. "It's a good thing it took so long," she said about the process that allowed plenty of maturation.

Petty Little Things will be unveiled at a CD release, at Schnitzels. Donnelly said they plan to play the entire album at the launch. "Every time we perform it's different," said McDonald about their shows all over the region. "We want to keep it that way:" The duo is joined by Mark Muir, Jason Ryan and Noureddine Ismag, while Shem Aitken Melanie MacDonald McIntosh also collaborated on the recording.

McDonald said it was Muir who came up with the music for a song she wrote about newly discovered relatives of her father who died when she was 12. "Mark has a huge influence on the album.'' agreed Donnelly, adding that they hope to do more writing with Muir for their next project.

Donnelly also gave props to Forrester, calling him "the rock" that brought coherence to the entire recording. But Donnelly and McDonald spearheaded the project, also taking on the job of designing the album. Though neither were able to give a one-word explanation of their type of music, Donnelly said all of the musicians' influences, including blues, pop and funk, were melded into their tunes. McDonald said the production was a big learning experience, from creating a business plan to social media marketing to creating harmonies for the tracks. "I never had the opportunity of the support from fellow musicians.

"Cornwall is on the rise right now," she said. "It's very supportive of the arts!' The duo is making plans to permanently settle in Cornwall (though regular trips back to the Land Down Under are still on the schedule) because of its encouraging arts community. "It's such a great time for the city,'' said Donnelly, adding that the band plans to plan as many shows as possible in the summer and expand their tour to both promote themselves and the city they call home. McDonald said they hope to see more infrastructure for arts
and culture spring up in the next couple of years. "That's what we want to "build;' she said.