Residing between Berlin and Toronto, with 2 bands hailing from Milan, Leipzig and Toronto, Chloe made this album an international project. With her unshakeable faith she self-produced With Blindfolds On in Toronto at Number 9 Audio Group with trusty engineer Bernie Cisternas (Emily Haines, Maestro, K-OS, Treble Charger) by her side. But one city was not enough, so on to Berlin to mix the full album and record a little more at the historic Funkhaus Studios (the former East German 135,000 m² radio complex originally designed by Bauhaus architect Franz Ehrlich) with mixing engineer Jean Philipp Dusse (Max Herre, Till Brönner, Apparat, Dear Reader), and then to New York where the single Smiling was produced and mixed by Chris Sholar (Grammy Award Winner, Stevie Wonder, Kanye West). Juggling continents, cultures, sounds, languages, inspirations and differing technical mixing and mastering practices, this album is a feat.
Raised within the unconventional milieu of her artist grandfather and the singing, song-writing women in her family, living among the forests, ponds and meadows that dot the rolling hills of the Oak Ridges Moraine, just north of Toronto, Chloe (also an accomplished painter) was encouraged to question everything and seek new ways of doing old things. In Chloe’s home, things were always becoming something else, even the house itself: two century old barns torn down, relocated and rebuilt into an art school, later revamped to create an out of this world apartment complex and social hub for an eclectic assortment of creative people who delighted in “making things”—they didn’t know any other way of being: the potter, the photographer, the guitar builder, the inventor, the painter, the poet, the weaver, etc. With Blindfolds On demonstrates the continuing evolution of Charles the person, her music and her predilection for invention. With this album she challenges herself and her audience to limit our dependence on the material “what is” and experience life intuitively, as in with blindfolds on, to discover “what could be”. “Dismiss your fear of stumbling,” Charles dares, “Let’s play, let’s explore!” For instance, while most of these songs have been characteristically composed with the classical guitar, and you’ll savour her recognizably dexterous filigree (Hold Me, Through Your Eyes, Wool Sweater, Run Your Course, Tulip), in others, she rests the guitar to focus on her voice (Black & White, Take Me Naked, Smiling).
Nearing her 1,000 show mark in 11 countries, her 10,000 hours, with her unfathomable voice and range, and a penchant for risk taking, Chloe’s career can do nothing but continue to blossom.