By Bryden Veinot
sylvi macCormac has released a new album called EVER GREEN with the support of the Vancouver Adapted Music Society (VAMS), and the story of it coming to fruition is something that sylvi and our whole team is incredibly proud of. What’s interesting about the album is there’s nothing new about it… it’s 44 years old.
Over the years, many songwriters grow a collection of unreleased songs, even forgetting about some of them completely. It’s a natural part of the creative process and growth as an artist, but it’s important to be able to revisit these songs when you eventually rediscover them.
Now imagine if by the time you unearth an old song to give new life, you’ve lost the physical ability to play your guitar or set up a microphone needed to make this song a reality. This is where singer/songwriter sylvi macCormac might have found herself if not for the Vancouver Adapted Music Society and instead was able to realize her original vision for songs dating back to 1982.
sylvi began her artistic journey in Vancouver with an acoustic guitar and a singing voice with incredible range and maturity, pulling inspiration from her traditional Irish heritage alongside an interest in local Indigenous people’s music and respect for the land that we all get to call home. She would write Folk, Blues, Rock, or any other kind of music if it satisfied her expression, and then she’d get the songs saved on a 2-track cassette recorder.
As sylvi puts it, “I’m just a girl with guitar”.
Through these years her physical abilities began to decline due to Multiple Sclerosis; a chronic, progressive disease that disrupts the brain’s control of the body resulted in sylvi no longer being able to play guitar, and start using a wheelchair in her late 20’s.
This of course wouldn’t stop someone so creative and needing of expression, so she pivoted to sound and soundscape design using computers, field recorders, hardware effects, and different studio recording mediums that worked with her abilities.
sylvi attended and completed a program at Simon Fraser University (SFU) learning all of this, setting her up to go on and create award-winning soundscape projects that highlight First Nations communities, people with disabilities, and the sounds of nature within these traditional territories.
She discovered VAMS in the early 2000’s and rekindled the passion for writing music, producing and performing multiple new albums with her community of talented musicians. The years went by filled with meaningful artistic audio projects, but those old 2 track cassettes from the 80’s were lost and forgotten… That is, until 2023.
During the process of cleaning out her apartment, sylvi came across a couple of cassettes with ink smudges on the label and a chunk broken off the corner of one of them. Knowing that VAMS Senior Program Coordinator Bryden Veinot had recently brought his cassette deck to the studio, she brought them to her next session to find out what’s on them. Bryden hooked up the deck to record everything digitally, did a quick fix to the broken cassette, popped it in and hit play.
What’s interesting about the album is there’s nothing new about it… it’s 44 years old.
They were immediately transported to 1982 as if they were sitting right beside a young sylvi, singing and playing her heart out on song after song. It was beyond special for them both; sylvi rediscovering songs and Bryden getting to hear her play guitar after years of working together.
The songs were intimate, personal, dynamic, and of course timeless. Having just finished a prior project together, it was a no-brainer that these songs would be the next project, so they got right to work.
The cassette tapes had degraded over the course of 40-plus years, as expected, but there was an undeniable charm to the low-fidelity and warmth now baked in. On top of that, the performances were of pure emotion and intention, something that needed to be preserved.
They decided to use the original recordings, now converted to digital audio files, as the foundation for a new album that pairs her 20-year-old voice with modern recording techniques and new instrumentation.
The first task was using an AI program to separate the vocals from the guitar on each song, then making edits to clean up the little artifacts and harshness left over. They then began making plans for each song as to what instruments should be added, who will play those instruments, how to mix together lo-fi cassette recordings with clean modern ones, how to incorporate elements of sound and soundscape design, and how to retain the feelings both portrayed in 1982 and ones felt when first listening in 2023.
Soon after starting the album production, the VAMS team grew with the addition of Noah Stolte, who became the primary Audio Engineer of the album. Over the course of two years, they would bring in musicians to play piano, viola, violin, upright bass, hand percussion, lap steel guitar, didgeridoo, backup vocals, and have Bryden play many of the guitars and drums.
Between the three of them there was ample experience to address everything from the broader creative aspects all the way down to the most minute technical details. It was as much an artistic pursuit as it was a science project to them, and the exciting challenge to put it together was all possible because of VAMS.
In the late 1980’s, a chance encounter between Dave Symington and Sam Sullivan led to the creation of VAMS.
They both recently had a life changing spinal cord injury resulting in quadriplegia, and both were musicians: Dave a drummer and Sam a keyboard player/singer. Starting in a small room at Pearson Hospital, they got connected with Roland Canada to figure out how the cool new digital technology called “MIDI” could help them get back into playing music.
Their drive to continue doing what they love despite the barriers they face would eventually become a community of musicians with disabilities. Folks would now have a fully accessible space to hone their skills with an instrument, produce records, or a comfort to cultivate a passion for something new because there’s no need to justify their disability—it’s just understood.
sylvi wouldn’t be able to access other recording studios due to wheelchair accessibility or even attitudinal barriers, and it would have been a shame if EVER GREEN never got a chance to exist, as sylvi, Bryden, and Noah agree it is one of the most fulfilling musical journeys they’ve ever been on.
Nobody knows who might write the next great song, be the next greatest guitar player, or be an inspiration to others, but that’s only possible when there are inclusive opportunities for everyone. VAMS is here to make that happen, and sylvi macCormac’s EVER GREEN is a perfect example of why we’re all so proud to be a part of it.