Alberta-born alternative-country singer/songwriter Shiloh Lindsey probably isn't the kind of girl that has sparkly unicorn stickers on her guitar case.
"I've always been fascinated with darkness and the darker side of the human psyche," she said. "I also love horror movies."
Lindsey mines that fascination with the darker side of life to create compelling contemporary folk and country ballads that range from tales about murder to drunkenness, cheating lovers and everything in between.
"A lot of the songs come from my own experiences," she said. "But I use a lot of metaphors and symbolism."
Her songs seem to come from somewhere between being sprawled in the sawdust of a barroom that's about to close, and the flickering neon of a dingy hotel room.
It's gritty music that is evocative of other Americana artists like Jolie Holland and Lucinda Williams.
It's moody, real and nothing like Shania Twain or Faith Hill.
The only thing sweet about these songs is Lindsey's gorgeous and whiskey-soaked voice.
It's all a far cry from where she envisioned herself to be when she was a little girl living in Alberta.
"I wanted to be a marine biologist," she said. "Well, either that or an inventor. I wanted to be a scientist."
But it's hard to deny the call of the stage.
"I guess I just went back to my roots," she said. "I grew up in Alberta with country music, and since I was a teenager I wanted to be a singer/songwriter. I just assumed that's what I would do."
At 14 she took a job as a waitress in a truck stop diner to pay for the keep of her horse at a local ranch, and when that didn't work out she began songwriting in earnest, and roving town to town with her dreams before arriving in Vancouver.
She recorded her debut album, "For My Smoke" with producer John Macarthur Ellis (Be Good Tanyas, Dustin Bentall) and is currently touring to support her second release, "Western Violence & Brief Sensuality".
Lindsey said she never considered giving her music a more "pop" sound to fit in with the state of the North American country music scene today.
"Is there a country music scene," she asked. "It's pretty washed out and cookie-cutter. It's safe. I just write the way I write and wouldn't feel comfortable writing something that's not from the heart."
On Tour since June, Lindsey plans to continue across Western Canada before heading into the U.S. this fall.
Catch the moody, un-safe, non-cookie-cutter and definitely talented sounds of Shiloh Lindsey at the Howe Sound Brew Pub on Sept. 18.
The show starts at 9:30 p.m. and, best of all, there's no cover.
For more info or to sample Shiloh's music go to www.shilohlindsey.com.
