Sound and Sight: Bronwyn Rose

Bronwyn Rose Boyer: Dream weaver

Amidst the magical mosaic of writers, painters, musicians, producers, and storytellers that work and reside in the Huntsville area, some rare gems are often less known to the public at large. One such rare gem of incredible beauty is Bronwyn Rose Boyer, who performs and records as simply Bronwyn Rose.

She is a gifted musician with advanced abilities on a complex array of instruments such as violin, piano, drums, percussion, and most notably guitar— an instrument she has almost exclusively re-imagined for her own creative purposes. Bronwyn is also an innovative, thrilling songwriter, arranger and record producer and a vocalist with an astounding command of both melodic and harmony singing.

With two recorded works released in the past six years, Release in 2015 and Momentum in 2018, Bronwyn was in deep production mode for the release of her third album in the Evolution Trilogy, when she was confronted with a serious, life-altering illness. Fortunately for all of us, Bronwyn has successfully overcome most of the adverse effects of her illness and is preparing to soon return to finally recording the final album in the trilogy, Acceleration.

Bronwyn has generally kept to herself over her creative years in Huntsville, developing her projects or supporting herself as a set decorator in the busy world of TV production in Toronto. With the exception of a few infrequent but delightful concerts, or joining other musicians in local fundraising efforts, Bronwyn’s music and performances are confined to her YouTube channel and her recordings. Besides her own musical creations, Bronwyn is also a recording producer for artists such as Patty Crozier and others.

Bronwyn is also a unique and talented painter and designer, using her pieces for album art and painting for friends and family.

Her artistic life aspirations, inspirations, and drive appeared remarkably early in her childhood. Growing up on an 85-acre farm outside of Bracebridge as the only child of the astounding songwriter, musician and writer, Alison Boyer, Bronwyn lived in what surely must be considered an enchanted kingdom. Alison is a prodigious songwriter in her own right, and a musician of extraordinary skill on guitar, piano and master class chromatic harmonica—considered by many as the best there is on the instrument locally.

At age six, Bronwyn saw a violinist on Sesame Street and starting asking her mom how to play. Training with a local teacher, Bronwyn built a solid foundation in music theory through classical and conservatory training on violin, at which she excelled. By the time she was fourteen, Bronwyn began teaching herself to play drums on a vintage set that her mother kept for her own recordings. She quickly formed a rock trio called Slight Return with two of her best friends. Through the fun and camaraderie she felt with her band, Bronwyn began to explore other instruments, gravitating to piano and her early attempts at songwriting.

The guitar became a fascination for her around this same period, but she had to learn to play on her mother’s left-handed guitar, forcing her to create her own approach to hand positions and chord structures. Imaginatively, she developed a unique form of guitar playing—using voicings, tunings, and hand movement that can only be accredited to her own innate musical genius.

Unlike so many other young guitarists who learn by rote, chords and scales, in standard tuning orchestra pitch Bronwyn discovered a musical language fundamentally of her own design, a feat only attempted by a few notable exceptions in the music arts—Joni Mitchell, Michael Hedges, David Crosby, Django Reinhardt—all guitar virtuoso savants to put it mildly.

Not to diminish her other musical talents, it is this ability to play guitar with such unfettered freedom that makes Bronwyn such a staggering rarity amongst guitarists, many who have been featured on “Sound and Sight” in Doppler. It is also the underlying gift which spurs her prodigious, prolific songwriting. Never settling for long, Bronwyn is in constant search of new avenues of expression—new colours, tempos, sonic landscapes—largely springing from her inventive, cleverly ingenious guitar sound. As a young artist, she has accumulated a vast, adventurous portfolio of songs—too many perhaps to even record and produce properly.

In her early twenties, Bronwyn sought and met her father, Imre de Jonge, sparking a collaboration which continues to this writing. Imre is a formidable talent—a world-class drummer, guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, producer, and highly acclaimed luthier-guitar builder of unique and gorgeous hand-crafted instruments. Imre seems almost capable of learning any skill required of a modern musician. He is the owner/operator of ‘The Barn’, a recording studio in Huntsville that he started in 2000 and where Bronwyn now lives and records. The studio boasts recordings for a wide collection of aspiring area songwriters—Lewis and Clarke, Juan Barbosa, Patty Crozier and more.

The collaboration between Imre and Bronwyn has produced some stellar work. Imre’s rich tapestry of talents permits Bronwyn to execute an exciting variety of sound to compliment her songcraft. Many of her recordings in fact include her mother Alison and father Imre providing the rich complexity around her tracks.

Perhaps the most outstanding of Bronwyn’s abilities is her resourceful vocal and harmony arrangements. Almost death-defying choruses swoop and swirl prism-like refracted frequencies that shimmer celestial sunlight pouring through cathedral halls and windows—brilliant and exhilarating.

We all must acknowledge that Huntsville is a diamond mine of precious artistic talent. Bronwyn Rose Boyer stands out amongst the many, not only for her multi-faceted proclivity but her beautifully substantive artistic contribution, filled with genius, passion, and love. Riches beyond wealth, treasure more precious than that of the magi.

Learn and listen more at bronwynboyer.bandcamp.com, on Facebook here, or on Bronwyn’s YouTube channel.

Writer’s note: Wishing you, dear readers, the best of the season and happiest of memories with friends and family over Christmastide and the birth of a New Year. ~ DMc

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