Canadian singer-songwriter, Michael Reinhart's fifth album, the latest since 'lost&found' in November 2011, is comprised of 12 original songs honed after several years of live performances in Montral, Toronto and Edmonton venues as well as across Canada, the eastern US, and the UK. This is a carefully crafted studio album, almost three years in the making with several talented guest musicians helping out. The result is eCHO, a collection of 'urban folk' songs, written and performed by Michael. HAUNTING NEW CD ECHOES SINGER-SONGWRITER'S CHALLENGING LIFE MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTIST MICHAEL REINHART'S 5TH ALBUM eCHO Montreal-based singer-songwriter, composer, stage designer, artist and photographer Michael Reinhart is no stranger to desperate times and the school of hard knocks. His latest collection of original songs, entitled eCHO, provides glimpses of a life story that will resonate with many listeners. He has come a long way down a path of strife and dogged determination to get where he is in this world. After a harrowing experience he had in 1993, when he sustained a spinal injury that paralyzed him from the waist down, he underwent major surgery and over the following five years, his life was spent learning to walk all over again. The experience was certainly not wasted on him, and served to deepen his love of the guitar, as well as sharpen his ability for writing strikingly penetrating and profound lyrics. Newly transformed, and with resounding courage and empathy, he began what he calls his second life with renewed fervor. This incredibly versatile renaissance artist now brilliantly echoes the old life throughout this latest 12-track album. A trained accordionist and self-taught finger-style guitarist, Michael mostly created instrumental pieces and didn't really venture into singing until quite late in his career. On eCHO, his rich and rugged vocals meld beautifully with his passionate lyrics and melodies, reminiscent of the depth and wisdom of Leonard Cohen. With themes that have echoed through his whole life, of breaking away from family and hometown to become his own man in Take Me Away or calm unrealized in Sand Inside A Pearl, we can feel the struggle of a young man searching and sometimes succeeding through the many mistakes and trials along the way. The tune & You Said Yes, which features stunning violin and cello, is a hauntingly sweet echo of a very desperate time when the artist said yes to life, after a good friend intuitively intervened by saying the three words that tipped the balance in favor of hanging on. The title track, in which New York singer Alison Wedding shines on backup vocals, speaks of long-term relationships, and how one lover's influence echoes through your life, in how you see, how you speak, how you live. Nothing at all corny or cliched here, and certainly not without humor. Michael delivers the message with a unique perspective, and there are many lyrical gems, such as on the first track Horizon Line, where one hears I haven't gathered much except a limp along the way. Nearly 3 years in the making, eCHO is a beautiful, carefully crafted yet stripped-down- to-the-basics musical autobiography. Guitar and vocals are front and center, with stellar utilization of Sarah Frank (The Bombadils) on violin, and Robert Stagg and Montrealer David Ryshpan on accordion throughout, especially tasteful on the waltz-styled Nola about hurricane Katrina. Jeff Bird (Cowboy Junkies) on mandolin is outstanding on that tune as well. Inspired cello by Vancouver composer Peggy Lee, percussion by Montreal musician Patrick Graham and guitar enhancement by Toronto's Noah Zacharin all add sparkle and sweetness to this collection of all original material. Aside from the recent limited releases 'lost&found' (2011) and the instrumental album 'Cyprus Songs' (2011), various other recordings, several scores for contemporary dance, interdisciplinary & film projects in recent years, Michael also released the album 'QUARAALUKTUQ, Michael Reinhart & Singers of Nunavut', in 2003 a collaboration with nine Inuit s
