Ottawa Folk Festival's Rising Star
Dave Gaudet wins this year's Galaxy award
Singer-songwriter Dave Gaudet is one of the talks of the Fest - he may play mostly with girls but his introspective tunes are resonating big time with men
"All my songs are about a psychological thing, a tendency or weakness that I have."
So confesses Dave Gaudet, the tall, introspective singer-songwriter who is impressing audiences and fellow artists alike at the 14th Annual Ottawa Folk Festival.
And does it bother him to make the private so public?
"I have no fear of that risk," he adds, "If anything, it allows people to understand me better."
For those of you not yet privileged to know Dave - those who have yet to hear that sweet whisper of a voice try to find man's place in existence's here-there-and-everywhere plan, like a ribbon of silk caught up in a wind storm - some elucidation:
Dave was born in Kingston, and ended up in Ottawa to study sociology (maybe psychology or philosophy would have been a better fit.) He left to pursue music full time after a stay at a musician-infested house in Ottawa's tony Glebe, and found himself playing guitar (both acoustic and electric) for rock bands (Lure) and female singers.
He's still a central part, in fact, of singer-songwriter Meredith Luce's outfit. Luce, for whom Dave provides lead breaks, is another Ottawa-based up and comer whose public performances are collecting stars like the shoulders on a top rank military man.
Meanwhile, Dave's got his own thing going, too - namely, a growing rep as an updated version of what was once called "the new age sensitive guy," on display in a new EP (his first) and solidified with the win of this year's Galaxy Rising Stars Award (the Ottawa Folk Fest's Canadian Idol.)
Listening to Dave's songs is like examining an X-ray into the modern male psyche, all the questions, quirks and conundrums guys try so hard to hide from girls - and too often, other guys. It's a daring, artfully delivered catharsis, one that's cutting to the heart of the male listening audience. To Dave, however, it's just what he does:
"That's nothing I've ever considered before" - the guy thing - "but I'm happy to hear it."
Happy to hear it because Dave, a low-key personality, is in the throes of building a bridge to the other side - that is, of shedding his cocoon and flying to a broader audience.
"I want to start writing songs more about things that are happening outside than inside. I want to use tangible ideas people can relate to more."
Perhaps Dave's most universal statement to date is his Missing The Point, an interesting tune about the search for absolute truth - a subject particularly close to Dave's heart.
"I guess I think that life is divided into people who get it and people who don't. And my fear is that I'm a guy who doesn't."
That's okay, Dave. We get it: that you're a unique and notable talent, and that until you find your way, it'll be a musical pleasure to follow you there.
