Amy Millan，加拿大籍女歌手， 代表作品有个人专辑《Honey from the Tombs》。 　　相信大家对Amy Millan这个名字都不陌生。这位来自加拿大民谣女歌手是Stars乐队的女主唱，曾经在Broken Social Scene里做过帮唱。Amy有一把独特的嗓音，厚重，富有层次感，录音后经过处理听起来更加立体亮丽。Amy Millan早前已经被 Toronto weekly papers Now Magazine 评为 “Toronto’s Best Female Singer”。看来Amy这回的个人专辑一定很受捧。 　　这张Solo Album用了三年的时间录制，据Amy自己的描述，这张专辑里面的曲子都是七年前或更早之前写的。Amy在中学时代已经开始自己作曲，她曾对媒体说，我喜欢写伤感的歌（I love writing sad songs）。的确，在这张Honey From the Tombs里面我们可以感受到一个忧郁感伤的Amy。透过音乐，你可以看到她正抱着箱琴懒洋洋的吟唱，无拘无束，沉醉在自己寂寞的世界。听这张专辑的时候要注意歌词，因为看过歌词后，即使曲子充满了明快的节奏以及和谐的旋律，你都能体会到有忧愁的东西在里面。 　　Early life 　　Amy Millan grew up in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood of Toronto. She attended high school at Jarvis Collegiate Institute, and later the Etobicoke School of the Arts where she studied drama alongside future Broken Social Scene bandmates Kevin Drew and Emily Haines. Millan and Haines formed the band Edith's Mission. Although short-lived, Edith's Mission did play a sold-out show at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. After high school, Millan moved to Montreal for three years to attend Concordia University and gained experience as a solo performer by playing in coffee shops. Upon returning to Toronto, she formed the roots-rock band 16 Tons and wrote many of the songs that she would use to launch her solo career several years later. After the breakup of 16 Tons, Millan moved to Los Angeles. While living there, her song with 16 Tons, "Bury Me," was added to the soundtrack of the film Drowning Mona. However, Millan, missing a city where walking was encou**ged over driving, returned to Toronto. 　　Stars 　　Stars was formed by Torquil Campbell and Chris Seligman in New York City. The line-up subsequently grew to incorporate Evan Cranley, with whom Millan had played gigs while a member of 16 Tons. Feeling that Millan would be a good fit for the group, Cranley invited her to New York City to audition in December 1999. After receiving assurances that she would be actively involved in the songwriting process, Millan agreed to join the band. As much of their debut album had been recorded prior to her joining, Millan's involvement in 2001's Nightsongs was limited, although she did sing lead vocals on "T**ic Holiday". Desiring to return to Canada, but not wanting to move to Toronto, the band relocated to Montreal. Drummer Pat McGee was recruited as their fifth member prior to the release of their second album, Heart, in 2003. Millan's influence was more evident on this album, and a number of the tracks were performed as duets between her and Torquil Campbell, establishing a style for which the band would become well known. Stars' commercial breakthrough came with their 2004 album Set Yourself on Fire and the accompanying single "Ageless Beauty", which featured a lead vocal by Millan. Their fourth album, In Our Bedroom After the War, was released in 2007 and was followed by the EP Sad Robots the following year. In June 2010, they released their fifth full-length album, The Five Ghosts. 　　Broken Social Scene 　　Although she did not officially contribute to Broken Social Scene's first two albums, due to scheduling conflicts for BSS members Emily Haines and Leslie Feist, she was asked by former classmate Kevin Drew to "be the girl" and sing with the band for the release concert of the band's second album, You Forgot It in People. From 2002 onward, Millan has often performed in BSS alongside fellow Stars members Evan Cranley, Chris Seligman and Torquil Campbell. She appeared on their 2005 self-titled album and also contributed vocals and writing to Kevin Drew's 2007 solo album Spirit If... as well as to Brendan Canning's 2008 solo album Something For All of Us. As in Stars, Amy usually sings with BSS but also plays guitar and percussion during live shows. 　　Honey from the Tombs 　　Amy Millan released her debut solo album, Honey from the Tombs, in 2006. It consisted of songs largely written before 2000, from when Millan was a member of 16 Tons. The album title was inspired by a Tom Waits interview where he compared the release of older songs to the discovery of sweet honey buried in Egyptian tombs. The album was produced by Ian Blurton and musical contributors included Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene and Dan and Jenny Whiteley from Crazy Strings. 　　In contrast to her work with Stars, Millan's solo work is strongly influenced by country and folk music. Thematically, many of the songs deal with loss and loneliness, and taking solace in alcohol is sung about numerous times. Millan's upbringing in Toronto provided the inspiration for the song "Wayward and Parliament", which is based on her time working in the coffee shop "Jet Fuel" on Parliament Street. 　　Two videos were shot to promote Honey from the Tombs: "Skinny Boy" was directed by George Vale, and "Baby I" was directed by Anthony Seck. The songs "Losin' You" and "Baby I", were released as 7" singles in Europe. Millan also toured extensively to support the album, playing dates in North America, Japan and Europe. 　　Masters of the Burial 　　Millan released her second album, Masters of the Burial, on September 8, 2009. The album is produced by Martin Kinack and musicians appearing include Evan Cranley, Dan and Jenny Whiteley, Leslie Feist and Liam O'Neil. The album features several cover songs, including some written by Death Cab for Cutie and Sarah Harmer．