Pigeon Spins Featuring an Interview with Norine Braun

Norine Braun - A Hero In The Wind

Vancouver-based singer-songwriter recording artist Norine Braun unveils her new album A Hero In The Wind on November 6, 2025, a project that captures lightning in a bottle — literally. The first five songs were recorded live-off-the-floor in just one hour each during Steve Dawson’s Henhouse pop-up sessions, a bold and exhilarating experiment in musical spontaneity. Known for her moving blend of roots rock, soul, blues, and folk, Braun found the one-hour format both challenging and liberating.

“There’s no time to overthink or polish,” she says. “You just dive in, trust the song, and let the emotion lead. That immediacy brought out something raw and real in the performances.”

The title track, A Hero In The Wind was written to honour Braun’s birth father, who passed away just after Christmas. “It came from the heart — a song born of the powerful, healing conversations we shared as we got to know each other later in life,” she explains. The album continues Braun’s exploration of love, loss, identity, and reconnection with her Métis heritage.

Featuring stellar musicians Steve Dawson (bandleader, guitars, pedal steel), Darryl Havers (keyboards), Geoff Hicks and Liam MacDonald (drums), Jeremy Holmes (bass), and Alice Fraser (harmony vocals), each take feels alive with emotion and chemistry. Engineered by Sheldon Zaharko at Vancouver’s renowned Warehouse Studio, the result is a collection of songs that breathe with warmth and authenticity.

To complete the journey, Braun added three bonus tracks produced by Adam Popowitz— “Bird With a Song to Sing (Remix),” “Eye of the Hurricane,” and “2020 Reprise” — rounding out the album with hope and reflection. All the songs words and music were written by Norine Braun.

The album’s striking cover art by Katarina Thorsen, drawn from a photo of Braun’s birth father, brings her musical and personal journeys full circle. Thorsen also designed Braun’s debut album cover Modern Anguish, with graphic design for the new album by Julian Bowers.

“A Hero In The Wind is about trusting the moment — in music and in life,” Braun reflects. “Sometimes the best takes are the first ones, when you’re fully in the flow.”

Interview with Norine Braun

(•)> What inspired A Hero In The Wind and the story behind its title track?

A Hero in the Wind is a tribute to my birth father who passed away just after Christmas last year. It’s a sketch of his life based on conversations we had during our brief encounter getting to know each other the last 4 years of his life. My last album Journey Toward Wholeness was about my journey as an adoptee and meeting my father late in life, learning I had this rich Metis lineage. The title and chorus is universal for we are all heroes in the wind in our own lives. I wrote this with the intention of singing his ashes to his final resting place however Manitoba was under a state of emergency due to wildfires and his service was moved so I decided to record the song and will go one day to sing him his song where he rests now beside his mother.

(•)> Recording each track live-off-the-floor in an hour is unique. How did that shape the album’s energy and authenticity?

Recording live off the floor, gave the songs an immediacy that you get when you play live in front of an audience. What you get is what you're hearing live no autotune or corrections so it gave the songs a special kind of energy and electricity similar to when playing live. It was a great joy to record in that way giving it a certain vibe

(•)> How does honoring your birth father influence the emotional core of your songwriting?

Choosing to honour, my father, with the title track, felt right, and a perfect follow up from the album journey toward wholeness it’s a kind of what happened next? He was a catalyst for that album, and it seemed only right to say goodbye in this way as I am a songwriter and recording artist that is my mode of expression. It was a song about him and his life or how I perceived his life’s highlights or things that mattered to him through our conversations. Journey Toward Wholeness was a transformative album in that I was gifted my true identity, and my understanding of how I arrived on the planet so in this way, I say my final goodbye to my father, who left the planet and now in the next world. There was a gamut of emotions, joy sorrow, longing, sadness, anger, regret and healing,

(•)> Your music blends folk, blues, and soul. How do you navigate these genres to create a cohesive sound?

I write what I am feeling in the genre that best expresses it. Generally when I work with a producer we talk about sounds, feelings, reference tracks so that we are on the same page with the vision. With the Hen House pop ups I know I am getting an Americana roots sounds with slide and pedal steel as prominent features so I wrote songs I thought would be showcased well in that genre. But generally as there is an overall vision or the end sound I want but as we move through the recording of it musicians add their great talents, happy accidents occur and the sound evolves.

(•)> What was it like collaborating with Steve Dawson and the Vancouver band during the Henhouse sessions?

It was very fun and quite amazing! I was rather skeptical that you could record a professional sounding recording single in an hour and then it happened! The band are all top of their game for sure and have been playing with each other in various configurations so they have that synergy. Sheldon is an incredible engineer with all sorts of awards and the studio belongs to Bryan Adams so its all state of the art. The vocal microphone is a very expensive and sensitive one but really captures all the qualities of the voice, Basically I sent Steve a rough phone demo of the song we were going to record, along with a lyric and chord sheet with the BPM and key. He asked for what instrument(s) I’d like featured and we went from there, In session the band listens to the demo phone track and Steve charts for them from what I sent him and we run through the song together for feel/levels and then we’re off, the studio musicians offer input too on how they approach the song.

(•)> Three bonus tracks produced by Adam Popowitz close the album reflectively. How do they complement the main record?

Adam Popowitz has produced my last 8 albums he is an amazing musician and producer and always gets me. People who have been following me for a long time know my albums are always full of surprises. These last 3 songs I go into a jazz flavoured song then a cinematic moody song, closing with an alternative rock track sort of saying surprise I am back don’t get too comfortable in that one style lol. Even though they are different stylistically they compliment them in energy!

(•)> How has your journey as a Metis and Two Spirit artist shaped the themes and perspectives in your music?

My quest for identity is evident in the choice of topics and themes I explore. My concept album Gone To The Spirits was based on an Indigenous Two Spirit warrior woman who lived over 200 years ago in present day southern BC. I co wrote a song Crosses and Sweetgrass about residential schools and the pain and anguish. Sleeping Buffalo is about a sacred mountain in Banff where I wrote the album Through Train Windows. Journey Toward Wholeness is about learning my Metis ancestry and who I descend from. I have been an out artist since the beginning of my musical path with many songs like Jenny, Dance Jeanette, Rock and a Hard Place exploring that.

(•)> Your last albums explored personal heritage and environmental themes. How does A Hero In The Wind continue or expand these narratives?

Track 1

A Hero In The Wind is about my father’s life and concludes his part in Journey Toward Wholeness you might say.

Track 2

Just One Night reflects on the idea that a lifelong love can feel like only a brief moment that passed too quickly or sometimes it’s one tender night that passed too quickly yet still echoes years later.

Track 3

“Bolts From The Blue” isn’t just a song about aging—it’s about resilience, humour, and refusing to let life’s curveballs turn you into someone you’re not.

Track 4

“In "East Van Crossing", I offer a tribute and an invitation to all who have ever loved something so much that it becomes part of their own story. It is not a song—it's crossing into the heart of East Van itself my hometown.

Track 5

Cannonball is a slow-waltz roots-rock anthem about unity, resilience and courage in the face of bullying, betrayal and injustice set in a graceful 6/8 sway

Track 6

“Bird With a Song to Sing (REMIX)” from Gone To The Spirits album which was nominated for a Western Canada Music Award and received a Canada Council for the Arts Award. The song expresses the longing and quiet devotion of someone who feels unseen yet steadfastly offers love and hope through their presence and voice.

Track 7

“Eye of the Hurricane” is more than a story about weathering a literal storm—it’s a metaphor for the quiet strength and connection people find in moments of uncertainty. With its cinematic production the song was inspired by a text exchange I had with a close friend sheltering in place with her husband and friends, sipping wine while sitting in the literal eye of the hurricane waiting for the hurricane to pass. A surreal experience I felt compelled to write about.

Track 8

2020 Reprise was inspired when fellow musician Allan Luke sent me a set of chord progressions during lock down in April 2020. We both composed songs over the same progression and released the merged 2 songs that Allan had put together as an acoustic experimental styled track. Later that year I recorded it as a solo song with the band further expressing what was once quiet and pensive to urgent and frustrating.

(•)> How do you translate such personal and introspective stories into music that connects with listeners universally?

I think by telling my story or perspective connects to other’s as they see themselves in the songs.

(•)> What do you hope audiences feel or take away after experiencing this album live or through the recording?

My intention is to leave listeners feeling hopeful, moved, thoughtful and to see deep down we are all connected with each other.

(•)> That's all, Folks! Check out Norine Braun on the Pigeon Spins Playlist