Louise Carver enters 2010 with an album that’s nothing short of a coming-of-age for an artist who’s already worked her way into the hearts of music fans countrywide with two hit-filled albums and the sold-out nationwide tour ‘Home’ and its accompanying live record.

Carver calls her new personal direction “stepping out of my comfort zone and into my power” – and it is given a soundtrack by the set of 12 songs on the stunning ‘Look To The Edge’ which is far and away the most potent and affecting record the singer and songwriter has released.

Mostly, ‘though, the album sees Carver find her true musical voice – which is far less unfettered than even she understood it to be over her first two albums, ‘Silent Scream’ (2005) and ‘Saved By The Moonlight’ (2007).

The most obvious example of Carver’s newfound ability to balance her desire for purity in her work (expressed through solo songwriting and dependently acoustic arrangements) with a far more free creative expression comes with the album’s first radio single, ‘Warrior’.

Musically, Carver has also opened herself on ‘Look To The Edge’, allowing producers Marius Brouwer and Brian O’Shea to usher her into new ways of presenting her (mostly) self-penned songs.

Carver credits her ‘Home’ tour and the recording of ‘The Home Tour Live’ with encouraging her to explore her African roots in the music on her fourth album. That tour saw Carver mixing her signature hits – like ‘Home’ – with freshly imagined versions of iconic South African songs including Johnny Clegg’s ‘Spirit of the Great Heart’ and Bright Blue’s ‘Weeping’.

“The Home tour made me realize that I cannot live in this bubble any more. Working with people like percussionist, David Klaasen meant a door had been opened. I’d seen the other side and I wanted it in my music – especially the percussion element of African music.”

What’s also been a revelation for Carver was the realization that she needn’t be behind the piano all the time. “Audiences are going to see this in the live shows I am working on to promote the album,” Carver says. “Again it’s about getting out of my comfort zone behind the piano but I am loving what it’s bringing to the shows.”

‘Look To The Edge’ is the sound of an artist confident in her ability to move through pop as easily as electronica; through country as much as traditional South African sounds; to take risks while never straying totally from the acoustic-led ballads that have delivered her a loyal fanbase since the mid-2000s.

That fanbase is likely to growing substantially – and into new markets - with the release of ‘Look To The Edge’, a landmark album from one of South Africa’s most accomplished artists.

Louise Carver - brief background.

Louise Carver is well known for her entrepreneurial spirit having recently launched her own jewelry range ‘Jingle & Chimes - the Louise Carver Collection ’. She is also one of South Africa’s hardest working live musicians, proving she is truly relevant to a very wide audience. Louise Carver sees herself as both a proud South African and citizen of the world. She is driven strongly by a need to display South African arts & culture at an international level.

She has achieved Top 10 Airplay hits with her singles: ‘Home’, ‘Empty Fantasy’, ‘Impossible Love’, Didn’t Mean To Call’, ‘It Don’t Matter’, ‘Time Is A Healer’ (Justin Vee remix), ‘I’d Say Yes’ & ‘Harder Than I Thought’.

Carver has been nominated for three SAMA Awards (Best A/C English album for ‘Silent Scream’, Best Female & Best A/C English Album for ‘Saved By The Moonlight’). She received an award for ‘Most Stylish Entertainer’ at the 2008 SA Style Awards and is Youth Ambassador for the Independent Electoral Committee and has received a number of achievement awards.

She opened for Michael Buble on his South African tour and was invited to perform at the most recent South African 46664 concert. From an international point of view Carver achieved a #1 single in Belgium and a big hit across Europe via her dance collaboration with Kenny Hawkes called ‘Play The Game’.