Hyperdramatic is the second studio album by Canadian singer Damhnait Doyle

Damhnait Doyle

Damhnait Doyle [DAV-net] is a Canadian pop singer. The phonetic spelling of her first name also serves as the title of her 2003 album. Her most recent album, Lights Down Low, is a collection of covers...

, released in 2000 (see 2000 in music

2000 in music

See also:* 2000 in music Record labels established in 2000-Events:*January – Gary Glitter is released from jail, two months before his sentence for sexual offences ends.*January 1**John Tavener is knighted in the New Year's Honours List....

) on EMI Music Canada, four years after her debut album, Shadows Wake Me

Shadows Wake Me

Shadows Wake Me is the first studio album by Canadian singer Damhnait Doyle, released in 1996 on the indie label Latitude Records, then later EMI Music Canada. The album was produced by guitarist Ken Myhr, who previously worked with such artists as Jane Siberry and Cowboy Junkies...

. The album was produced by Dave Hodge.

Doyle spent three years developing her songwriting skills and working on material for the album. Much of the material came from her personal journal entries that initially she had not intended to be lyrics. In contrast to her previous album, in which she co-wrote most of the lyrics but not the music, on Hyperdramatic she co-wrote all of the music as well. Songwriting collaborators included the album's producer, Dave Hodge, as well as Christopher Ward

Christopher Ward (songwriter)

Christopher William Ward is a Canadian songwriter and broadcaster, known as a former long-standing on-air personality at MuchMusic, Canada's music video network, where he and J.D. Roberts were among the first video jockeys in 1984...

 and Craig Northey

Craig Northey

Craig Northey is a Canadian musician and one of the founding members of the band Odds.After the breakup of Odds in 1999, Northey has embarked on several other ventures, including working with Colin James, Rosanne Cash, Glen Phillips, Bruce McCulloch and many others...

.

The lead single, "Tattooed", charted in Canada, and its video was played in rotation on MuchMusic

MuchMusic

MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...

, MusiquePlus

MusiquePlus

MusiquePlus is a Canadian French language Category A specialty channel owned by Astral Media operating from Montreal, Quebec.MusiquePlus is devoted to music and music related programming from various genres including pop, rock, RnB and focuses on a younger demographic than its sister station, MusiMax...

, and MuchMoreMusic

MuchMoreMusic

MuchMore is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media, based at 299 Queen Street West in Toronto, Ontario....

. The Calgary Herald

Calgary Herald

The Calgary Herald is a daily newspaper published in the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta.- History :The paper was first published on August 31, 1883 by Andrew Armour and Thomas Braden as The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate and General Advertiser. It started as a weekly paper with only...

's album review called Doyle "moodier, more experienced, more focussed" compared to her first album, and said that "her voice soothes, slices, soars, all the while quaking with feeling." Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star

Toronto Star

The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...

praised the title track as well as Doyle's "nicely sharp-edged voice", but said that on the whole the album is "hampered by generic songwriting and dutifully stylized overproduction that's trying hard not to sound equally generic." Similarly, a review in the Edmonton Journal

Edmonton Journal

The Edmonton Journal is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network.-History:The Journal was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as a rival to Alberta's first newspaper, the 23-year-old...

called the album "beautiful but creatively boring".

According to EMI, this album represented the first time a Canadian musician on a major label offered free downloads

Music download

A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

of the album (for a limited time).

Track listing

1. "Maybe It's You"
2. "So Well"
3. "Hyperdramatic"
4. "Tattooed"
5. "Learn to Crawl"
6. "Lie to You"
7. "Never Too Late"
8. "Elusive Drug"
9. "(Because I) Love Myself"
10. "Sleep Past You"
11. "Maybe a Son"