Tag: Montreal

Beatrice Deer Weaves Together Traditional and Contemporary Sounds on New LP Shifting

Photo Credit: Alexi Hobbs

“Sunauvva,” from Beatrice Deer’s latest album, Shifting, is a joyous indie pop song with layered production that gives it a psychedelic feel. “That song, I wanted it to have that sense of happiness and I think that it really came through because it’s a song that I want to dance to,” says Deer by phone from her home in Montreal. 

The singer offers a translation of the lyrics, which are sung in Inuktitut, an Inuit language. “If you would have told me back then that I would be happy, I wouldn’t have believed you. If you would have told me that I would forgive, I wouldn’t have believed you,” she shares. The song’s big reveal, though, is that the singer did find happiness. “That’s the meaning of the song. I feel the music really reflects that,” says Deer. 

Shifting is the sixth album from Deer, a multiple award-winning singer and songwriter who incorporates Inuit throat singing into songs that she sings in Inuktitut, English and French. It’s an album that was recorded in the midst of the pandemic. “That was kind of a blessing in disguise because it allowed us to stay put in Montreal and focus on producing the album,” says Deer. “In normal circumstances, all the band members are busy and traveling because they’re in other bands.” 

Since touring was off-calendar, though, it allowed for more time to be spent on the production of Shifting. Mark “Bucky” Wheaton, who plays drums for Deer, and guitarist Chris McCarron handled the production duties at their Montreal studio (they’re both longtime members of Lizzie Powell’s Land of Talk project). While some collaborators recorded their parts at home, Deer and a few other other players were able to record in-person, at the studio, in separate sessions. “Normally, we would all be in the studio at the same time,” she says. 

The extra time, she adds, gave Wheaton an opportunity to experiment more with the production. “The album is different than our other albums because of that. It gave him a lot of freedom to explore,” she says. 

“Sunauvva” is an example of that experimentation. “I write really basic stuff and then the band, Chris and Bucky, were also arranging the songs as we were recording. They came up with the arrangement,” says Deer. “I don’t know what magic Bucky pulled, but he really changed the sound and it just came out that way.”

There was also some experimentation in writing the songs. “Mother,” as it appears on the album, is based on lyrics that Deer wrote in Inuktitut. She asked her friend Kathia Rock to adapt it into French. “It’s not a literal translation,” she says. “It’s a version in French.” 

Deer was also pregnant while working on the album. Her baby is now five-and-a-half months old. “I’ve been doing a lot of interviews and rehearsing and I really had no idea that it was going to be this much work with a newborn and releasing an album,” she says with a laugh. “I’ve been juggling a lot of things.”

Deer and her band began playing live again in the fall. Their first performance was at El Mocambo in Toronto last October. “You have a nervousness. The COVID nervousness— am I too close?” she says. “It’s a different kind of stress. But the musicians in my band are so professional and they impress me above and beyond every time.”

Deer continues, “When we rehearse, we’re used to playing with each other, so it’s not any different, but it’s weird playing in front of an audience, after two years of being in the pandemic now.”

On Shifting, Deer and her bandmates seamlessly meld a variety of sounds from the traditional to the contemporary. An example is “Aanngiq,” which is a traditional Inuit song that they reimagined with drone and guitar sounds that swell during the course of the song. “It’s very modern,” says Deer. “Bucky really played around with that one and it turned out great.”

“The traditional version is just a cappella,” Deer explains. “Traditional songs don’t necessarily have a linear storyline. Sometimes, they’re random words and then, all of a sudden, there’s a sentence that means something.”

For Deer, who is of Inuk and Mohawk heritage, traditional Inuit songs and stories are a part of her upbringing. “As soon as Inuit children go to school, they start learning traditional songs. It’s part of school, it’s part of the curriculum,” she says, adding that “Aanngiq” is a song that she learned as a child. “I like to include traditional songs just to keep them alive and promote the language and promote culture.”

Deer notes that storytelling and singing is an important part of Inuit culture and that has been and impact on her work as a singer and songwriter. She says, “It’s my form of continuing that practice.” 

Follow Beatrice Deer on Instagram for ongoing updates.

After Two EPs and a North American Tour, Janette King Releases Debut LP What We Lost

Photo Credit: Sarah Armiento

“It’s funny, with music,” says Janette King by phone from her home in Montreal. “For me, at least, some songs take years to finish and other songs take hours.”

A singer, producer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ, King released her first full-length, What We Lost, via record label Hot Tramp on June 25. The album follows two EPs, Electric Magnolia and 143. Where Electric Magnolia, released in 2015, featured a live band and bore a distinct jazz influence, her 2019 effort 143 delved into electronic R&B. With What We Lost, King continues on the path set with 143, while also dabbling in house on the title track, as well as on album-opener “Airplane.” The latter was released as a single back in March of this year. 

While some of the songs on What We Lost had been in progress for some time, others came together fairly quickly over the course of the past year. The initial plan was to release the album in early 2020, but, in addition to a pandemic-related postponement, King had continued writing new material, including songs that she wanted to appear on this album. She kept up the work until January of this year.

King, who has performed alongside artists like Sudan Archives and Jamila Woods, toured North American in 2019; shortly after returning from that jaunt that she began making plans for a full-length album. Much of the material was written and recorded in her bedroom, where she has a piano and guitar in addition to a production set-up. King worked with multiple producers on the album, including longtime collaborator Jordan Esau. 

As a DJ, King plays primarily in Montreal and Toronto and her sets vary from ‘90s and early ‘00s hip-hop and R&B throwbacks to a variety of sounds, like dancehall and calypso, that nod to her Caribbean roots. Although she doesn’t sample often in her work, she says that DJing does impact her approach to songwriting. “DJing has helped me to understand BPMs better,” she says. When she’s writing, she can decide whether she wants a song to be downtempo or high energy, associate that with the beats per minute and build the piece from there. 

King says that she often starts with drums, creating the beats before the lyrics and melody begin to formulate. “As I’m writing the melody, the lyrics come simultaneously,” she says. With some of the tunes on What We Lost, the first takes of the songs, where King says that she “word-vomited” the lyrics, were the keepers. “We just liked how it sounded, so we kept it,” she says. 

As King continued writing through 2020, her songs began to reflect the year that was unfolding. “In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, that really stirred the activist in my soul to come alive through song,” she says. The tragedy inspired the song “Change.” 

Elsewhere on the album, King draws upon self-empowerment  and “empowerment through activism” as thematic elements. She considers the questions that arose during the year of physical distancing. “I think that now people are having the space to ask themselves ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Who do I want to be in this world?’ and ‘What do I stand for?’” says King. “They’re really choosing to see with their own eyes what’s really happening in the world.”

She points to social media as crucial to opening people’s eyes to systemic racism and social justice issues. “These things have been happening for so long, but now that we have social media, they are a lot more visible,” she says. “You can’t turn away from it these days. I think that a lot of people are starting to have empathy and compassion for people that don’t look like them and for people’s stories and honoring their own values.”

King says that she believes strongly in unity, as well as love and understanding. “Like they say, you can’t win unless we’re all winning,” she says. “One person’s struggle is all of our struggle.” 

In writing What We Lost through such a tumultuous year, King created an album of  personal reflection and healing.  “Every time I write a song, it feels like I’m transcending something,” says King. “I think one thing that I’ve taken away from making this album is that I was able to dig deep into this spiritual sense of being creative.”

It’s also an album that could similarly impact its listeners. “ I guess that my biggest hope for people is that they feel themselves reflected in the music that I write,” says King. “One thing that I’ve taken away from it all is that it’s really therapy. It’s really healing. I hope that it is for other people as well.”

Follow Janette King on Facebook and Instagram for ongoing updates.

Montreal Duo Tremendum Complete Seasonal Album Cycle with Uplifting SPRING EP

Photo Credit: Joëlle Roy-Chevarier

A few years ago, Julie Plouffe-Raymond was asked to perform at a birthday party. For the evocative singer, whose simmering vocals are inspired by jazz and R&B, it should have been a simple request, but shyness had other plans. She asked guitarist David Wade to accompany her “because I was too shy to sing alone,” she explains from Montreal. “We liked playing together so it grew from there.”

In 2018, without fanfare, they began releasing stunning bite-sized EPs under the name TREMENDUM, featuring songs about the binds of lovers, seasons, and freeing oneself in a chaotic, unpredictable world—track “Birds” (from FALL) is a spine-tingling example of their breadth and nuance. The ambiguous nature of nature itself (whether human or seasons) has become a way for the pair to access creative ideas that then make it into their music.

“The idea behind the four seasons started with our song ‘Winter,’ and it inspired us. Something we liked was that it gave us the motivation to release music steadily,” says Plouffe-Raymond. “We learned a lot with that process since it was possible to explore and grow with each season [via each] EP.”

This magical quality is reflected in the name TREMENDUM, which Plouffe-Raymond credits to Wade. “He was studying philosophy, and he liked the concept of Mysterium Tremendum, which represents the feeling that people have in front of the sacred,” she says. “He was brewing beer at the time and wanted to name a beer Tremendum, but it ended up being the name of our band.”

The pair’s influences naturally overlap in countless ways—from Wade’s catch 22, NOFX, D’Angelo and K-OS to Plouffe-Raymond’s Ella Fitzgerald, Amy Winehouse, and Nina Simone, as well as genres like bossa nova, cumbia, salsa, and samba, and the pair have learned to fuse their styles creatively. “David usually writes guitar licks and a little bit of a structure for the song,” Plouffe-Raymond says. “I always write a ton of lyrics. We try to mix it, and we tweak it together, until it works. Sometimes it takes two years to write a song, sometimes two minutes.”

The duo’s recording sessions have not only generated some magnificent work, but have also come with their share of memorable experiences. “When we recorded SUMMER, we were in Guatemala City. We did not speak a word of Spanish, and the sound guy didn’t speak a lot of English, so it was really challenging – and funny – to communicate,” says Plouffe-Raymond. “We were lucky that everyone was so nice and even if we had a language barrier, we still managed to understand and like each other a lot. We were living in his garage, sleeping in a single bed, and the studio was in his house, so we were there 24/7 for a week, but it was a very memorable experience.”

Plouffe-Raymond also fondly recalls the recording session for one of the duo’s favorite tracks, “Love,” from their WINTER EP. “For the ending part, we were using all kinds of different stuff to make sounds: shoes, wood box, our hand,” she recalls. “We were also screaming and jumping – we felt like we were playing like kids! This is what music should be sometimes.”

In 2020, the pair were ready to make the next installment, SPRING, when the pandemic hit. “Every time we wanted to go in the studio, there was another quarantine,” Plouffe-Raymond says. Undeterred, they began work on new music; ironically, the EP’s themes lined up with the global experience – transition through rebirth.

But rather than evoke the brutal loss and despair that spurred that transition, the pair chose to focus on the feeling of rising from the ashes. “Something a little more optimistic, lighter, growth. Hope after winter,” explains Plouffe-Raymond. “When we were in the studio, we played a lot with sound, overdubs, and we wanted to make it sound bigger than the other seasons. The songs are a little more upbeat.”

The pair describe their “soul-alternative” sound as a “melting pot of everything we like: music with emotions, jazz, rock, R&B, bossa nova, hip hop, authenticity and originality.” It’s a perfect description of their deeply unique sound, and an example of how far soul music can stretch.

Follow TREMENDUM on Facebook and Instagram for ongoing updates.

Land of Talk Makes Boldest Statement Yet with Indistinct Conversations

With the release of Indistinct Conversations at the end of July, Land of Talk – and its driving force and sole constant member, Lizzie Powell – gained a lot of clarity (despite the soft-focus implications of the album’s title). For the LP, the Montreal-based trio returned to the original lineup of its inception to include Mark “Bucky” Wheaton and Chris McCarron, picking up the discussion with surprising grace given the band’s circuitous path.

Forming in 2006 from the same fertile scene that gave rise to Arcade Fire and The Besnard Lakes, early releases on Nebraska imprint Saddle Creek operated in a similar anthemic indie rock milieu. But Powell was beset by series of misfortunes – lineup changes, a vocal polyp, a GarageBand crash that obliterated the music they were working on, and finally, their father’s debilitating stroke that left him hemipelagic, necessitating Powell’s return to their small hometown in Ontario.

Powell returned to Montreal two summers ago and Land of Talk resurfaced after a seven-year hiatus in 2017, with a lush, sophisticated statement on reconciling aging and a career in the music industry, Life After Youth. But Indistinct Conversations finds Powell and their cohort on surer footing than ever before. Look no further than the album’s opening track (and third single) “Diaphanous” for a hint at the band’s new approach – dreamlike sketches, poetic but plainly-stated lyrical phrasing, resonance, statements you have to lean in close to really hear. Next comes an acoustic demo version of the album’s third track, “Look To You,” overlaid with a Facetime chat between Powell and their father – Powell was mid-vocal take in Wheaton’s studio when their dad called, and Wheaton let the tape roll; the final version of “Look to You” interlaces a sweet, lofty chorus with thumping, tenacious percussion on the verses that twist provocatively around Powell’s cryptic words. And that’s just the beginning – there’s so much more to delve into from there.

Powell says the album came together, as many of Land of Talk’s previous efforts have, via a continuous evolution of ideas for song tucked away in voice memos and other digital reservoirs. “There’s songs that I carry with me, like puzzle pieces, like a little trail of bread crumbs,” Powell explains. Putting together an album is “like catching these fireflies and seeing whatever ones can fit in the jar, and you’re like that’s good, boom, that’s the perfect glow.”

Sometimes a bridge Powell tried to force into another song becomes its own song; sometimes fragments floating in their consciousness combine with snippets of music from a television show or a car driving by. That’s partly what inspired the album’s title – Powell has suffered some hearing loss from years of touring, and often watches TV with closed-captioning on. “I started finding [the text] really poetic, the way they would describe like dogs barking in the distance… seeing ‘indistinct conversations’ on the screen kind of resonated,” they say. “It was just one of those a-ha moments… that’s something that I deal with and I called the band Land of Talk for a reason! And I could never really explain [that when] there’s a whole conversation going on [and] everybody’s talking, I sometimes feel like I can’t key into that.”

“By the way, I am getting better,” Powell adds. “This record – maybe every record in a way – kind of serves as a healing tool or these ways to push me forward.” That progress is charted all over Indistinct Conversations, as Powell examines the rifts that can arise when language falls short (“Love in 2 Stages” asks, “I dig deep, why don’t you?”) but also fearlessly calls out those that weaponize words. “Weight of that Weekend,” for instance, reckons with gaslighting from its opening lines but its chorus honestly states “This is a prayer for love;” meanwhile, “Footnotes” disarmingly recounts melodrama between Powell and her neighbor that escalated too quickly.

Though Powell remains candid throughout the LP, they’re a good deal more understated with their vocal delivery these days than say, Land of Talk’s debut singles “Speak to Me Bones” or “Summer Special,” and that’s very much to benefit of Indistinct Conversations. “I’ve noticed I’ve been letting my voice be heard more and I’ve been letting what we really wanna say reveal itself with the music without too much editing now,” Powell agrees. “It just feels a lot more free – vocally, letting a lot more space happen between lyrics, and maybe not being so self conscious about my guitar playing, so I’m willing to be a little bit more experimental.” There’s an assuredness, an intimacy, woven through these songs – Powell’s intricate guitar passages build tension just to let it unspool.

Having learned to play by ear, Powell uses alternate tunings, something they’ve been made to feel insecure about in the past, particularly as a “woman in rock.” Powell’s growing discomfort with that label, as well as an expanded cultural understanding of gender as a spectrum, recently led Powell to begin identifying as a non-binary femme who uses both she and they pronouns. This freed Powell up to approach singing as, say, Bill Callahan or Kurt Vile might, something Powell previously believed they couldn’t do. “[I had] a lot of self-limiting beliefs, and I subscribed to a bunch of notions that I don’t necessarily need to subscribe to anymore. I started understanding more about how I’m not locked in to the gender binary,” they say. “It was shoved down my throat that I was a woman the more I was on stage. The next generation of people are speaking truth to power, and deconstructing a lot that needs to be deconstructed – just shining a light on things that I used to take for granted, all these belief systems that are slowly coming apart. I’m so glad they are. I don’t need to perform any kind of gender.”

Powell continues, “There’s a lot of just letting go of insecurities [on this record], and a lot more seems to be revealed every time I write a new song and bring it to Bucky and Chris.” Truly, there’s a magic that this trio have managed to pull out of these sessions against all odds, producing the record themselves at Wheaton’s home studio. The intuitive treatment of Powell’s songs is a testament to their lifelong friendship with Wheaton and McCarron, Powell says. “I cant stress enough the way Bucky held my songs and held space for me… that rehearsal space – you wanna talk about safe spaces, it’s a nest,” they explain. “[For] me personally, who sometimes has had issues with just not feeling safe to create, it’s no small feat to have created a space like Bucky and Chris have, where I can completely feel safe and free enough to just be expressive and musically on.”

Powell adds that so much of the connective material between the tracks came from Wheaton just listening, even when Powell didn’t realize he was doing so – whether it’s literally, as in the phone call with Powell’s father, or conceptually, like taking inspiration from the tour van playlists Powell compiles. On Indistinct Conversations, disparate influences coalesce as the three collaborate, bringing in friends from the Montreal scene (like Erik Hove who added sax and flute, or Pietro Amato on keyboards and French horn). “I think I kind of scratch the surface at something and then we dig a little deeper. It’s just like a relay of, okay now you dig a bit, pass the baton, let’s see how far we can go before it stops making sense, or before it hurts too much,” Powell says of the songwriting process. “I think it was a joint effort, a joint vulnerability and a joint kind of coming together of what indistinct conversations meant.”

With these songs being built in the studio, having the album release delayed, and of course the ongoing pandemic, Land of Talk haven’t gotten to play the album live much. But this Thursday, September 24th, they’ll play this year’s hybrid in-person and live-streamed edition of POP Montreal (in-person ticketing is sold out for their performance). Powell says that despite the setbacks the band has faced, they’re more than happy to finally showcase this material. “We’re all kind of sensitive beings. We really wore our hearts on our sleeve even more so this time because it’s even more through our lens production-wise,” they explain. “But the results paid back – people are connecting with it more. This has become our most natural and rawest record. I was already proud of it cause we worked so hard. But now, more than that, this is such a special document just for us personally – I think it shows a lot of bravery and strength in our vulnerability, and I think that’s a huge lesson.”

Follow Land of Talk on Facebook and Instagram for ongoing updates.

INTERVIEW: Maryze Talks Her Gorgeous Debut Video For “Soft”

Maryze Soft

Last month, pop-tinged R&B artist Maryze released her first-ever music video – a dreamy visual for her tender single, “Soft.” The Montreal-bred singer teamed up with Paris-based director Amanda Louise Macchia for the beach-set clip.

“’Soft’ is about abandoning insecurities, reconnecting with your sensuality, and allowing yourself to be with someone entirely,” Maryze explained. “For me, truly connecting with another person, both physically and on a deeper spiritual level, has to begin in a place of self-love. As many womxn do, I have a complicated relationship with my body and sexuality, largely because of the societal shame around expressing those parts of ourselves.”

“This song was inspired by a relationship that really helped me regain a sense of trust, and embrace the softness and strength it takes to be vulnerable,” she continued. “It feels powerful, and a little magical, to reclaim our bodies and sensuality in whatever way we choose for ourselves. I also don’t often play with my softer, feminine side, so I had a lot of fun exploring that in this video.”

The cinematic clip opens up on Maryze holding flowers on the beach. Shadowed by billowy pink clouds, the visual’s soft editing and lush scenery perfectly capture the serene sensuality of Maryze’s voice.

Produced by Jordan Esau, “Soft” served as the leading track for Maryze’s bilingual debut EP, Like Moons, which she released this spring. The 5-track project included production from Solomon K-I, Ulysses, BrotherNature, and Jordan Esau, as well as French single, “Dis-Moi.”

The new “Soft” video also ushers in a series of upcoming new music and videos from Maryze, which she will be blessing fans with later this year.

Watch her beautiful debut visual for Like Moons track, “Soft,” below.

 

INTERVIEW: Montreal Duo The Leanover Discuss New Album, “Portico”

Portico

The end of July brought the first official release from The Leanover, comprised of Ali Overing and Lou Seltz. Written over the course of several years, the 7-tracks on Portico were inspired by the idea of liminal spaces – whether physical, like a balcony or porch, or metaphorical, as in the space between privacy and publicity and the confinements of human existence. The Montreal duo sought out isolation to create the personal project and recorded Portico in a cabin buried deep within the Laurentian Mountains with And The Kids producer Megan Miller and Julien Beaulieu, with a handful of musician friends filling out their roster.

Ahead of some live dates, Ali and Lou explain the themes on Portico, reflect on recording in a cabin, and reveal some information on their upcoming music video.

AF: Walk me through the connection between the album’s title and the overall lyrical themes of Portico. Since songs from the album were written over several years, what ideas connected them enough to make a cohesive project?

We’ve both spent the last five-to-eight years of our lives in constant flux in terms of our living situations. We both finished school, were each cursed with our own international love dramas, experimented with the stability of nine-to-fives and battled between our desires for both a comfortable domestic life and an adventurous, migratory existence. Porticos represent the overlap between the public and the private. They are a literal structure that surrounds you even when you choose to leave the confinement of a building, and represent, for us, the limitations of tradition and expectations. All of the songs in Portico are linked by this idea of confinement. This can be in terms of actual space, mental spaces, time restrictions, interpersonal relationships and the limitations put upon us by our own bodies. The album deals with these limitations by working through them one by one, celebrating the tangible realities and inspiration that they bring about.

AF: Since recording this project, do you now see confinements as majorly negative or beneficial things?

AO: Today I’m feeling like the limitations are mostly a good thing. I’m a pretty scattered person, am very easily distracted, and can’t make a decision to save my life. I’m a person who really struggles to buy anything online, for example, because the idea that I might be able to find something better if I just continue to look really paralyzes my ability to choose. I think that this has really affected me artistically over the past few years, especially when I was traveling. The idea of having a concrete space in which inspiration can thrive and limited tools to work with really helps me continue to create.

AF: What was it like recording in a cabin?

AO: There’s really nothing more satisfying than having a particular goal in mind with a group of people and setting off for a few days to achieve that one goal. Every day that we were up north was spent living and breathing these recordings from the moment we woke up until we went to bed at 3 a.m. While the complete lack of distraction was fuel for inspiration, it did present a set of challenges that we wouldn’t have faced in a studio setting. For one, we had to make sure that we had everything we needed before we went up there. The house is in Riviere Rouge, two and a half hours away from Montreal, with no music store anywhere nearby. The car was packed to the brim with all of our instruments and an entire studio setup complete with desktop computer.

Megan Miller (of And The Kids) engineered our record and she had to make tough decisions about recording equipment without having ever been to the cabin. We decided to change our recording space when we got there to a big A-framed space. The room presented unique benefits and challenges. Capturing the drums with not-too-much echo took godly patience from Megan and Erik. It was nice to have limited tools and these unexpected experiments. It allowed us to weave inspiration around what we had instead of becoming hyper-picky and indecisive about our choices.

AF: Are you planning any visuals for the album?

We have so many ideas in mind for different videos for this album. However, given our status as an independent band, we’ve decided to dedicate ourselves to just one beautiful video. Emily Soussana and Andrew Scriver of Potato Cakes Digital are working on a meticulously hand-drawn animated music video for “Forward and Back.” We don’t have a date of release yet but we’re so excited about the direction that it’s moving in so far.

AF: What other artists/groups did you find sonic inspiration from for this project?

LS: I think we each listen to and draw inspiration from quite different ranges of music, which sometimes conflicts, but I think is ultimately why we are drawn together as a band. The way I think about music is shaped a lot by psych and prog – Talking Heads, CAN, King Crimson. And when I first started playing with Ali I had close to zero experience on bass but our drummer would come into my room in the mornings before our practices and put on The Roots’ Organix and Pixies while I was still sleeping, which I think helped create structure for my otherwise outsiders’ interpretation of bass on these songs. Ali and I shared a lot of music as well though – when we first started playing together I was listening to Cate Le Bon’s album Crab Day on a daily basis and think we both heavily absorbed its discordant minimalism, as well as Lizzy Mercier Descloux’s bouncy weirdness and the sense of wonder in Life Without Buildings (who also ended up giving us our project name).

Follow The Leanover on Facebook for more updates, or catch them on tour at one of the dates below.

UPCOMING TOUR DATES:

8/15 – Peterborough, ON, Canada @ The Garnet (with Peachykine, Erika Nininger, The Kommenden) RSVP
8/16 – Toronto, ON, Canada @ The Garrison (with Blonde Elvis, Johnny De Courcy, The Kommenden) RSVP
8/17 – Ottawa, ON, Canada @ House of TARG (with Sparklesaurus, The Monotymes, The Kommenden) RSVP
8/31 – Montreal, QC, Canada @ The Diving Bell Social Club (with Motel Raphael, BBQT, Gullet) RSVP

PREMIERE: Montreal Hip Hop Artist Shades Lawrence Debuts “Turn My Head”

Shades Lawrence

Shades
Shades Lawrence / Photo by Stacey Lee.

We spoke to Montreal-based hip hop artist Shades Lawrence about her new single, “Turn My Head.” The queer love track rocks ’90s hip hop vibes and flips the heteronormative love song narrative. Shades channels her spoken word roots as she describes the butterflies surrounding a budding romance, assisted by Emma Maryam with soulful vocals. The single is part of a tantalizing lead-up to the release of her EP, Second Life, due out in June.

Besides her music, Shades has made a name for herself in Montreal for her ambitious efforts to provide platforms for female and non-binary musical talents, as well as for womxn of color. She regularly organizes and co-presents events for advocates of mental health, the women and non-binary artist showcase, Sister Singer, as well as a DJ night for black womxn DJs, called Sister Spinner. She also recently brought together the Lux Magna Festival, curated to highlight the creative talents of womxn of color.

As a lyricist who is in touch with the needs of her community and a dedication to being transparent in her work, Shades brings a fresh and necessary narrative to the music scene in Montreal and beyond. Listen to “Turn My Head” below and check out our interview with Shades for more details on the inspiration for the track, her upcoming EP, and her activism.

AF: Congratulations on your new single! Was it a specific relationship or story that inspired it?

SL: Thank you! Yes, “Turn My Head” is based on 3 [to] 4 different relationships that I progressed through. I thought for simplicity’s sake to combine similar experiences into one song and narrative.

AF: “Turn My Head” flips the hetero narrative normalized in most love songs. As a queer hip hop artist and a woman, how do you make sure your music stays true to you and what would you tell another artist or woman who’s feeling boxed into certain roles or stereotypes?

SL: I speak from my experience of life and tell stories that reflect my reality. I find it important to be as genuine and authentic as possible in the music I write and release. Additionally, coming from a mixed-race background, I’ve always almost intuitively avoided boxes and labels as much as possible, but at the end of the day, folks are going to have an impression of me that is based on their reality. So for me, freedom from stereotypes is about letting go of what I can’t control and focusing on my music and my art.

AF: Will there be a visual coming out for the song?

SL: A visual is in the works. Will keep you posted!

AF: Tell me a little bit about what fans can expect from your upcoming EP. When’s it coming out?

SL: My EP Second Life is coming out June 7th and it is a diverse representation of my influences. There’s a dancehall/Latin infused track that speaks of my origins; there’s storytelling aspects to another track. And there are songs that make a political statement, all with beats that are catchy. I am so excited for this release.

Shades Lawrence
Shades Lawrence / Photo by Stacey Lee.

AF: When did you start practicing spoken word and when did that evolve into your rapping career?

SL: I started practicing spoken word in early 2015. Emma Maryam, who is the featured artist on “Turn My Head,” was actually at one of my shows the second or third time I performed poetry. In 2016, I had a collaborative spoken word show called “Extreme States” with Carole TenBrink in the Montreal Fringe Festival. I thoroughly enjoyed that experience. After having put together a complete spoken word project, I realized that I love the interaction with music so much, so I decided to cross over to hip hop, which was one of my original passions from when I was growing up.

AF: You’re well-known in Montreal for your activism and events that empower women. Tell me a little bit about these events, what they mean to you, and how you hope to help others.

SL: Two of the events I’m currently involved in organizing are Sister Singer and Sister Spinner. Sister Singer is a platform to highlight womxn and non-binary musical talent based in Montreal. Sister Spinner creates dance parties that feature all black womxn DJs. I was also recently asked to curate a show for the Lux Magna Festival in Montreal. We chose to feature womxn of color in the lineup.

I am proud of these undertakings because I know that womxn and non-binary artists, especially of color, have so much to contribute to our cultural landscape. It is also important to create these spaces and feature artists from underrepresented communities, since it provides opportunities for growth, while also enriching audiences and the music industry as a whole.

AF: Who are some artists you look to for inspiration?

SL: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill informed much of my youth. Lyrically, I would say André 3000. Content-wise and stylistically, currently I quite enjoy Shad (a Canada-based MC).

AF: Anything else you’d like to add?

SL: I am grateful for platforms, such as Audiofemme, that provide a space to share a bit of my process and the backstory behind the music.  Enjoy “Turn My Head (feat. Emma Maryam)” and thank you!

ALBUM REVIEW: Common Holly “Playing House”

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photo by Sean Mundy

Playing house is one of the earliest and most innate forms of childhood emulation. It is how we pantomime maturity, and begin to learn self-preservation, domestic upkeep, and the treatment of others. From pretending to prepare a meal, to sweeping the tree house, this form of child’s play is our first expression of wanting to “grow up.” For Canadian artist Common Holly, Playing House is an expression of consciously entering adulthood. It is also the name of her debut record.

Helmed by songwriter Brigitte Naggar, Common Holly greets us with a tender and sophisticated meditation on the end of a formative relationship, and the importance of purposeful decision-making. Of Playing House, Naggar said in a press release that the record “is my first real effort to create something that is entirely deliberate—the beginning of my journey of thoughtful action, and of daring to express myself outside of my bedroom.”

“Deliberate” is the perfect word for Playing House – its stunning arrangements and artful production reflect intent and restraint. Opening track “If After All” is expertly composed, commencing with a font of liquid before breaking down into a multifaceted pop gem, somehow incorporating finger-plucked guitar, swelling strings, and minimalist drums without sounding overwrought. Naggar’s girlish voice carries the same melody throughout the song, but the instrumentation blooms from indie folk to sweeping ballad before culminating in hard rock distortion and busy electric guitar. “If After All” is such a strong composition, I almost wish it was buried deeper in the record, as it’s a tough act to follow.

Though less musically intricate, “Nothing” speaks to Naggar’s ability to contrast form with concept. The dulcet vocals and bedroom rock delivery of “Nothing” portray innocence, while Naggar’s lyrics are anything but. Naggar sings of a crumbling, codependent relationship in which every attempt to problem-solve results in suffocation: “If I got you in a room/ if I got you to hold still/it would probably too soon/to hold you there against your will.”

This level of self-awareness is palpable throughout Playing House. Naggar deconstructs a banal yet dysfunctional relationship throughout the album, holding herself accountable as much as possible. Discussing this theme in a press release, she said, “Especially at the end of a relationship, there comes a time when the best thing you can do for someone is to leave them alone even though it might feel like you’re abandoning them. Sometimes trying to resolve things and being over-present is an act influenced more by guilt than by empathy.”

“In My Heart” is yet another manifestation of that concept. A quietly complex country number, it employs pedal steel and neatly placed piano. The song’s softness negates its harsh message of letting someone go: “Don’t try/In my mind, in my mind I can’t help it/With my heart, with my heart I can’t help you.”

Resting midway through the record is the gorgeous “Lullaby” featuring Montreal pianist Jean-Michel Blais. “Lullaby” depicts Naggar at her thematic pinnacle – the anatomy of the song is true to lullabies, indeed, while Blais’ creeping keys suggest the twinkling of a nursery mobile rotating above a crib. Naggar’s lyrics, however, are biting and brutal despite this naïve melody. “If you’re busy undermining all the things I had to say,” she sings, “I know it would have been wrong for me to try to stay.” The track’s closing coda plays on a familiar children’s game, but turns that on its head for a darker finish: “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Naggar intones, before promising: “I will keep away.”

The weighty blues of “The Rose” finds Naggar nodding at The Black Keys. The song is soft to start, but builds up and breaks down into Auerbach-worthy guitar, eventually spinning out with grunge distortion. In keeping with this dark turn, “The Desert” is a painterly narrative with sparse string arrangements evoking The Dirty Three. Hand drums and piano crawl behind scant guitar and Naggar’s reverb-heavy croons, weaving a soundscape strong enough to close the record. Though it seems that Naggar didn’t want to end things on such a heavy note. Playing House’s final cuts resort to sweet and weightless melodies instead.

The title track exudes a singsong, sonic innocence. Its melody is full of childlike “doo doo doos” and lyrics that are one word away from being playful: “I’ll play mama, you’ll play daddy and we’ll ruin us beyond repair/at the cabin, on the lakeside, if we take things too far.” It is a song you can almost skip or swing to, until it dissolves into a foreboding vibration fit for Twin Peaks.

Closing track “New Bed” is Common Holly’s most stripped-down offering on Playing House, and perhaps its most optimistic. It is the song that finalizes the breakup; the hopeful closure and calm after the storm. Naggar is vulnerable and resigned when she sings, “I feel that we will get along just fine/if everything goes the way I have in mind.” The song fades out with rain and faint sirens, but what they’re chasing, we do not know.

Playing House is out now on Solitaire Recordings. Don’t miss Common Holly on her upcoming tour.

September 28 – Nomad Folk Fest
November 2 – Brooklyn Bazaar, New York, NY w/ The Hotelier, Oso Oso & Alex Napping
November 3 – Songbyrd Music House, Washington DC, w/ The Hotelier, Oso Oso & Alex Napping
December 5 –  Communion Showcase,  Rockwood Music Hall,  New York, NY
December 8 –  Theatre Fairmount, Montreal, QC w/ Chad VanGaalen[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

AF X CMJ 2013 ARTIST PROFILE: Diamond Bones

To get you as pumped as we are for our CMJ 2013 showcases, we’re introducing each band to you by asking them five unique questions.  We love Diamond Bones so much that we invited them to play both of our showcases!  The first is at Sidewalk Cafe, 94 Ave. A in Manhattan on Wednesday, October 16th at 10PM.  You can RSVP on facebook or DoNYC.  And if you can’t make it to LES, you get a second chance to see DB at Spike Hill, 186 Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg, BK on Thursday, October 17th at 1PM.  You can RSVP on facebook or DoNYC.

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Influenced by dreams of past and future, Diamond Bones creates something in between psychedelic electro & shoegaze pop music, rooted in raw emotion. Their songs invite you in with hypnotic rhythms and gripping melodies, and charm you with haunting lyrics that convey unfeigned experience. Their sound, once described as “dark disco” has evolved over the year they have been together into something along the lines of “tribal dream pop.”

AF: Tell us about the music scene in Montreal!

DB: There are (and have been) a lot of great bands from the Montreal music scene and it’s known as a kind of music haven but we think it has a great community vibe and lots of opportunity to be creative. There are tons of great venues, festivals and events put on by different organizations year-round and the musicians seem to be really supportive of each other from coming to see each other’s shows to lending gear around, etc. It’s definitely a scene we’re proud to be part of.

AF: How did the three of you meet and what made you decide to play music together?

DB: Isabelle and Lana met on the first day of college and soon started playing music together in Lana’s garage. A few bands and a few years later, Lana’s high-school friend Michelle moved home from Toronto and came to a jam session. The chemistry was aces! and without being too cheesy here, the three of us knew we were doing the right thing. Diamond Bones was born just a couple of short months later.

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AF: We just can’t wait for the new album! What was the process of recording it like?

DB: Dream come true, yo! We were lucky enough to record at Montreal’s esteemed Breakglass studio amid an array of beautiful equipment and a killer vibe. We’re hoping that comes through in the finished product! The three of us got pretty goofy after the first few days, There were lots of late nights filled with corner-store wine, chocolate bars and home-cookin’. It was amazing though- such a great environment for creativity and collaboration- It was one of our favourite experiences (as a band) to date- we loved not having to be anywhere or do anything else while we were in studio. We’re super excited to get the finished product out there!

AF: Has anything embarrassing ever happened to you on stage?

DB: Lana frequently hits herself in the head with drumsticks. Actually, she’s frequently injuring herself on stage. Isabelle once played a whole song on the bass without realizing the amp wasn’t on. Michelle once just stopped playing in the middle of a song. We’re a little awkward in general so we put time aside during rehearsals to practice our stage banter. That’s fairly embarrassing, no?

AF: Are there any other bands playing CMJ who you’re particularly excited to see?

DB: Half Moon Run (Montreal sweethearts), CTZNSHP (another home-brew), we’re hearing a lot of hype about Haerts so we’re definitely going to check them out. Alpine, Human Human, many more I’m, sure. We’re just excited in general!

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