Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: I was born and raised in Montreal, Canada and I’ve split my time between Montreal and Prince Edward Island (Canada’s smallest province) since I was a kid. Both places are such musical spots. Montreal is famous for so many amazing artists and its legendary festivals, PEI for its Celtic and Acadian trad music. So I wound up a strange child, singing Gershwin and Ella and The Dubliners.
Q: Did you have any formal training, or are you self-taught?
A: My formal training is actually as an actor, but I’ve been writing music since I was a kid. I was lucky enough to have teachers in college who encouraged songwriting, which is when the gears began to shift for me as both a singer and a songwriter. But apart from a year of jazz singing lessons when I was nine (thanks to my father for having the idea), and some college classes, I don’t have any formal training.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences?
A: Gershwin? But I don’t really see his fingerprints on the songs I write. Being a kid is so funny because you absorb the music that you hear around you: what your parents are playing (jazz), what your siblings (or in my case, cool older cousins) are listening to (Our Lady Peace), what’s on the radio (Spice Girls). And somewhere along the way, you go from being a music sponge, soaking everything in, to rejecting most of it (hey there, punk and ska phase of my early teens.) I think that, actually, as I’m saying all of this, that probably the jazz was a huge influence on me as a lyricist. So many of those standards tell full stories and I really view my songwriting as storytelling. So even if I’m not writing in classic jazz chord progressions, I think, yeah, it’s prolly there. I love that. Thanks for this question!
Q: You have just released your new single, ‘Earlier’ with your LP. Is there a story behind it?
A: I met a man who was travelling through Canada, stopping in cities for six months each. So I knew our relationship had an expiration date; I told myself to just enjoy the time we had. But after a few months, things started to fall apart. I tried to figure out what I wanted to say to him, and what came out was the first line of the song: “We were always going to say goodbye, let’s just say it earlier.”
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: Genres are so tricky. I’ve been told I’m too country to be folk, and too folk to be country. So I came up with my own genre: Folk Femme Fatale. I love being able to define myself on my own terms. It’s fun and people seem to get what I’m laying down. As for what resonates with my listeners, I think it’s the vulnerability. I’m not really known for writing happy songs, through there are some anthemic tunes on VALLEYS and folks seem to be vibing with those songs as well. But I’ve gotten a whole slew of emails and messages from folks saying that my latest single “Earlier” made them cry—which I take as a huge compliment.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: When you make your own work, there’s no end to the hours that you can potentially put in. Some days, no matter how much work I’ve done, I’m still stressed that I didn’t do more. I’m trying to get better at “clocking out” at the end of the day (though you can’t clock out of your own mind—I’m still working on that!) I love making music. I love sharing it with people. There are days when it makes me soar and there are days when it depletes me. Am I getting as much as I’m putting in? Ultimately, it’s all part of the same loop.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: With a few exceptions, songs come to me (and out of me) really quickly. Most of my songs were written in 30-90 minutes. Because I write music and lyrics simultaneously, once that first line comes to me, the rest just flows out. But there are a few songs that I’ve been stuck on for months. I’ve found that it’s best not to push them. (I’ve tried and it’s just led to major frustration.) When I was living in New York, I had a lyric that I kept thinking about, but everytime I sat down to “knock out the song,” nothing happened. I was walking a lot at that time, trying to save on subway fares, and so I would just think about the song as I walked home every night. It built a bit more every night on those walks, and after a few months, there it was. I have friends who are songwriters who dedicate an hour every day to sitting down and songwriting. Part of me wishes that that was my process—it would be a lot more reliable when you’ve got deadlines for new tracks! But ultimately, I’m just me, and my brain is just my brain, and I love the songs that I write. When I said before that I think that people resonate with the vulnerability of my songs, part of that vulnerability comes from those songs pouring out of me in the very moment where I have something that I need to say.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: As a person, I’ve had to deal with some very difficult things—but then show me someone who hasn’t. Life can be beautiful but it can also be really hard and really devastating. As a musician, though, I think that getting passed over for opportunities that you feel like you deserve is always hard. It leaves you feeling helpless because sometimes it’s not that the music you’re putting out isn’t good enough, it’s just that you don’t have the notoriety or the connections. When festivals are asking for your social media numbers, it can feel a bit demoralizing because it’s a reminder that sometimes the art itself is not enough.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: So many things! I’m a big radio nerd, so when my songs have been played nationally on the CBC, that’s been a huge win for me. When I’ve asked musicians that I admire to play with me and they’ve say yes, that’s a huge win. When strangers DM me telling me how much a song has resonated with them, major win. I’m still human and I’ve got big dreams that I don’t always know how to achieve. Sure, I would love to open for Brandi Carlile or have one of my songs on a Top 20 chart. But I’ve worked hard to change my relationship with success over the years and so most days, it’s all the small wins that add up to fulfillment.
