Q: Can we expect a new EP or even an album from you in the near future?
A: I am very excited and deeply proud to be releasing my 3rd full length album this fall. It’s called Don’t be yourself. It’s a combination of unreleased songs from a few years back, and newly written songs about my journey into motherhood and isolation, losing two friends to suicide, and the material realities I witness everyday as a social worker. It felt like a longer, more enduring journey to get this album out. Sometimes I could only work on it for one afternoon a month. It took a lot of will and collaboration to make it happen. I am so grateful I have supports that empowered me – to be able to put this album out. We have been doing a slow release and have put out 4 singles so far – Get out of my room, Laying in lavender, What the world, and Moon signs. We are excited that it will be released on Dec 11 – on all digital platforms, and on cassette by local label No Sun Recordings.
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 am one of those people that wrestles with playing music and pursuing my other life paths – wanting to do everything and be part of many things. For me, this looks like stopping and starting music again and again. I find myself always returning to songwriting. My lyric style in Rooms is very self referential and I am often recapping my own learning and processing of significant events. I always hope there is something relational in there, connecting, etc. I am also a mom and a social worker – so that is all in there.
Q: Did you have any formal training, or are you self-taught?
A: In terms of song-writing, I would say that I often enjoy lyrics that are raw and direct. It is the same way for music. Music is an expression of something, for me, a very emotive experience – I haven’t paid a lot of attention to techniques and formal structures, but I have relied on others who do have those skills at different times. I might identify with being imprudent regarding the music part of a song, but for me it’s about something else, whether that is conveying a message, telling a story, making a statement.
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: I was honoured when the other day, a radio host/friend quoted some of my lyrics and described how he related and felt the anxiousness in the moment I was describing. I was like, heck yeah, that happened to me. I think at some point I realized that many of my life changing moments weren’t special at all, but actually extremely relatable and part of something bigger. This made it easier to put myself out there, and share some of the uncomfortable, direct things that happen in intimacy, or any learning moments. I guess the self-referential lyric style taps into a common vulnerability.
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: The entire process of songwriting is fulfilling for me. I can zoom out and look at my song portfolio and see my whole life, and how I have made mistakes, learned, been moved, lifted, hurt etc. I suppose that is a hidden benefit of making such personal music. I think it’s important to have balance in life, and to try to make space to do the things you enjoy. I know that can be really hard given the financial worries everyone has, especially to make art or work on creative projects. I have struggled with this, and I know others do as well. It’s important to acknowledge that it is a privilege to be able to make music and there is a responsibility when you produce material and put it out into the world.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘Rooms’?
A: Rooms used to be called I Make earthquakes. At the time we changed the band to Rooms, we were all living in this punk house with like 12 other people, and there were so many bedrooms there. It was kind of a prolific community of people doing amazing things, and a lot of political things too. I remember lying there imagining everything that was happening all over the house, at any given time. A lot of my musical influences come from the pacific northwest and local artists from around so called Canada. These days I’ve been listening to a lot of Goodbye Forever, a project out of Vancouver (originally Australia) and the band divorcer, also out of Vancouver. I just saw a new local band called Roswit play. I was so inspired to write my first show review, I still might. I have always been really moved and carried by the local music scene in Vancouver, a lot of my friends and family are part of that. I think these experiences are the greatest influences and also, the reason it’s possible to continue to make music and put it out in the world.
