Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: I grew up in Montana and I attempted to learn and play the guitar, piano and banjo at different points, but the physical mechanics of learning and playing an instrument were very difficult for me and that made it hard to continue on that musical journey at that stage. I got really into bluegrass in high school, which is why I picked up the banjo and learned some Avett Brothers, Earl Scruggs, and Old Crow Medicine Show songs, but I just couldn’t ever progress to a point of having a more intuitive relationship to instruments and music that would allow me to expand beyond just memorizing notes. And the banjo is hard, I’m so impressed with folks who can really sling a banjo. That disconnect with music that I had made me believe that making music is an inherent ability and energy that people have in their souls. So when I went to college, I had zero time for anything else besides campus activism and studying, so I completely stopped playing the banjo sadly. Me making music now suddenly like this and releasing music really is so surprising to me and the folks in my life. But I think this has always been there, I just needed a different medium for relating to music beyond physical instruments.
Q: Can you describe the musical style of Mystic Wolf in three words?
A: Folktronica Medicine Music
Q: How do you stay connected with your fans, and what role do they play in shaping your musical journey?
A: I just launched my music project on January 2nd, so I’m still navigating exactly how to cultivate a fan base and connect with them. Especially because this project is challenging me to wade into social media and self promotion waters that I have never been comfortable with before. The whole idea of a “fan” is crazy to me because “fan” feels like there’s some disconnected power dynamic between me and those that hear my music and resonate with it. At this point, I just have gratitude for those that do take the time to listen to my music and connect with it. I feel that a more appropriate term than “fan base” is “supportive community.” So I’m trying to really create a community around using beautiful, healing music as a universal bond that brings folks together in a space where we can be vulnerable, heal, explore our spirituality and move ourselves towards taking tangible action for collective liberation and movement building.
Q: You have just released your new EP, ‘Healing is a Journey’. Is there a story behind it?
A: Yes there is most definitely a story there. Since graduating college I have been on this cyclical healing journey defined by expansive beauty and stability, but also extreme darkness, pain and struggle. And in that darkness creates the spark and light for transformation. After a particularly dark period in my life while living in Montana, I knew I had to leave. At that time, I had a remote job, so I took the opportunity to go to Mexico, Guatemala, and then Chile and Brazil where I embarked on this deeply transformative healing journey that opened these musically creative channels that I didn’t know I had. It was as if this musical reservoir was always inside of me, but it just needed the right conditions to be tapped into and that healing process, the people I met, the communities I connected with, the ceremonies, therapies, all of it opened me up in this new way to allow this flow of music to come to the surface. It was like a levee broke and the flow of this creative potential burst forth. This EP honors that process and the people who supported me.
Q: What is your favorite track from the EP, “Healing is a Journey” and why?
A: This is very hard for me. I can’t definitively say but Rebirth just makes me feel great. The other songs have such immense energetic weight to them and are intense, emotional and beautiful, and to have that weight lifted with this super celebratory, light, exciting song that feels like we’re in some adventurous, “let’s go vibe” in a movie scene is just awesome.
Q: Can you walk us through the creative process of producing the EP?
A: I just started learning how to make music in May and Nomad is the second song I ever made, so the creative process for this EP has really been just learning how to make music honestly. I don’t go into beginning producing a track with a specific intention, I honestly just start making sounds and fitting them together until they sound good to me and then I build off of that with more sounds that feel right to me. It’s a lot of trial and error until things fit together. I feel like I’m being guided by the divine source of creation and I’m serving as a channel to express that universal vibration that’s specific to my own vibration and what resonates with me. So I’m kind of just flowing and being guided for my next moves and feeling into what works and sounds good to me. Sometimes I can even hear a sound, instrument, vocal or part of a song that doesn’t even exist yet and then I try to create what I already heard. And that can be frustrating at times because I don’t have the musical knowledge yet on how to make the sound I’m hearing. So I’m doing a lot of catch up with what I need to learn vs what’s already in my auditory and vibrational field.
Q: What has been the most memorable concert or performance for Mystic Wolf so far?
A: I have not performed live yet haha. My first live event is on February 2nd in Santiago, Chile that will be a part of a kundalini activation energy and light codes ceremony. It’s important to me that my music and the events I participate in have intention behind it.
Q: Reflecting on your body of work, each song holding its unique significance, could you share a particular track that stands out to you personally? What makes that specific tune special, and why does it hold a place of pride in your musical journey?
A: Probably Cycle of Healing. I would say this is the most medicine music one. Healing is cyclical with an infinite amount of layers and the song produces a lot of vibrational layers that are both heart opening and liberating at times, but then can also be so intense to the point of anxiety inducing. I was even able to create an intense sound of heavy breathing with handpans with a crazy reverb on it. I feel the first part is really heart opening and creates the energetic foundation for the listener to dive deep into oneself and leads into the second part with the celtic fiddle that lifts us off into building those layers of intensity. By the end of the song, you almost feel exhausted and liberated at the same time, like at the top of a mountain.
Q: As we wrap up our conversation, looking ahead, what aspirations or dreams do you have for Mystic Wolf, and what message would you like to share with your fans as they continue to accompany you on this musical journey?
A: I really want this music and platform to be used for personal and social transformation. I hope my music to be healing for people, my story to be healing for people and to create a synergistic space of exploring and expanding our potential as spiritual beings and that light to then translate towards collective healing, transformation and liberation. I want my music to be a part of a movement towards a paradigm shift in our economic and social relationship to the Earth and to each other. This is also part of the reason why a percentage of the royalties will be donated to the Adalah Justice Project for Palestinian and collective liberation.
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