Interviews, Love at First Listen, Music

Love at First Listen with Teigen Gayse

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Teigen Gayse Interview Love at First Listen 2024

We all have those artists and songs we hear that strike the right chord and make us fall in love at first listen. They’re the reason we refresh social media pages, tour schedules, and Spotify profiles — because we can’t miss a single release. This is Love at First Listen — a series introducing you to the emerging, and established, artists with new music guaranteed to upgrade your playlist.

There’s simply no mistaking that Teigen Gayse has the “it” factor. The bubbly country singer-songwriter who hails from a small town in British Columbia recently made the move to Nashville, the city where country dreams come true. Within the first week, she cooked up a “banger” in the studio with Jenna Walker from The Reklaws (her words, not ours!) and debuted her brand new single, “Better Mistake,” at Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row bar. While she’s now calling Nashville home, she’ll be bouncing from city to city all summer long, playing the Collingwood Summer Country Kickoff, Dauphin’s Countryfest in Manitoba, and many more festivals and shows soon to be announced.

Dive into our interview with Teigen as she reveals the single phrase that inspired “Better Mistake,” her on-stage persona, and what you can expect from her upcoming CMAOntario Awards hosting gig.

Welcome to Love at First Listen! We’re celebrating the release of your heartfelt new single “Better Mistake.” Can you tell us about how this song came to be and how you decided it had single potential?

“Better Mistake” was one of the first songs that I wrote when I came to Nashville two years ago. I wrote it with David Thompson and Phil Barton. I just had the title and I brought it into a couple of different rooms. When I brought it into this room [with David and Phil], they really liked the title and we ended up writing the song. Sometimes you go in and you’re experiencing something and you need to get it out—you need to write it. But this one, we were like, “Okay, how do we make a story out of this?” The song is about you falling for somebody [or] hitting it off with somebody that you never would have expected to hit it off with and it ended up working out in the long run. It’s a love song!

How often do you go into the studio with just a spark of an idea versus having a song mostly or fully fleshed out?

Let me tell you! I went through a breakup recently and I’m just feeling all of the feels. So, when I go into rooms right now, it’s like my diary. I’m like, “I’m feeling this today. Can we write this?” That has been lots of fun because I don’t really do that. Usually, I just kind of go in and ask the room, “What do we all want to write?” But lately I’ve been going in and I’m like, “I need to write this. These are all my feelings, and I need to let them out.”

You just moved to Nashville, so I am sure it feels full circle to be releasing “Better Mistake” considering you wrote it on your first trip there. What are you most excited for now that you will be living in Nashville full time?

It’s such a driven city. Everyone is here. Everyone is hungry. Everyone is just eager to succeed and work and get stuff done. And everyone down here is just so good at writing. I played my first Whiskey Jam [at Whiskey Row] on my single release night, which was really exciting because that’s something that I’ve been wanting to play since my first time coming to Nashville. It’s just nice to be down here with so many people that are chasing the same dream and you can all relate with each other. You kind of wake up and you live and breathe music, which is what I always wanted to do.

You’re already checking off some of your Nashville bucket list items. Was Whiskey Jam your first time performing “Better Mistake” for a crowd?

It was my first time performing it for a crowd and my first time playing in Nashville. I wish you could have been there because it was so much fun. It was such a pinch me moment.

People may know you as the songstress behind hit songs like “Sleeping With Her,” your highest charting radio single to date, and “If You Show Me Yours,” which you co-wrote with Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. Where do you think “Better Mistake” fits in your discography? Do you hope it shows fans another side of you or sets the stage for an upcoming EP or album…?

“If You Show Me Yours” was like a love ballad, and then “Sleeping With Her” was an upbeat song but also a breakup song. It was cool to me that it was a sad song, but you would never know because it was just so upbeat and fun. “Better Mistake” sits in the middle. It’s a love song but it’s got a good push to it. So, I like trying to change it up on each single and give the world something a little bit different.

You’re co-hosting this year’s CMAOntario Awards on June 2 in Mississauga. How are you preparing to be part of such a big night in Canadian country music in that capacity?

I just want to make people feel welcome and feel good about themselves, so I was really excited when they asked me to host. It meant a lot that they asked an artist from B.C. to come up and be part of the CMAO [Awards]. I’ve always wanted to host and thought it would be really cool. I hope I do a good job!

While you haven’t technically been announced as a CMAO Awards performer, can we expect a performance of “Better Mistake” snuck in there?

I can’t say anything right now, but… you never know! [WRITER’S NOTE: Infer from that what you will!]

You recently made your UK debut performing at C2C Festival in London. How was the fan and crowd reception compared to what you’ve seen in Canada and Nashville?

They are such big country music lovers over there. It felt so good to come offstage and have a big line of people wanting my autograph and wanting pictures, and it was just the most cool experience ever. I’m so grateful that I got to go and I’m manifesting going back next year to play on the main stage. We’re putting it out to the world!

For people who haven’t seen you yet and might be seeing you for the first time this summer, what impression do you hope to leave on each crowd?

I just want people to feel good. I want them to feel like they can relate to my music. That’s my biggest goal. And hopefully they leave feeling like, damn, I’m really glad we got to see her and found a new artist. Honestly, how I am right now, my personality, is how I am on stage. I’m kind of all over the place and crazy and fun and funny, and I just hope I can keep doing that on stage and make people feel welcome, related to, and relatable.

Can you tease any other projects you have in the works?

I’m down here writing, writing, writing. So, keep your eyes and ears peeled for new music and possibly an album in the near future. Grind and grind, baby!

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Interviews, Love at First Listen, Music, Music Monday

Love at First Listen with Kristin Carter

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Kristin Carter Interview Love at First Listen 2024

We all have those artists and songs we hear that strike the right chord and make us fall in love at first listen. They’re the reason we refresh social media pages, tour schedules, and Spotify profiles — because we can’t miss a single release. This is Love at First Listen — a new series introducing you to the emerging, and established, artists with new music guaranteed to upgrade your playlist.

Singer-songwriter Kristin Carter has been blossoming her whole life. Starting young and honing her skills as a choir singer, she first caught the attention of country listeners with her Top 20 Canadian radio single “Karma” and back-to-back semi-finalist nods in SiriusXM’s Top of the Country competition. Moving into the world of contemporary pop last year, Kristin teased a new era with “I’m Still Here” and “Euphoria,” which became the lead singles from her newly released debut album, ‘Full Bloom.’ The 12-track album, which was released on Friday (Apr. 5), is deeply introspective and simply stunning, covering universal themes like the ups and downs of love, self-doubt, female empowerment, and personal resilience.

The seeds have been planted, and with ‘Full Bloom’ out in the world, it’s time to sit in the garden and take it all in. Love at First Listen caught up with Kristin during album release week to chat all things ‘Full Bloom,’ attending circus school for a music video, and where this journey is taking her next.

For readers who are just about to love you at first listen, can you take us through the different seeds and stages of your musical journey that led to this ‘full bloom’?

I’ve been really excited to get these songs out to people. It’s been a labour of love for quite a while. For people who don’t know me, I was born and raised just outside of Vancouver, BC. Choir is where I learned how to sing, and I credit a lot of my choir teachers for instilling in me a real love for vocalization and really choir in general. That’s also where my musical heart lives because I felt so uplifted by people in that community and it felt really exciting and safe. So, anyone out there who wants to learn how to sing, join a choir—it’s a great way to do it.

Through the years, I started writing and performing more as a solo artist. Putting it all together and emulating different songs together that I felt were great expressions of my personal experiences over the last few years, we arrived at the album. So, I envisioned the songs like seeds that I’ve planted over the years, and now they’re finally bursting through to the surface.

You co-produced and co-wrote ‘Full Bloom’ and have described each flower, or song, as reflecting individual moments within the human experience. Which songs resonate with you most?

I really connect with “I’m Still Here” because it’s grounded in my choir background. There are no instrumentals and it’s just built off of a bunch of different layers of vocalization. I also had a really big hand in the recording process, which was new and exciting for me. So, in addition to the theme of the lyrics and the way that it sounds, it was such a joyful process for me to build it, and we made a really cool music video where I was made to look like a special effects statue. I got to connect with people in Vancouver in the film scene, and it was really exciting to be part of that community. I was really amazed at all the talent that’s out there. Like, knowing how to turn someone into a statue? I could never. I also really love “Lazy Sunday.” That’s the one that I go back through and play over and over for myself.

You have videos coming for both “Euphoria” and “Lazy Sunday.” What can you share about the visual treatments you gave both of those songs, and when should fans expect to see them?

The idea for “Euphoria” is two dueling versions of yourself. So, I have a non-confident version of myself going into a club, and then there’s a confident version of myself who’s all in neon and really dressed kind of amazing and all these things. It’s like Parent Trap in a club because I had a body double that we switched in and out and she was really fun to work with. It has a lot of special effects involved because there’s this neon light that burns through the whole thing, which represents confidence. That’s being worked on by the amazing team that we have, and I’m really excited to release it in the next few weeks. It’s definitely different visuals than I’ve normally done.

I’m also really looking forward to “Lazy Sunday” because I’ve currently been going to some training lessons on how to do acrobatic flying. The theme of that one is we’re going to a studio, and then the studio walls kind of melt away and then I kind of float up into the air. We’re filming it out at my fiancé’s family farm, and we’ll have these rigs that will fly me across the fields and potentially over water and things like that. It always blows my mind that when you participate in the arts and you’re in an artistic community, all these random opportunities pick up. I never thought I would be going to circus school in my life, but I’m excited to show this to everyone.

Were there any artists or albums you had on repeat as you made ‘Full Bloom’?

That’s a great question. I grew up with ABBA’s compilation album ‘Gold’ and they’ve been having such an amazing resurgence on social media and TikTok, so I really delved back into those songs. They’re so fun and upbeat and exciting, and I was really using that as a musical reference to try and pinpoint some of the sounds I wanted for my album. I listened to Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’ as well to really get in touch with a lot of the lyrical side of the album. I think the writers for those albums are incredibly talented and they have a way of portraying emotion through music.

As people start to “walk through the garden” with you, what message do you ultimately want fans new and old to take away from their ‘Full Bloom’ listening experience?

There’s such a diversity of experiences in life. Even though everything isn’t an amazingly positive experience all the time, you need the good and you need the bad in order to round out a full life. Musically, if you just had an album of positive energy, that could be super fun. But to put it back in the context of a garden, if you had just one type of flower in your garden, it wouldn’t be super interesting. All the other different ones in there maybe individually aren’t the ones you focus on, but things in the collective create that beautiful space because of all those different things. So, for me, that would be what I want people to walk away with—a gratitude for all their different experiences in life, and just reflecting on their own experience in that way and finding the beauty.

Now that you’ve “fully bloomed,” where do you hope this journey takes you next?

The biggest joy is when people listen to the music and write in to me about what it meant to them. So, where I hope it would take me next is to other places and different people that I haven’t had the chance to connect with. I got a message just a couple of days ago from someone in Austria, and they said, “I really like your stuff.” I wrote back and then I was like, I didn’t know my music could ever even reach there! I think it’s a great time that we’re living in right now with social media because you can essentially broadcast kind of anywhere, which is sometimes an intimidating thing but really exciting I think overall.

The album title inspires thoughts of flowers and sunshine and spring and summer, which of course leads us right into summer concert and festival season! Do you have any plans to take ‘Full Bloom’ on the road?

I really hope so! I’m super open to any of those opportunities as they come up, and I’m definitely looking for them, but no official dates in the calendar right now. I would love to travel around and have people in the room as I sing and share some of the thoughts behind the music. I would encourage people to follow my social media pages as things pop up.

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Interviews, Love at First Listen, Music, New Music Friday

[Artists to Watch] Love at First Listen with Dayna Reid

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Dayna Reid Interview Love at First Listen 2024

We all have those artists and songs we hear that strike the right chord and make us fall in love at first listen. They’re the reason we refresh social media pages, tour schedules, and Spotify profiles — because we can’t miss a single release. This is Love at First Listen — a new series introducing you to the emerging, and established, artists with new music guaranteed to upgrade your playlist.

When emerging Canadian country talent Dayna Reid pulled up her latest Spotify Artist Wrapped statistics, she discovered that more than 129,000 people had streamed her work in her first full year with music out in the world—no small feat. The success of her debut EP ‘Back to the Trailer’ inspired this Artist to Watch to come into 2024 with a gripping new single, “This House,” and its emotionally charged music video, out today (Jan. 26). As for what’s on the horizon, Dayna is gearing up to share more music, more live shows, and much more of the authenticity and vulnerability listeners have come to love.

In her first interview for the new single, Dayna gave us the inside scoop on “This House,” her country girl gang, and how she continues to turn her biggest dreams, including an upcoming album release, into reality.

Welcome to Love at First Listen! When you reflect on 2023, what was the biggest pinch-me moment, and what musical goals have you set for yourself in 2024 to go above and beyond what you accomplished in the last 12 months?

I went from working to support kids with special needs full time to hearing my song on the radio. I was actually with one of the girls that I support while I heard it for the first time, so that was a total full circle moment. We pulled over and we were jamming out together. I feel like I have my foot in the door now, so this is the year to kick up a level and share the rest of my album because it’s been done for a while. I am really excited to be able to get to Nashville, write and release a lot more music that I’m proud of, and connect with more people within the industry and listeners as well. I think that’s one of my favourite parts of this industry—meeting so many amazing people.

You say your new single “This House” is “for anyone who has a dream or a vision of what their life could be like but may not know how to make that dream their reality.” How do you relate that message to your own journey as an artist?

There’s a point in a lot of people’s lives where they have this vision for themselves of what they want to pursue, or they know that they want their life to look a certain way, but they don’t know how to make that happen. And I think through writing and releasing the song, it genuinely helped me get to where I’m at right now.

While I was writing this song, I was in a very different mindset than I am right now. It was actually the first song that I ever wrote with my co-writers, Beverley Mahood and Mac Shepherd, so it’s pretty crazy to see how much things have changed since and how much it’s really helped me believe that it’s not [about] running away from your problems, but instead running towards what’s best for you this time instead. I never really understood that growing up until it came to the point in my life where I realized doing what’s best for you isn’t selfish and it’s going to get you to where you [achieve] your own happiness.

Dayna Reid posing with her billboard for "This House" in Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square.
Dayna Reid posing with her billboard for “This House” in Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square. (Courtesy of Dayna Reid/Instagram)

The music video for “This House” is just as stunning as the song. How much of a role did you play in crafting how the song would come to life on screen?

While I was out in Vancouver for the SiriusXM Top of the Country competition, my team got me together with a really amazing director, Stephano Barberis. He is one of those people that you meet and you know they’re special. I wanted this feeling of being in this house or space of mind and finally unlocking those doors, and not even really unlocking the doors but unlocking your potential in a way too. Where we shot the video, that house was over 150 years old or something, surrounded by mountains, and it’s only specifically for video shoots and TV scenes. So, you went in there and you could just feel an energy shift. I was like, okay, this is definitely the place to do this video.

In a sea of new country artists, how would you describe your musical aesthetic to someone first discovering you?

I grew up listening to all kinds of music. My dad was the rocker, so I have the classic rock influence in that sense. But my whole family on my mom’s side is very into older country, like ‘80s, ‘90s, and even a little bit early 2000s. So, I really want to get that into my music because that’s where I feel like my lane is as well.

Speaking of music that country audiences are clearly loving at first listen, your debut EP ‘Back to the Trailer’ featured your Top 40 single “She’s Me” and fan favourite “The Way You Lie.” How would you compare the sound of that EP with what fans can expect to hear this year?

I think that all the songs play a part on the album—like everything has its own feel to it. “She’s Me” was the song that I wanted to put out to help empower people. “The Way You Lie” was for all those girls out there that had been lied to once or twice and they’re done with it. And then a song like “This House,” that’s another song that is very personal in a way too. I want to be able to share that side of me [with] people as well because I think being authentic and real and being able to talk about things like that with others is a whole other level of this industry.

That music also earned you great critical acclaim, including titles like iHeartRadio’s Future Star and touring opportunities with Tim Hicks and Hunter Brothers. Do you have any dream gigs for 2024 that we can help you manifest?!

I know that I’m doing a few festivals in the summer, but any opportunity is a good opportunity, especially being an up-and-coming artist. Touring with the Hunter Brothers was amazing because they are just salt of the earth kind of people and I always went to Tim Hicks’ concerts with my girlfriends growing up, so to be able to perform with them more too would be awesome.

This interview series is all about showcasing new and emerging artists. Can you shout out any of your country pals who we should have our eyes and ears on this year?

Hailey Benedict and Teigen Gayse—those are my girls! They’re honestly the sweetest and so talented. I was in the Top of the Country competition with them and that’s how I got a little bit closer with each of them. They’re killing it out there, and I love being able to support other women.

What else can fans look forward to throughout the year?

It’s funny—the first album that I wrote had a lot of stories about me growing up in a very small farming community in Elmvale, Ontario, which is close to Wasaga Beach. It was a lot about my life experiences at that time, whereas the new music coming up is about this next chapter of my life too. So, I’m hoping that people who are listening can go on that journey with me.

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Interviews, Love at First Listen, Music

Love at First Listen with Kalsey Kulyk

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Kalsey Kulyk Interview Love at First Listen 2023

We all have those artists and songs we hear that strike the right chord and make us fall in love at first listen. They’re the reason we refresh social media pages, tour schedules, and Spotify profiles — because we can’t miss a single release. This is Love at First Listen — a new series introducing you to the emerging, and established, artists with new music guaranteed to upgrade your playlist.

With her refreshing brand of poetic country, Canadian songstress Kalsey Kulyk is making her mark on country music and showing no signs of stopping. With past experience working with industry heavyweights including Lainey Wilson and opening for country jammers like the Hunter Brothers, Kalsey’s latest release, “Love Me Like an Outlaw,” is enjoying great success in the top 30 at Canadian country radio and continues to rise. Having also trended on Shazam and Stingray and being selected as One to Watch by Rogers, the song’s success is setting the stage for an exciting next year for the emerging star. But first, she’s joining America’s Got Talent fan favourite Drake Milligan on the road for three Western Canadian dates, blessing Saskatoon Dec. 6, Edmonton Dec. 7, and Calgary Dec. 8 with a can’t-miss night of music.

In this edition of Love at First Listen, Kalsey shares the story behind the single that was five years in the making, the surprise cameo in her latest music video, and how to win free merch if you’re seeing her open for Drake later this week.

You had “Love Me Like an Outlaw” in the vault for nearly five years before you released it this summer. What made you decide this was the right time to share it with the world?

When I wrote that song back in Nashville in 2018, I just loved it so much. It made my heart so happy when I walked out of the writing room. I love a lot of the songs that I’ve written, but that one just felt special. The team that I was working with at the time didn’t really respond to that song, but I held on to it.

When we decided that we were going to release a record, we recorded two songs and then had more songs to pick for the next batch and I was like, man, I hadn’t even put this song in the first batch and I’ve loved this song forever. So, I just put it in the list and didn’t really say anything. My producer and my radio tracker came back and they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we love this song. We have to record this one.’ And I was like, yes! We put it out and it got a really good response from listeners, so my radio tracker was like, ‘Let’s just put it out to radio.’ It’s honestly doing way better than I thought it was going to and I’m just so grateful. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut.

How does it feel to have a song this meaningful be your first top 30 at Canadian country radio?

It makes me a little emotional thinking about it because I’ve wanted to record this song for such a long time. And I’m an independent artist, which makes it really hard to do well on radio. Also, I’m a mom, and for some reason, in the music industry, there’s this stigma around moms that they can’t be successful and their music career’s over after they’ve had a baby. But actually, mine is doing way better than it ever did after having my son. They say that babies bring blessings. So, I guess my son brought a really big blessing to my life, but also to my career as well.

How was your experience making the “Love Me Like an Outlaw” music video? Are there any interesting behind-the-scenes secrets you can share?

My whole outfit is a random collection of outrageous things I’ve got along the way, and some are stolen from my mom’s closet. (Sorry, mom!) But filming it was amazing. My cousins had a neighbour that had this gorgeous ranch and 30 some horses. The horses were coming up around me and it was just so cool. It was also like, ‘Oh, weird that this girl’s singing to us!’ It’s funny to see the horses react. And my husband is the cowboy in the cabin. We always try, whenever we’re in each other’s music videos, to hide our face so people don’t think our partner is in it with us. So, it was a labour of love, but we had a lot of fun doing it and we’re really happy with how the video turned out.

You’re about to join Drake Milligan, our new friend at Love at First Listen, for a string of Canadian shows. Can you preview your set for concertgoers?

We’re going to be doing a 30-minute set playing some songs that we’ve already released — obviously “Love Me Like an Outlaw” and “Ain’t Enough Whiskey” — and then some [familiar] covers. I’m bringing my banjo and dobro player with me and then my guitar player. So, it’s going to be acoustic but it’s still going to be fun and high energy. We’re really excited. We’re also going to give out some free merch. So, anybody who’s reading this, make sure to get out in front so you get a free T-shirt or something.

You recently posted a video on TikTok of you hearing your song on the radio in Saskatchewan, your home province. I feel like as an artist, every time that happens, it must be a ‘pinch me’ moment!

It really is. Sometimes I am extremely excited. Other times, I get super emotional, get a frog in my throat, and can’t talk because we work our whole lives. I’ve been singing since I was three years old too, and to hear that people are liking the song enough to play it on radio stations and that a lot of other people are going to hear that song is really part of the dream come true.

@kalseykulyk

Im not crying, you are! 🥹😭❤️🙏🏼 #countrymusic #country #music #countrygirl #countryboy @CISN Country 103.9

♬ original sound – Kalsey Kulyk

Like the name of this interview series suggests, we’re all about new music that we can love at first listen. Can you share some of the artists you’ve loved at first listen recently?

One artist that I really like that everybody’s really liking right now is Bailey Zimmerman. I think he’s got such a cool thing. His voice is just so different. And, obviously, I’m going to give a shout out to my husband, Eric Ethridge. He’s got new music on the way. I’m a big fan of him. I’m also a fan of Lainey Wilson because we used to write together in Nashville, and she released a song that we wrote together called “Dreamcatcher.” So, I would say those artists are super inspiring and paving their own path.

You have been open in sharing your journey with cancer and recently celebrated 15 years cancer free. You’ve also said that ringing the bell at the hospital is the moment you decided to commit 100 percent to music. Having been able to chase your dream and see the success you’ve had to date is an incredible gift, so what advice do you have for anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps and start chasing their dream?

I think the first step is just believing in yourself because that’s really the biggest part that you have to do. This music industry is full of highs and lows and people telling you a million no’s. The biggest piece of advice that somebody gave me was that you’ve got to work, work more, and then work some more because you’re the only one that’s going to be working for yourself. I write two or three songs a day. Really know who you are as an artist, figure that out, find your sound, and just be who you are because nobody else can be that.

When you look back on 2023, what were your career highs and how do you hope to replicate or even challenge yourself to top those in 2024?

The top 30 is definitely one of the top, if not the top, and then playing Cavendish Beach Music Festival and getting to open up for Chris Stapleton was a really cool moment. Playing a festival in Spain with my husband was another one. That was cool because I got to do what I love with the person that I love.

Next year is going to be an even busier and more exciting year because we’re releasing a record in February and it’s going to have more of my sound and more of the songs that I’ve wanted to record for a long time. Obviously, we’re going to take some songs to radio, do some more video shoots, and it’d be good to top the success that we’ve had this year, but I’m honestly just trying to soak in all of the good news. It’s still pretty new, and I’m not sure that it’s hit me yet.

Is there any message you want to send to your fans who helped bring “Love Me Like an Outlaw” to the top 30 at country radio, or people who may be attending an upcoming show and seeing you for the first time?

The biggest thing is just a huge thank you to the people that have been supporting me and have called radio stations over the years when I haven’t even asked them to do that. It really means the world, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for the shares on social media, for the likes and comments… You really don’t know how much it means to an artist, and the love is sent right back.

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Interviews, Love at First Listen, Music

Love at First Listen with Fionn

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Fionn Interview Love at First Listen 2023

We all have those artists and songs we hear that strike the right chord and make us fall in love at first listen. They’re the reason we refresh social media pages, tour schedules, and Spotify profiles — because we can’t miss a single release. This is Love at First Listen — a new series introducing you to the emerging, and established, artists with new music guaranteed to upgrade your playlist.

Alanna and Brianne Finn-Morris may be twins, but musically, it’s their opposites that attract. Performing together as Fionn, the fierce duo bring together Alanna’s knack for pop songwriting and Brianne’s folk influences, much to the appeal of tens of thousands of fans and monthly listeners spanning from their native British Columbia to the world. Last month, they released their third album, ‘I Might Start Smoking,’ and now they’re gearing up for a summer of local shows, culminating in a performance at Victoria, BC’s Rifflandia festival amongst the likes of Diplo, Paris Hilton, and Mallrat.

For this Canada Day edition of Love at First Listen, I chatted with Fionn about their growth, having the support of Marianas Trench, and what’s on their playlists this summer.

Your new album, ‘I Might Start Smoking,’ is smoking hot. What was your vision at the start of the creative process, and how did it change as you finalized the record?

Alanna: We started writing with a couple of friends a year and a half ago. Our only vision for the record at that time was that we wanted it to be a little more organic than our previous record, ‘Candid Constellations.’ So, we sat down and wrote maybe 20 songs, put them in one big folder, and went from there.

Brianne: Making the album and choosing the songs was just a fun process with friends. We were also living back in our family home at the time, so most of it was recorded there where we started. 

How have you grown musically since your first album in 2018, and how is that growth reflected in this album?

Alanna: It took a very long time to record our first record because when we did vocal takes, we were still a little stiff and performing for the people in the room rather than focusing on getting the product that we wanted. So, everything just feels a lot more seamless as we’ve gotten older and gained experience.

Brianne: Our sound now, I would say it’s folk pop-rock with a little Celtic twist.

Every season needs a great soundtrack, and there’s a lot of talk that there aren’t many standout “songs of the summer” this year. So, let’s make one of them yours! Which Fionn song is ready to be a summer smash?

Brianne: I think “18” has a lot of energy and it’s a little bubbly and lighthearted. That’d be the one.

Who are some of your musical inspirations?

Alanna: Taylor Swift is a big inspiration, obviously for everybody around our age who writes songs. In a dream world, if we could get Taylor Swift to feature on “18,” that would be really cool. We were really inspired by The Cranberries when making this record, and our song “Hurt Feelings” has a little Cranberries-esque vocal part. We also referenced Caroline Polachek a bit. She has sneaky Celtic melodies in her pop music, which is kind of what we’re going for. 

You recently performed at NXNE in Toronto and SXSW in Austin, Texas, two festivals that are all about showcasing the future of music. What does that recognition mean to you?

Alanna: It’s really exciting and crazy. Because of the pandemic, we didn’t really get to do a lot of traveling or play those kinds of festivals. Nobody did. So, I just feel like the fact that it’s happening now is so surreal and we appreciate it so much. Also, those are such big festivals, and we put a lot of work into this over the past five years.

Brianne: We’ve always wanted to travel and play music — that’s the biggest part of our musical dream. Getting to see that come into fruition has been very rewarding.

One of your earliest supporters in the industry was Josh Ramsay from Marianas Trench. You even feature on his track “You & I.” What has the band’s support meant to you both?

Brianne: It’s definitely meant a lot because we grew up listening to them on the radio and seeing them on the MuchMusic Top 20 countdown after school. I loved and still love Marianas Trench, so this is a really cool boost for sure.

I’m sure you’re still riding the wave of excitement from this album release, but thinking about the future, what’s next? When will fans have a chance to hear this music live?

Brianne: We’ve been so in album release mode, and now we’re in vinyl making mode, and once that’s all done, we’ll be in tour planning mode. We’re dying to tour, and I think that’s probably the next step — getting it planned and doing everything that involves, and then also releasing more singles starting in the fall. We’re still thinking of what we’re going to release next to keep the momentum going.

Since this series is called Love at First Listen, please give us some playlist inspiration and share any songs you’ve had on repeat recently (besides Fionn, of course!).

Brianne: There’s a new band out of the UK called FIZZ and they have a song called “High In Brighton” that I’ve been really vibing with. It was love at first listen.

Alanna: For me, it’s Chappell Roan and her song “Red Wine Supernova.” That was definitely love at first listen.

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