Venus – Girl Divided
City Taster – Un Peu de Wat?
Simeon Wiley – Bright Lights
Adrian Hu – Switchblade
Fleece – On My Mind
Glenny – [Bracket]
Jaymes – Good Morning
Brother Joe – Le Sony’r Ra
Alexia Avina – Plans Fall Through
Carla Sagan – Make Believer
Thanks to everyone who has been following this project throughout the spring, and a special thank you to CKUT, Joni, and all the musicians who helped make this such a fun and fulfilling experience.
– Nora Duffy
A few weeks back I wrote a small piece on “Cups,” a short and sweet new song from Alexia Avina. Apparently, this was just the beginning of what looks to be a very exciting spring for Avina’s solo project. Most recently, she put out a music video for the song “If I’m the one that you need,” giving us the first taste of her upcoming release, the Surrender EP. The video is directed by Miriam Brellenthin, who “did an excellent job of capturing the song’s ephemerality and leaving the video as an open question – to love doesn’t always mean to hold,” according to Avina.
“If I’m the one that you need” is very minimalistic in terms of the use of lyrics, which are limited to the repetition of the song’s title in complicated harmonies over Avina’s wide vocal range. The variety of textures and ambient noises flowing in and out of the track provide the sonic complexities that make Avina’s work so interesting. The corresponding music video falls seamlessly into the warm, dreamy realm conjured by her signature soothing sound. A spectrum of colour filters and soft focused double-exposures set the visual compliment for the almost trance-like tone of “If I’m the one that you need.” Avina’s face dominates the video, shown in both soft morning light and hidden amongst sparkling visual filters in a pool of water. A straight-on shot of the artist mouthing the words to the song intimately links the lyrics back to Avina, deepening the emotional impact of the video and tying the visual/audio experience together.
Surrender, a split-EP with fellow Montreal act Desert Bloom, is set to be released on April 12th with an official release party hosted by Moon Boy Records. When I asked Avina what fans could expect from the new EP, she said that “with this batch of songs I felt myself coming full circle to my initial process of making music whereby writing and recording were deeply inextricable.” She believes that the unplanned character of the recording process remained true to the nature of her music. “Spontaneity and mistakes are what my music has always thrived off of,” she explained, which provided her with “a gentle reminder to myself to harness that.”
As the winter finally melts away, keep your ears tuned in for more stuff from Alexia Avina. I’m sure there will be a lot of magical tunes to get excited about.
– Feature by Nora Duffy
When the topic of McGill student musicians comes up, it’s rare that the name Alexia Avina isn’t mentioned. As both a prolific solo musician and part of the dreamy electro duo, Best Fern, she is pretty much the pinnacle of what a writer like me could hope to find in the student scene.
Earlier this week, Avina posted a track called ‘Cups’ on her Soundcloud page. For fans of her work, this song hits all the bases of what makes Avina’s music special. The whispery vocals so characteristic of her work are especially noteworthy, not only in the sweet, sad lyrics but also in the layered, dreamy back-up vocals that saturate the track. Rich guitar melodies drift in and out, softly fading into a warm hum at the end of the song.
In her Facebook post about the song, Avina expressed her nervousness about releasing the song and asked for kindness from listeners. ‘Cups’ is a soothing track to drift away to, and I hope that the calming vibes the song conjured for me are given back to Alexia Avina in return.
– Nora Duffy
MagicPerm have been doing a helluva good job on their residency, and if you tuned in this Tuesday you’ll know that this week was no exception. For the uninformed, MagicPerm are a MTL based trio composed of Adam Finley,Sydney Lee, and Rachel Nam who deliver a range of alt/synth pop/dream sounds for all to enjoy. And lucky for us, they’ve agreed to host the Montreal Sessions for the month of January!
This weeks episode comprised of a hilariously deadpan monologue about a pigeons prophecy, some interactive listener games, a wide selection of delightful Canadian music, and the talented Alexia Avina featured in the studio for a live acoustic performance (you can check out her Bandcamp here, it is lovely). What i’m trying to say is that it was a fantastic time and you should defs check out our archives to take a listen to what these guys have been airing!
Don’t forget to tune in next Tuesday from 3-5pm to hear more magic(perm)~~