May 19, 2024 • 24 mins
Composer and songwriter Carmen Braden talks the Northern experience, music impacting parenting style, the significance of specificity, and more!
Featured music:
Small Town Song
The Raven Conspiracy
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Notes of the North Talks, a series where we get to know our local Canadian
(00:09):
musical talent.
Today I'm here with Carmen Braden.
Huge thanks and welcome to Carmen.
Thanks Brianna, great to be here.
Alright let's get things started.
So where are you joining us from today?
Where in Canada do you call home?
Right, I am in Samba Kay, which is the Welladay word for yellow knife.
So it's in the Northwest Territories, Northern Canada and it's the place that I've lived
(00:34):
for most of my life and still call home.
Beautiful.
What first drew you into composition?
Yeah my parents put me in piano lessons when I was a kid and there was a fantastic music
teacher in my elementary school and so I did band and choir all through elementary and
then that same teacher moved into my high school the year I did.
(00:56):
It was amazing.
And I kept doing piano on the side so I was doing a lot of music in my life and then I
have I think some very creative people in my family who inspired me and I loved making
things.
So I've been doing, I really first started in songwriting when I was a teenager writing
like hormonal heartbreak songs and like songs about like who am I in life and I just want
(01:21):
to leave my small town but I love my small town and great teenage songs and after that
I encountered more compositional ideas and different kinds of classical music idioms
and that's that took over for a while and then songwriting like came back with a force
so it's been a great non-linear journey.
(01:44):
Amazing.
Hey are any of those songs still available?
You know what on my first album there's a the last song is called Small Town Song and
it's probably the one that is like the most played on CBC radio in terms of my songwriter
songs and it's super catchy it's got a banjo in it and it's like I wrote it when I was
(02:04):
like 16 and yeah it's a it's still a heartbreak yeah total yeah.
Good definitely gonna go check that out.
So how would you introduce your music I guess as it has evolved music and style to a first
time listener could you recommend other pieces of music?
Oh sure so yeah I have two kind of two sides of music that I like to write and one of them
(02:30):
has like a history from classical music and the kind of music that I write for that is
sometimes instrumental and sometimes vocal like for choirs and it doesn't really sound
super weird sometimes it sounds really nice so I think people who hear contemporary classical
(02:51):
music often get this sense that it's like all sounds like Schoenberg and Cat on Piano
kind of like a real disconnect from say more popular music or a connection to tonality
but I really loved colors and sounds that had a connection to a grounding in a center
(03:14):
you know in colors and things like that in music and then the other side of my life is
that songwriting side and those songs I think reflect the fact that I've spent a lot of
time listening to stranger music that's not so much in the popular vein but I have a real
deep appreciation for words and wordcraft and lyric and it's a part of my compositional
(03:38):
process even when there's no voices singing I use words a lot to inspire me and so when
that comes out in in the music and in songs that's that's one of the favorite kind of
ways I look into things but I'll like like yeah it's it's the my songwriting material
(03:59):
is is is like quirky but it's still pretty recognizably kind of folk or rock or hints
of pop or lots of jazz ideas in there without it kind of settling firmly into any one of
those genres very cool yeah your work definitely spent both composing but also songwriting
(04:19):
how does songwriting and composing complement each other when you're writing I think in
both cases this is the way that I've I've found works for me right now is taking an
idea that's that's really simple and really small and has real clarity to it a core I
(04:45):
dove deep into that kind of process in my third album which is called seed songs and
it's all songs but they're all super short and it's just kind of like how can we make
this one idea as clear as possible and so I think the shortest song in that album is
like 28 seconds long and and so when I'm composing I think a lot of composers go through a phase
(05:12):
of this where they're they have a lot of ideas in one piece at one time and they maybe either
don't spend enough time exploring it or they just try to fit too much in and so I've really
become a fan of of finding the core idea of what I'm doing musically and letting that
be present kind of throughout and and just letting it be as small and hopefully beautiful
(05:36):
as I can make it beautiful okay well switching gears a little bit as a lifelong northerner
how do you see your northern roots reflected in your music both thematically and stylistically
yeah during my 20s I spent a lot of time writing music that reflected my environment when I
(05:59):
was doing my undergrad I encountered the the writings of people like Murray Schaefer and
Hildegard Westerkamp Canadian composers who who who championed this idea of environment
and sound as music kind of extending the Cagian way of thinking of like you know the four
minutes and 33 seconds where you just sit there and then like whatever is happening is the
(06:21):
music but but then now being really deliberate about hearing my environment and the possibilities
within it so in my case it was the subarctic so we still have trees they're kind of short
we have lots of lakes and lots of ice we've got ravens and beautiful parts of the environment
that I brought into my music in a really strong way and like my my second album was called
(06:46):
songs of the invisible summer stars and that's all chamber music and that I think is one
of the best reflections of what I was doing to hear my environment as music and what I
am passionate about is is finding things that are really specific have context and a deep
(07:09):
respect for for that place and the space and so writing and look looking at almost like
zooming in on something and and just holding that thing really gently as opposed to trying
to make it represent the entire north of Canada because I think a lot of people in Canadian
(07:32):
southern Canadians in particular have don't have as much knowledge about some parts of
northern Canada and tend to kind of put things together but just like in just like in southern
Canada there's really different ecosystems really different cultures that have come from
these places indigenous cultures and then settler culture how those things have interacted
(07:56):
and where they are now is really different across geography this is one of the blessings
and curses of Canada something we're really proud of and it's also one of the reasons
we have a hard time getting along and agreeing on things so I my my reaction to that stereotyping
(08:17):
is to be as specific as possible.
Awesome well yes you mentioned multiple themes of landscapes ravens and lakes for example
how do you approach translating these natural and cultural elements to sound?
There's a couple different ways and I'll let me talk about some of my more contemporary
(08:39):
like my more recent writing in this as well which which has which kind of took a break
from that but I would take ideas about whatever's around me and then translate translate those
conceptually into sound so one of the one of my favorite examples is something like
an ice crystal or like a snowflake they're all the kind of based on the same idea of
(09:04):
like water becomes crystal right freezes becomes things so and there's always six sides so
if you ever like make the snowflake by cutting it out traditionally or like and in science
it has six sides this is just part of the physics of water and so what I did in in and
it's always a kind of symmetrical right there's always like the same like these mirrors these
(09:27):
beautiful patterns so what I did in a in some of my music was take this idea of the number
six six things and I and and like symmetrical things or patterns so I would have like six
part harmony like hexachords so I built I'll kind of this my musical vocabulary for one
(09:49):
of my biggest pieces all about hexachords that were symmetrical so I made a bunch of
these chords and I built those as like my my heart my chord progressions another example
that's a little more contemporary for me because I had a I started a family and kind of in
my early 30s and now they're getting older but one of my pieces that was very much inspired
(10:13):
by that environment was called 24 hours at 24 months so I like mapped out a day of my
two-year-old in time and I said okay here he like he eats he naps he wakes up he plays
really hard he eats he naps tantrum or like these kinds of things right and so then I
(10:34):
mapped that onto the form of a piece of music so if the piece took five minutes it was essentially
be that that 24-hour period like condensed and then you would have these kind of cadential
things every time he ate it was kind of a similar music or every time he like played
really hard the music would reflect that energy and then whenever he slept it would just be
(10:54):
like all right now we're in the largo section and like the transitions in between them were
like just abrupt as as as all things because two-year-olds are not subtle about anything
right they're just they're just there so I still find these ideas of bringing concepts
(11:17):
from the real world into the music and then seeing what kind of fun I can have with it
I love that you dissect such specific elements the specificity like you mentioned before
it like works in songwriting like if you write a song and you're just trying to say how much
you love a person that's great but if you can talk about like how you love how they like
touch their ear when they're thinking or something like if you can be as specific as possible
(11:41):
everybody has these these specificities to our lives like we live in minutiae we live
in tiny details and so your tiny details are different than my tiny details but it's those
it's those little tiny parts of our lives that we can actually hear each other in through
music and art that's beautiful you mentioned being a parent so being a parent and a full-time
(12:11):
musician is undoubtedly a juggling act how has parenthood influenced your music in other
ways besides 24 months oh it feels like I'm late for everything Brianna and if any of
the people who work with me right now are listening to this I apologize for all the
delays again it just feels like things take more time because I just have other parts
(12:34):
of my life and so adapting to that has been a really humbling thing and made me very grateful
for the support that I already have and I think there's there's still lots of good
ways to to work to make make the abilities of parents and mothers who are choosing to
have families and choosing to have careers as flexible as they and supported as they
(12:58):
can so it's yes it's definitely not easy super rewarding love my kids so much and yeah it
just changes the choices that you have to make that's fair on the flip side has music
in sorry yes has has music influenced your parenting style at all that's a great question
(13:21):
nobody's asked me that one let me think has music influenced my parents yes yes actually
one one here's a fun one kids are super repetitive like when they're learning something or when
they're wanting to listen to music like the number of times I've listened to the frozen
soundtrack and I love the frozen soundtrack so much but like I think because I I have
(13:43):
this background in training where you listen like whether you're practicing music like
in a practice room on a piano or whatever or if I'm composing something and I'm hearing
like the same moment over again and again and I'm trying things out or if I'm in a recording
session and I have to listen to the same track while I'm editing a really specific part of
(14:04):
it I feel like I can handle repetition around kids really well whereas I think other people
kind of max out at how many times they can hear the frozen soundtrack or how many times
you can read the same book so I love I kind of love it how focused they can get so that's
that's one influence that's positive that's that's actually a really good point like us
(14:28):
musicians we're practicing even with just like practicing an instrument you're repeating
over and over or for performing the same set repertoire at like different venues but you
have to give it your all and tell a story at every single one and somehow make each
one special really good point yeah it's a it is it is a fun thing to to it to encounter
(14:52):
it doesn't make me feel like it's a childish thing this repetition it also does it's not
like my kids are like super geniuses because they're repeating things like you know us
like like like people in a practice room but it's yeah like the the I can handle it and
sometimes I really enjoy it like yeah frozen on repeat all year round well many might see
(15:15):
living in a remote area such as the north as a challenge but you've mentioned it can
be a huge advantage so what are some specific ways in which your remote I guess lifestyle
enhances your creative process and contributes to the distinctiveness of your musical style
I do love living in in yellow knife and I think there are there are definite advantages
(15:42):
to living in a small town and you can make a really big impact on the town in kind of
your own your own way sometimes it's easy to make things happen and get excitement about
it and and like we live we live in a world where we need we need audience right it's
like pay attention to me so so if I do a certain kind of concert in my town it's very unlikely
(16:08):
that someone will be doing a similar concert in the same time or around then there's just
not the the population capacity but it also means like there's a little metal scene that's
happening in yellow knife which is super great so there's but like I know everybody in the
metal scene whereas if I was in Toronto there would probably be lots of metal bands or different
(16:30):
bars or things like that and so it's I find it a great way to build a community around
you really strongly and really quickly and to find ways that you can contribute and that
other ways that you can be influenced whereas where is it like I don't know if I if I imagine
living in a big city where I was just trying to do say one thing and really focused I might
(16:51):
not see some of those other things around me because I kind of you have to I'm not sure
I've never had to try to build a career in a big city so I'm not exactly sure but I imagine
it would it would be be fairly niche or like you'd have people who are really specialized
in certain things because there's just so many people you can be specialized and sometimes
(17:14):
that's exactly what you want I do enjoy myself being able to kind of move between things
and not not be either known for one thing or not feel like I have to dive so deep into
one that it becomes the only thing but no definitely I hear what you mean about the
(17:34):
specialization and the niches it's so hard because everyone is trying to stand out and
so it's harder to I guess take the time to notice what other people are doing when you're
so focused on your own path but that's one thing that definitely would be great to expand
your horizons because influences can work wonders so oh hugely and I think since the
(17:59):
pandemic there's been a one silver lining is this is a move out of these bigger cities
and people choosing to make lives in in in smaller parts smaller towns or things like
that and so like that's I I'm a big fan of that I think it's it's gonna make a healthier
evening out of of of a lot of a lot of people and resources and activities if it's not just
(18:28):
happening in these large centers that then come with other kinds of other kinds of issues
well does this remote lifestyle reflect in your music at all like sparse effects for
example I don't think so like like if like there there's like a a a wideness to the space
(18:48):
up here and a definitely kind of a feeling of expansiveness but but what I like if you
think back to what I said about like honing in on on the beauty of something like there's
so much life here and so much detail and so much kind of beauty that's a different kind
of beauty than like a rainforest where it's kind of in your face just because you like
(19:09):
there's a ton of biomass activity and it's the rainforest but but I know I've listened
to Pete to other people who have written and lived in northern places for a long time people
like John Luther Adams and their music has this sense it has kind of these these these
big feelings or these spaciousness and things like that whereas I I love finding the life
(19:33):
and the activity and the excitement that is here even if it's either maybe harder to find
or doesn't seem like it's there because it's not so kind of in your face like like some
other ecosystems but the yeah I think and I think my my work is starting to reflect
(19:58):
more more of the human activity in this environment whereas for a long time I was focused very
strictly on just like the beautiful things that I found whereas the music that I'm making
now is starting to return to this idea of music in like my environment in my music but
now humans are are are in that and so I think it'll be a different kind of music that I
(20:24):
make for the next little while as I work through that. Well awesome that's a great transition
for me but how do you see your role within the contemporary Canadian music scene particularly
as a composer rooted in the northern experience what do you hope to contribute to this ongoing
scene of what constitutes Canadian music? Yeah it's a very heavy question no pressure
(20:51):
no pressure. What I hope like in the next few decades that there's there's more people
working in remote parts of the world or the world Canada that that there's more output
of works that reflect this in a way that that's kind of really rooted in relationship to that
(21:12):
land and in context of that land or the people that are there and I think that I think that
has to happen now I think some of the ways that music encountered exotic places or different
kinds of cultures that maybe weren't respected and on a real equal level that that just it's
it's not how things are done now it shouldn't be and so ideas of collaboration and reconciliation
(21:37):
and working with other cultures or reflecting music of a place that's like like you need
to have you need to know your relationship to a place if you want to reflect your your
that place so if I tried to write music that was reflecting I don't know Newfoundland fisheries
it's not saying that I couldn't do it but I would do it knowing that I was not from
(21:59):
there and that I would be experiencing that culture as as a visitor so I I'm excited for
some of the work that I'm doing right now that's that's bringing people north and that's
also connecting other musicians myself and other colleagues up here down south that's
something I really value and and love and it's it's not easy work because of geography
(22:23):
and cost and things like that but it's it's really exciting so I like that I'm rooted
here for for the foreseeable future and that that other people are also starting to to
build these routes and like I I have people that came before me that did the same thing
and that's where that's the reason that I'm here is these other people who have walked
(22:44):
these same kind of paths so it's I'm excited to be that for the next little while it's
like tiring a little bit because I can see the decades of work that are going to happen
but at the same time it's like this excitedness it's like parenting it's like I'm so excited
but it's going to be so much work like this face is excited even though it's kind of tired
good representation exactly love it well looking ahead are there any particularly exciting
(23:12):
projects that are coming up yeah I got a new album that will come out starting this summer
some singles will be dropped and the album will probably come out later in the fall and
it's it is another it's an extension of my my third album my singer songwriter tiny member
the tiny ones now we've taken some of these tiny little ones and they're like they are
(23:37):
pretty pretty cool pretty cool tunes I'm so proud of this album my producer and collaborator
Mark Adam in Nova Scotia has been a huge part of that and we're going to be doing some some
things for the release some videos and some events so that'll come out and I have some
pieces that to write I've got like three compositions to work on in the next little while awesome
(24:00):
looking forward to it so I guess with that concludes today's episode so thank you so
much again Carmen for sharing such incredible pieces of your art and heart until next time
folks keep listening for the notes of the north
Hello and welcome to Notes of the North Talks, a series where we get to know our local Canadian
(00:09):
musical talent.
Today I'm here with Carmen Braden.
Huge thanks and welcome to Carmen.
Thanks Brianna, great to be here.
Alright let's get things started.
So where are you joining us from today?
Where in Canada do you call home?
Right, I am in Samba Kay, which is the Welladay word for yellow knife.
So it's in the Northwest Territories, Northern Canada and it's the place that I've lived
(00:34):
for most of my life and still call home.
Beautiful.
What first drew you into composition?
Yeah my parents put me in piano lessons when I was a kid and there was a fantastic music
teacher in my elementary school and so I did band and choir all through elementary and
then that same teacher moved into my high school the year I did.
(00:56):
It was amazing.
And I kept doing piano on the side so I was doing a lot of music in my life and then I
have I think some very creative people in my family who inspired me and I loved making
things.
So I've been doing, I really first started in songwriting when I was a teenager writing
like hormonal heartbreak songs and like songs about like who am I in life and I just want
(01:21):
to leave my small town but I love my small town and great teenage songs and after that
I encountered more compositional ideas and different kinds of classical music idioms
and that's that took over for a while and then songwriting like came back with a force
so it's been a great non-linear journey.
(01:44):
Amazing.
Hey are any of those songs still available?
You know what on my first album there's a the last song is called Small Town Song and
it's probably the one that is like the most played on CBC radio in terms of my songwriter
songs and it's super catchy it's got a banjo in it and it's like I wrote it when I was
(02:04):
like 16 and yeah it's a it's still a heartbreak yeah total yeah.
Good definitely gonna go check that out.
So how would you introduce your music I guess as it has evolved music and style to a first
time listener could you recommend other pieces of music?
Oh sure so yeah I have two kind of two sides of music that I like to write and one of them
(02:30):
has like a history from classical music and the kind of music that I write for that is
sometimes instrumental and sometimes vocal like for choirs and it doesn't really sound
super weird sometimes it sounds really nice so I think people who hear contemporary classical
(02:51):
music often get this sense that it's like all sounds like Schoenberg and Cat on Piano
kind of like a real disconnect from say more popular music or a connection to tonality
but I really loved colors and sounds that had a connection to a grounding in a center
(03:14):
you know in colors and things like that in music and then the other side of my life is
that songwriting side and those songs I think reflect the fact that I've spent a lot of
time listening to stranger music that's not so much in the popular vein but I have a real
deep appreciation for words and wordcraft and lyric and it's a part of my compositional
(03:38):
process even when there's no voices singing I use words a lot to inspire me and so when
that comes out in in the music and in songs that's that's one of the favorite kind of
ways I look into things but I'll like like yeah it's it's the my songwriting material
(03:59):
is is is like quirky but it's still pretty recognizably kind of folk or rock or hints
of pop or lots of jazz ideas in there without it kind of settling firmly into any one of
those genres very cool yeah your work definitely spent both composing but also songwriting
(04:19):
how does songwriting and composing complement each other when you're writing I think in
both cases this is the way that I've I've found works for me right now is taking an
idea that's that's really simple and really small and has real clarity to it a core I
(04:45):
dove deep into that kind of process in my third album which is called seed songs and
it's all songs but they're all super short and it's just kind of like how can we make
this one idea as clear as possible and so I think the shortest song in that album is
like 28 seconds long and and so when I'm composing I think a lot of composers go through a phase
(05:12):
of this where they're they have a lot of ideas in one piece at one time and they maybe either
don't spend enough time exploring it or they just try to fit too much in and so I've really
become a fan of of finding the core idea of what I'm doing musically and letting that
be present kind of throughout and and just letting it be as small and hopefully beautiful
(05:36):
as I can make it beautiful okay well switching gears a little bit as a lifelong northerner
how do you see your northern roots reflected in your music both thematically and stylistically
yeah during my 20s I spent a lot of time writing music that reflected my environment when I
(05:59):
was doing my undergrad I encountered the the writings of people like Murray Schaefer and
Hildegard Westerkamp Canadian composers who who who championed this idea of environment
and sound as music kind of extending the Cagian way of thinking of like you know the four
minutes and 33 seconds where you just sit there and then like whatever is happening is the
(06:21):
music but but then now being really deliberate about hearing my environment and the possibilities
within it so in my case it was the subarctic so we still have trees they're kind of short
we have lots of lakes and lots of ice we've got ravens and beautiful parts of the environment
that I brought into my music in a really strong way and like my my second album was called
(06:46):
songs of the invisible summer stars and that's all chamber music and that I think is one
of the best reflections of what I was doing to hear my environment as music and what I
am passionate about is is finding things that are really specific have context and a deep
(07:09):
respect for for that place and the space and so writing and look looking at almost like
zooming in on something and and just holding that thing really gently as opposed to trying
to make it represent the entire north of Canada because I think a lot of people in Canadian
(07:32):
southern Canadians in particular have don't have as much knowledge about some parts of
northern Canada and tend to kind of put things together but just like in just like in southern
Canada there's really different ecosystems really different cultures that have come from
these places indigenous cultures and then settler culture how those things have interacted
(07:56):
and where they are now is really different across geography this is one of the blessings
and curses of Canada something we're really proud of and it's also one of the reasons
we have a hard time getting along and agreeing on things so I my my reaction to that stereotyping
(08:17):
is to be as specific as possible.
Awesome well yes you mentioned multiple themes of landscapes ravens and lakes for example
how do you approach translating these natural and cultural elements to sound?
There's a couple different ways and I'll let me talk about some of my more contemporary
(08:39):
like my more recent writing in this as well which which has which kind of took a break
from that but I would take ideas about whatever's around me and then translate translate those
conceptually into sound so one of the one of my favorite examples is something like
an ice crystal or like a snowflake they're all the kind of based on the same idea of
(09:04):
like water becomes crystal right freezes becomes things so and there's always six sides so
if you ever like make the snowflake by cutting it out traditionally or like and in science
it has six sides this is just part of the physics of water and so what I did in in and
it's always a kind of symmetrical right there's always like the same like these mirrors these
(09:27):
beautiful patterns so what I did in a in some of my music was take this idea of the number
six six things and I and and like symmetrical things or patterns so I would have like six
part harmony like hexachords so I built I'll kind of this my musical vocabulary for one
(09:49):
of my biggest pieces all about hexachords that were symmetrical so I made a bunch of
these chords and I built those as like my my heart my chord progressions another example
that's a little more contemporary for me because I had a I started a family and kind of in
my early 30s and now they're getting older but one of my pieces that was very much inspired
(10:13):
by that environment was called 24 hours at 24 months so I like mapped out a day of my
two-year-old in time and I said okay here he like he eats he naps he wakes up he plays
really hard he eats he naps tantrum or like these kinds of things right and so then I
(10:34):
mapped that onto the form of a piece of music so if the piece took five minutes it was essentially
be that that 24-hour period like condensed and then you would have these kind of cadential
things every time he ate it was kind of a similar music or every time he like played
really hard the music would reflect that energy and then whenever he slept it would just be
(10:54):
like all right now we're in the largo section and like the transitions in between them were
like just abrupt as as as all things because two-year-olds are not subtle about anything
right they're just they're just there so I still find these ideas of bringing concepts
(11:17):
from the real world into the music and then seeing what kind of fun I can have with it
I love that you dissect such specific elements the specificity like you mentioned before
it like works in songwriting like if you write a song and you're just trying to say how much
you love a person that's great but if you can talk about like how you love how they like
touch their ear when they're thinking or something like if you can be as specific as possible
(11:41):
everybody has these these specificities to our lives like we live in minutiae we live
in tiny details and so your tiny details are different than my tiny details but it's those
it's those little tiny parts of our lives that we can actually hear each other in through
music and art that's beautiful you mentioned being a parent so being a parent and a full-time
(12:11):
musician is undoubtedly a juggling act how has parenthood influenced your music in other
ways besides 24 months oh it feels like I'm late for everything Brianna and if any of
the people who work with me right now are listening to this I apologize for all the
delays again it just feels like things take more time because I just have other parts
(12:34):
of my life and so adapting to that has been a really humbling thing and made me very grateful
for the support that I already have and I think there's there's still lots of good
ways to to work to make make the abilities of parents and mothers who are choosing to
have families and choosing to have careers as flexible as they and supported as they
(12:58):
can so it's yes it's definitely not easy super rewarding love my kids so much and yeah it
just changes the choices that you have to make that's fair on the flip side has music
in sorry yes has has music influenced your parenting style at all that's a great question
(13:21):
nobody's asked me that one let me think has music influenced my parents yes yes actually
one one here's a fun one kids are super repetitive like when they're learning something or when
they're wanting to listen to music like the number of times I've listened to the frozen
soundtrack and I love the frozen soundtrack so much but like I think because I I have
(13:43):
this background in training where you listen like whether you're practicing music like
in a practice room on a piano or whatever or if I'm composing something and I'm hearing
like the same moment over again and again and I'm trying things out or if I'm in a recording
session and I have to listen to the same track while I'm editing a really specific part of
(14:04):
it I feel like I can handle repetition around kids really well whereas I think other people
kind of max out at how many times they can hear the frozen soundtrack or how many times
you can read the same book so I love I kind of love it how focused they can get so that's
that's one influence that's positive that's that's actually a really good point like us
(14:28):
musicians we're practicing even with just like practicing an instrument you're repeating
over and over or for performing the same set repertoire at like different venues but you
have to give it your all and tell a story at every single one and somehow make each
one special really good point yeah it's a it is it is a fun thing to to it to encounter
(14:52):
it doesn't make me feel like it's a childish thing this repetition it also does it's not
like my kids are like super geniuses because they're repeating things like you know us
like like like people in a practice room but it's yeah like the the I can handle it and
sometimes I really enjoy it like yeah frozen on repeat all year round well many might see
(15:15):
living in a remote area such as the north as a challenge but you've mentioned it can
be a huge advantage so what are some specific ways in which your remote I guess lifestyle
enhances your creative process and contributes to the distinctiveness of your musical style
I do love living in in yellow knife and I think there are there are definite advantages
(15:42):
to living in a small town and you can make a really big impact on the town in kind of
your own your own way sometimes it's easy to make things happen and get excitement about
it and and like we live we live in a world where we need we need audience right it's
like pay attention to me so so if I do a certain kind of concert in my town it's very unlikely
(16:08):
that someone will be doing a similar concert in the same time or around then there's just
not the the population capacity but it also means like there's a little metal scene that's
happening in yellow knife which is super great so there's but like I know everybody in the
metal scene whereas if I was in Toronto there would probably be lots of metal bands or different
(16:30):
bars or things like that and so it's I find it a great way to build a community around
you really strongly and really quickly and to find ways that you can contribute and that
other ways that you can be influenced whereas where is it like I don't know if I if I imagine
living in a big city where I was just trying to do say one thing and really focused I might
(16:51):
not see some of those other things around me because I kind of you have to I'm not sure
I've never had to try to build a career in a big city so I'm not exactly sure but I imagine
it would it would be be fairly niche or like you'd have people who are really specialized
in certain things because there's just so many people you can be specialized and sometimes
(17:14):
that's exactly what you want I do enjoy myself being able to kind of move between things
and not not be either known for one thing or not feel like I have to dive so deep into
one that it becomes the only thing but no definitely I hear what you mean about the
(17:34):
specialization and the niches it's so hard because everyone is trying to stand out and
so it's harder to I guess take the time to notice what other people are doing when you're
so focused on your own path but that's one thing that definitely would be great to expand
your horizons because influences can work wonders so oh hugely and I think since the
(17:59):
pandemic there's been a one silver lining is this is a move out of these bigger cities
and people choosing to make lives in in in smaller parts smaller towns or things like
that and so like that's I I'm a big fan of that I think it's it's gonna make a healthier
evening out of of of a lot of a lot of people and resources and activities if it's not just
(18:28):
happening in these large centers that then come with other kinds of other kinds of issues
well does this remote lifestyle reflect in your music at all like sparse effects for
example I don't think so like like if like there there's like a a a wideness to the space
(18:48):
up here and a definitely kind of a feeling of expansiveness but but what I like if you
think back to what I said about like honing in on on the beauty of something like there's
so much life here and so much detail and so much kind of beauty that's a different kind
of beauty than like a rainforest where it's kind of in your face just because you like
(19:09):
there's a ton of biomass activity and it's the rainforest but but I know I've listened
to Pete to other people who have written and lived in northern places for a long time people
like John Luther Adams and their music has this sense it has kind of these these these
big feelings or these spaciousness and things like that whereas I I love finding the life
(19:33):
and the activity and the excitement that is here even if it's either maybe harder to find
or doesn't seem like it's there because it's not so kind of in your face like like some
other ecosystems but the yeah I think and I think my my work is starting to reflect
(19:58):
more more of the human activity in this environment whereas for a long time I was focused very
strictly on just like the beautiful things that I found whereas the music that I'm making
now is starting to return to this idea of music in like my environment in my music but
now humans are are are in that and so I think it'll be a different kind of music that I
(20:24):
make for the next little while as I work through that. Well awesome that's a great transition
for me but how do you see your role within the contemporary Canadian music scene particularly
as a composer rooted in the northern experience what do you hope to contribute to this ongoing
scene of what constitutes Canadian music? Yeah it's a very heavy question no pressure
(20:51):
no pressure. What I hope like in the next few decades that there's there's more people
working in remote parts of the world or the world Canada that that there's more output
of works that reflect this in a way that that's kind of really rooted in relationship to that
(21:12):
land and in context of that land or the people that are there and I think that I think that
has to happen now I think some of the ways that music encountered exotic places or different
kinds of cultures that maybe weren't respected and on a real equal level that that just it's
it's not how things are done now it shouldn't be and so ideas of collaboration and reconciliation
(21:37):
and working with other cultures or reflecting music of a place that's like like you need
to have you need to know your relationship to a place if you want to reflect your your
that place so if I tried to write music that was reflecting I don't know Newfoundland fisheries
it's not saying that I couldn't do it but I would do it knowing that I was not from
(21:59):
there and that I would be experiencing that culture as as a visitor so I I'm excited for
some of the work that I'm doing right now that's that's bringing people north and that's
also connecting other musicians myself and other colleagues up here down south that's
something I really value and and love and it's it's not easy work because of geography
(22:23):
and cost and things like that but it's it's really exciting so I like that I'm rooted
here for for the foreseeable future and that that other people are also starting to to
build these routes and like I I have people that came before me that did the same thing
and that's where that's the reason that I'm here is these other people who have walked
(22:44):
these same kind of paths so it's I'm excited to be that for the next little while it's
like tiring a little bit because I can see the decades of work that are going to happen
but at the same time it's like this excitedness it's like parenting it's like I'm so excited
but it's going to be so much work like this face is excited even though it's kind of tired
good representation exactly love it well looking ahead are there any particularly exciting
(23:12):
projects that are coming up yeah I got a new album that will come out starting this summer
some singles will be dropped and the album will probably come out later in the fall and
it's it is another it's an extension of my my third album my singer songwriter tiny member
the tiny ones now we've taken some of these tiny little ones and they're like they are
(23:37):
pretty pretty cool pretty cool tunes I'm so proud of this album my producer and collaborator
Mark Adam in Nova Scotia has been a huge part of that and we're going to be doing some some
things for the release some videos and some events so that'll come out and I have some
pieces that to write I've got like three compositions to work on in the next little while awesome
(24:00):
looking forward to it so I guess with that concludes today's episode so thank you so
much again Carmen for sharing such incredible pieces of your art and heart until next time
folks keep listening for the notes of the north
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