Vancouver based Laurell has been slowly making a name for herself as an independent Canadian artist. Now, with her new album Can’t Stop Falling, she is ready to take her career to the next level.
“For me life has been pretty interesting over the past few years. I have been making music for quite awhile and my approach has been to start with a grassroots following. I totally believe that in order to have longevity in the music industry you have to start by connecting with people at a small intimate level. Over the last few years I have been touring and putting out albums completely independently. I decided I needed to expand a bit and spread my wings and started getting other people involved in this project,” she explained to GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine.
“What is so amazing is that all of this hard work I have put into it has completely come back. I’ve been chosen as Virgin Radio’s best of BC artist and featured on Virgin Radio last year to the single Can’t Stop Falling having just won CHUM radio’s emerging artist initiative and have added my song to their radio stations all across Canada—and other stations have followed suit. It is thrilling to see Canadian radio responding to this song from someone completely independent. With that, Warner Music has decided they want to distribute my new album and due to popular demand they pushed up the release from March 2nd to February 23rd. So it is now in stores and iTunes. It is pretty thrilling to see all this craziness that behind the scenes has taken so long to get to. I can’t even describe what it is like to see it finally come to fruition”
With the new album comes stepping back for Laurell. Things like having a manager and a publicist can be an uncomfortable change for someone who is used to doing everything themselves.
“Everything about this experience is like the album itself, the biggest risk I have taken in my music. Every aspect of this whole process—co-writing for the first time, a new producer, recording in a city I don’t live in, having a publicist, I have had the chance to open myself up and let more people into the process. It has somehow managed to still stay personal to me at the same time. I don’t know how that happened! I expected to lose a certain amount of personal investment by letting other people into it but it is almost that I feel strengthened and encouraged. Letting go is a lot easier than I thought it would be.”
That grassroots effort is paying off with the excitement and support of her fans.
“They are freaking out and so excited! I keep in touch with people a lot on Facebook and Twitter. People are beside themselves, they are so happy and think it is long overdue. I keep getting messages from people who have heard me on the radio. They are so encouraging. I wouldn’t have even gotten this far without them and feel it is their success too. Often I was asked why I wasn’t on the radio or had a music video and it was hard to explain that I want to have a slow burn rather than be a blip on the screen. The longer I have been doing that, the more the fans understand it and taking part in doing what they need to do to make it successful like requesting songs on radio stations. That is what helps you stay on the air longer. They are into it and I am floored, I actually have their support and wouldn’t be there without them.”
While there are many successful Canadian male artists and bands, females seem to struggle in the Canadian music industry. You can count on your hands the amount of huge female starts from Canada in the last decade. It seems that trend is changing with talented artists like Serena Ryder, Jully Black, and now Laurell making waves, to just name a few.
“In my experience it is a man’s business for sure. I have felt very intimidated at times in different situations. In some ways it is easier because there just aren’t that many women in the industry. As far as touring and connecting with audiences, as a woman I can walk into a venue and be more impressive because less is expected from a woman than a man, so if you are good you get a lot of respect from your venue and other musicians. I am trying to follow the example of people like Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne and Celine Dion—they have done amazing things in their career and are good musicians/singers/writers. I am trying to keep that reputation that Canada has for great female artists that do make it.”
What makes many of these artists successful is the amount of heart they put into their music. In listening to Laurell’s album, it stands out is how personal the songs are.
“I feel that it covers such a spectrum of subjects and emotions and touches on so many different parts of my life: grandparents who lived through the depression in Liverpool; seeing my friend watch her dad suffer from a mental illness; my pursuit of living life to the fullest; women in the workplace; summertime romance; the nothingness that is left when a relationship dies. It is a window to parts of my life that has inspired me in the last couple of years. What is different and makes me so proud is its honesty. That is why it is a risk but one I am proud of. Something that is genuine stands the test of time. While I am experiencing success out of it and made certain decisions based on business, I can’t go against the grain of who I am. If I don’t have a true story behind a song I won’t believe it and neither will anybody else. That is important and a standard in the way I make music.”
Another advantage is living in the internet age, which allows your music to be easily accessed worldwide.
“It has enhanced my reach globally. What people connect with is the personal videos on YouTube, they want to feel like they are in my living room or at a venue with me. It shows there is still a need for a physical connection in a room to happen and it is neat to me that it can happen over the internet. People take my concert listings and post them on their webpages, or get their friends to call into radio stations and request my song. It is amazing to me that people can be that proactive in this day and age because of the internet.”
Indeed, she is amazed by how far that reach can go. “There is a TV show in Korea called Go Dream Team that featured my music when they were here filming to lead up to the Olympics. Because they featured me, so many new fans have come out of the woodwork from that part of the world and are all over my YouTube channel and saying things like come to Korea. Maybe there is a market there, I would love to go to other places in the world and tour. I can definitely say that is the farthest my music has gone.”
Before she targets worldwide domination however, she has a lengthy cross-Canada trek that kicked off March 2nd in Vancouver and takes her to several smaller cities across the country.
“Even though I have a fully produced CD, I really enjoy playing acoustically. I am doing a week of touring in BC with my full band and then when I set out across Canada it is a fairly minimal setup. It is just me in a duo. Smaller towns so often get overlooked and missed—when you do tour there, people are so appreciative to have live music in their city and the response is amazing. Quite often I end up in a very intimate venue and those are my favorite gigs because they are magical. People are right there looking at you in the face, hearing your lyrics—connecting to the songs and feeling the honesty in your lyrics. I am really glad I am still hitting up those places.”
The tour brings Laurell to The Blind Beggar Pub in Calgary on April 14th and the Haven Social Club April 21st in Edmonton.
“Make sure you go to the Blind Begger ahead of time and pick up your free drink ticket. People can expect to see me in raw form. These songs are being played how they were written. They will get the true spirit of my songs because it is so broken down as far as instrumentation. They can expect to hear Can’t Stop Falling the single airing all over the place. I hope that they will connect with my music and experience something new in my sound and the way I connect with them and making it a night to remember.”
