Claire Harvie
The newest song from Toronto singer-songwriter Bernice is an original track, but it sounds like a remix. "St Lucia," which was produced by Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Warpaint), starts out with an echoey rumble of percussion and bass building below a plucky guitar and Bernice's cottony vocals, before an acid synth line hits, taking the song from the realm of lowkey bedroom pop to a strobe lit dancefloor. It's an interesting mix of sounds, perhaps inspired by the quirky pop made by members of her band who also play in DIANA, Bahamas, and Owen Pallett. And it's clubby pulse is made even more surprising by the subject matter: the artist's great aunt.
"Named after my great auntie Irene — middle name Lucia — the song works as a reminder to myself of all the women in my family who lived before me," Bernice told The FADER over email. "'I wonder what of me is you?' As much as I'm me, I'm also them, and so everything I do is part them too; body language, bone structure, spacey brain... sense of self, identity. We can let ourselves off the hook a bit. Even though we can't escape our worries, we can still be good to ourselves, because we need it." Listen below.
Tour dates:
Nov 11 - Guelph, ON - eBar^
Nov 18 - NYC - Le Poisson Rouge*
Nov 20 - NYC - Trans Pecos (annex space)
Nov 23 - Toronto, ON - Mod Club*
Dec 5 - Toronto, ON - Burdock
* w/ Martha Wainwright
^ w/ DIANA
