Hello! Happy new year!

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Welcome to my brand new newsletter. If you are new here, my name is Alicia Clara and I am an indie singer-songwriter based in Montreal, QC. By day, I work as a contemporary art gallery assistant, and it has been 27 months since I last released music. In this chapter, I will let you in on what I have been up to since, why I was gone for so long, and eventually, what's in store for this year.

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Because yes—this year, I am coming back in full force. ☺︎

Late 2022

If you're already familiar with my work, you might remember that I released my EP, Velveteen, in October 2022. To be completely transparent, I treated it like a B-side to keep momentum going while I was busy finessing a bigger release.

I established the track list for said bigger release from a pool of songs I had written in 2020 and 2021. Some I still consider my best to this day, but, unless you've seen my shows, you've never heard them; I turned to second-favourites, wanting to save the best for last.

During the entire release cycle of Velveteen, I was actually in the studio recording new demos, pushing 4 AM nights to make the FACTOR, Canada Council and CALQ deadlines to fund my next album.

Early 2023

For financial reasons, recording came to a halt while I was waiting for grant results. I would still meet up with Chris Steward (one half of Bodywash, pictured above), who undertook the role of main producer, to jam and home-record bits and bobs. But the studio had to wait.

In the meantime, I was invited to perform at SXSW in Austin and spent the better part of the early year applying for travel grants, rehearsing, and, truth be told, being paralyzed with fear in my bed.

Spring was punctuated by scarce availability of studio time, day job changes for both Chris and I, trips abroad, and Bodywash touring in support of the release of their stunner of a second album. This meant that recording in the presence of my multi-instrumentalist producer only resumed properly in the summer of 2023.

The other thing about this process is that I was pointedly not in any kind of hurry.

Thinking back to my first two EPs, I felt I had rushed the writing and the recording, fast-tracking to release day to obtain results immediately. I did not take the time to sit with my songs and to think about why I was making them.

It's possible I was rendered impatient by the pandemic, more specifically by the repeated act of sitting on top of the broken springs of my couch, watching TV shows on my iPad every day from dawn til dusk, for months on end. Something had to get out, and if it wasn't me, then it would be my art.

But one day during that period, a fellow Montreal musician told me, "Take your time making art—your art is forever and it will outlive you." Those words felt like a cold shower, and I vowed to be as meaningful as possible about my next body of work.

So, I took my time. And only time will tell whether this “pause” was truly fruitful, but I like to think I was slow coming back around just to start over better.

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╰──╮

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I will conclude part 1 of the two-year recap here. Watch your inbox for part 2, out on January 28, 2025 (this one will include some real tea).

In the meantime, here is a playlist with some of the tracks that have been on repeat on my plane rides recently. Send any music recommendations my way on Instagram—I need 12 hours worth of music for my return journey (I am on my way back to Montreal from a bucket-list trip to Japan, and in a classic airline nonsense twist, it was cheaper to stop over in Hawaii on the way back to Canada. So I am currently tanning under a palm tree or two in Honolulu).

Follow me on Instagram for more frequent updates, and find my music on your preferred streaming platform right here.

bisous `✦ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

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