Ahead of their release party for their self-titled debut album this Saturday at The Media Club, we had the opportunity to chat with Amy Usher and Hamish Thomson of Onelight about their formation, the local music scene, and what they’re listening to.
asapmusicblog.ca: You’re currently gearing up for the release of your debut album, and the release party. What were some of the most memorable moments in the process of making the album?
Amy Usher: Probably the most memorable moment is how we met to come and make the record – Hamish had been working on some songs on his own in the studio, and had been looking for a singer to collaborate with. These songs had been evolving over…
Hamish Thomson: Some had been evolving over ten years, actually, a couple of them. Some had been more like, six months – it was a big range.
AU: We met each other through the music community, and he asked me, he had the feeling we should connect musically – I kind of put it off for a while. Finally, we set a date and went into the studio without any sort of real knowledge of each other’s work and different influences, for sure. Met really for the first time and sat down and didn’t make any music that we intended, but more just talked about music and what it is to live a musical life, and what our influences are.
We talked and talked and talked for hours and hours, and Hamish still didn’t know if I could sing; I still had never heard any of his electronic music that he’d made. He made three albums in the past that I’d never even heard at that point. Then he gave me some songs to take away and to kind of listen to – I took them away on a trip with me, and on a run one day or sitting on a beach surfing, all of the sudden words started pouring out of a page and he still didn’t know that I was doing this.
Then I came back and made a date to come back together, and before anything really, he just pressed record and I just started singing to one of the songs, which is called “Soul Surfer” on our debut album. We both sort of knew that was it – it felt right, so then everything came super effortlessly after that.
A: The album release party is on November 23rd at the Media Club, with the album being released a few days after that. What are Onelight’s plans following the release date?
HT: We went to New York this summer and played a gig there, so we made some good connections at some clubs back there. What we’d like to do is micro-market some main cities around North America and get out to Europe, and stuff like that. We’re not really looking at doing long three-month tours, but we’re interested in going to main centers like Montreal, New York, and Toronto and micro-marketing those markets for sure.
A: The rainy Vancouver landscape seems to bring out the best in the local music scene. Are there any other local artists that the two of support?
AU: Oh, yeah. We follow lots of local artists that we love, we’re watching and listening to Rykka right now and Hannah Epperson who are two local women doing cool stuff, and Hannah Georgas, I love.
HT: Dan Mangan is wicked. Other bands like the guys in Facts and Brasstronauts – there’s a lot of great, great bands in Vancouver.
A: If you could narrow down a single message that you would want your music to convey, what might that message be?
AU: This album really is about the soul’s journey and when you go on a journey to your heart, the kind of unbridled optimism and the potential that you feel, and sort of innocence that it represents without expectation. Just that feeling of hope and living away from fear and into a life where your heart leads – that’s really what our music is about.
