BeatRoute Magazine Alberta print e-edition - October 2016

FOONYAP
new album ‘Palimpsest’ sensitive, colorful and irrepressible
by Arielle Lessard
Calgary resident Foon Yap possesses a particular blend of
raw talent, poise and creative drive. Together with her
violin and seamless ear for composition she is able to
carefully wind through high and low tones, combining stimulating
elements that elevate her work and help to navigate the
purest form of self-exploration. Unafraid to pitch her sweet
voice to anxious cashes in Bjork-inspired dynamism, her work
as FOONYAP is unlike anything else. Palimpsest, the artist’s
latest endeavour, is a project that expels and reflects all at once.
Songs range from two to eight minutes, with every composition
at a necessary length, building on themes at the inner core.
“Gabriel Moody,” a song sang in French, uses careful plucks like
the beginnings of a slow rain and is overlaid by beautifully rich
strings. Other songs incorporate lullabies, synth, bass, and a
range of delicate features.
An artist that has managed to collaborate on indie folk rock
with Woodpidgeon, and explored “vampire sex metal disco” on
FOONYAP and The Roar, Foon’s first independently released solo
album is a further extension of self; a detailed blend of Asian folk
electronica. Foon says, “genres can be really limiting, and I don’t
like to make music to fit in a certain genre or appeal to a certain
audience. Now that I’m looking back [on FOONYAP and The
Roar], now that I’m older, I know what I was doing in that band.
I was reacting to the male gaze, I was kind of putting on a show,
I was making it as disgusting and sexual as possible so that you
[couldn’t] look away, that was the energy behind that band and it
was a very outward looking project, very loud and brash.”
She continues, “On Palimpsest, I [was] thinking deeply. In
between that time and the release of this album I went through
some major health issues and other events, and realized that I had
to turn inwards.” Taking over a year to record and produce, and
three years to idea and create a solid business plan to self-release
the album and prepare for a Canada-wide tour with European
dates to follow, Palimpsest is the product of discipline, patience
and thorough growth.
“After FOONYAP and the Roar,” she says, “I knew very consciously
that I’d missed a lot of opportunities because I hadn’t
set myself up to capitalize on them. I never viewed it from the
business perspective, so I knew that my next album I’d approach
as a business. Palimpsest has existed for about two years, but it’s
only now that my ‘business’ is where it needs to be that I’m able
to release it. I spent the last three years saving to invest in this and
took the last year to market the album.”
In a very conscious decision, Foon created a character for
the front cover of Palimpsest, “I wanted to convey softness and
sensuality as well as an idea of gentle movement that meant to
reflect the kind of self-growth I’ve experienced over the last five
years. [As] a person of contrast, the album is full of contrast [and],
while I have this personality that’s extremely outgoing, assertive
and aggressive, I’m also overwhelmingly fragile,” she reveals with a
sweet laugh.
“If you take your time and are patient and really learn about the
industry it is possible to do it. You really have to see it as a five, 10,
15-year thing. I would encourage people who are serious about
becoming artist entrepreneurs to take that perspective, be patient
and especially learn the legalities and be fluid, willing to change
with the times.”
FOONYAP will release the stunning Palimpsest at The Ironwood on
October 20th with support from the Hermitess. She has additional
tour dates in Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fernie, and Montreal, and
will be playing Femme Wave festival November 17-20th in Calgary.
FOONYAP’s latest considers the seriousness of past and future.
photo: Anastasia Moody
26 | OCTOBER 2016 • BEATROUTE ROCKPILE