BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition July 2019

Interview
SKYE WALLACE
Skye Wallace
Independent
BLEACHED
CHANNEL
THEIR INNER
BLONDIE
The self-titled album from Toronto
based artist Skye Wallace claims
the sloppy grunge reminiscent of
Courtney Love and her posse of
furious friends, yet pauses on the
precipice. The album flips between
wildly energetic to greasy and
moody and is nevertheless slow,
polished and rhythmic; elements
that betray the singer’s classic vocal
training and background in folk.
While a gritty departure from her
dark-folk history, Wallace’s album
nevertheless remains inspired by
the Canadian landscape and experience.
Her split residence between
Toronto and Vancouver, combined
with a vagabond existence that
dragged her across Newfoundland
and Yukon, informs an album that
plays out like a Canadian fantasy
tale.
“Coal in Your Window,” the
album’s first single, is an old-school
story of forbidden romance about
a boy and a girl who secretly hook
up in the boiler room. Yet, this ain’t
your basic barn-yard, rolling-in-thehay
romp. The lyrics might be folk,
but the guitar solos are straight
out of an 80s superhero knock out
scene and the harmonics deliver a
raw and gritty punch.
Vancouver audiences will experience
Wallace’s signature fusion of
folk and punk at the Wise Hall on
July 9.
Best Track: Coal in Your Window
Kathryn Helmore
BLEACHED
Don’t You Think You’ve
Had Enough?
XL Recordings
At the end of 2017, sisters
Jennifer and Jessie Clavin
knew they wanted to take their
music in a new direction. Their
sunshine drenched garage punk
band, Bleached, just wrapped
up two major tours opening
for Paramore and the Damned.
Inspired by the energy those
bands elicited each night, the
Clavins resolved to go back to
the drawing board and write the
kind of live bangers that would
be fit for stadiums.
Up until that point, the LA
rockers have benefited from lo-fi
fuzz and playful punk jams. But
according to Jennifer Clavin, it
was only a matter of time before
Bleached dove into different
sonic territory. “I feel like a lot
of bands over time put out one
disco song, even if it’s not part
of the plan,” Clavin laughs. “Like,
Metallica’s ‘Jump in the Fire’ has a
disco beat throughout, and it’s one
of their best songs, in my opinion. I
slowly realized that I was drawn to
that kind of sound.”
For their upcoming album,
Bleached worked with producer
Shane Stoneback (Vampire Weekend,
Sleigh Bells), whose penchant
for vintage gear complemented the
band’s 70s-inspired aesthetic. The
resulting Don’t You Think You’ve
Had Enough? is glossy and upbeat,
a dance record that shows the
most growth for the band out of all
their releases to date. Tracks like
“Hard to Kill” and “Somebody Call
911” are slick, disco-infused tunes
à la Blondie. Meanwhile “Rebound
City” recalls the rock and roll ethos
of the Runaways, maintaining the
edge of Bleached’s earlier work.
It’s also the most collaborative
effort between the two sisters, who
returned to their original two-piece
set up. Clavin is quick to praise her
sister, Jessie, who took over the
majority of the guitar work for this
album.
“She mainly plays guitar live,
but she’s honestly the best bass
player I know,” she says. “She was
controlling all the bass, and I think
because of that it ended up being
this dancier record.”
More than creative exploration,
the Clavin sisters underwent significant
personal changes that fuelled
the majority of their song writing.
It’s the first time the two open up
about their sobriety, a theme that
underscores the entire album.
In her lyrics, Clavin reflects on
ending toxic relationships and
friendships, shedding self-destructive
habits, and the difficulty of
leaving the past behind. She later
realized that her raucous lifestyle
only hindered her ability to write
music from a truly honest place.
“I was really working on being
present. When I was drinking and
partying, I thought I needed that
kind of lifestyle to help me write
music, which I think is something a
lot of artists struggle with,” Clavin
admits. “But as a sober person, I
knew to get to that creative place
I needed to be present. And I realized
playing music in itself is a form
of meditation that forces you to be
present.”
Clavin says she learned not to
judge herself in the moment and to
allow her ideas to take shape on
their own. As she began to examine
her life with greater self-awareness,
she also opened herself up to
the idea of self-love. It’s something
she accepted when, on an impulse,
she decided to retreat to her
aunt’s house alone one weekend.
There, she immersed herself in
the beauty of the surrounding
California desert and decided to
write one great song.
“I ended up writing ‘Daydream,’
which is one my
personal favourite songs from
the album,” she says. “It was this
real moment of clarity where I
realized, ‘Okay, I got this. Being
sober totally works for me.’
Because the other version of me
would’ve just bought a bunch of
wine and gotten wasted trying to
write something.”
The two sisters, newly motivated,
have made some of their
most focused and ambitious
music on Don’t You Think You’ve
Had Enough?. They may have
freed themselves from unhealthy
influences, but their bond together
continues to be as strong
as it has ever been.
“I have to remind myself of
how lucky I am to have my sister
at my side, because I have other
musician friends that are sober,
but the rest of their band isn’t,”
she says. “I know it amazes
people that we can get along together.
But it’s really comforting
to be in a band with her. In the
end, I think we just have a lot of
fun with it, which is why it works
out so well.”
Karina Espinosa
JULY 2019 BEATROUTE 33