Recently, Ellen Froese announced her upcoming LP, For Each Flower Growing, and shared the title track from the album. Out November 10 via Victory Pool Records, the album is “based around ideas of 1970s science exploration via Carl Sagan’s series Cosmos, Arthur Russell’s drum machine folk music, finding humour in sadness, and analyzing past relationship choices,” says Froese. “I am moving past old ideas and into a realm of music that incorporates some newer techniques that I have been opposed to in the past (doubling vocals, drum machines, synths), and recognizing that folk music can be anything I want it to be – I don’t have to be stuck in an antiquated mindset to hold strong musical ties to the past. A lot has changed since I started writing this album – I’ve grown up a lot, grappling with the fact that my original recording engineer and great friend, Jill Mack, passed away during the process. Jill’s death turned the album into something different – it is now an homage to her and will always hold memories of my time in the studio with her.
Produced by Sam Corbett (The Sheepdogs), Froese says he “calmly and consistently pushed me towards more radio-friendly songs while still respecting my artistic tendencies and wishes. I am truly very excited about where the songs ended up and I think they are significantly more ‘adult’ than my old music. There are a variety of songs on the album – from Fairport Convention-inspired 70s psychedelic folk jams to quiet contemplative sad finger-style guitar songs to Poppy Family-inspired 60s pop to a country waltz. It finds me working through notions of how my homeschooled/Mennonite/farm/only-child/kid bluegrass band upbringing has affected me and how my values and ideas of what family is have changed throughout the years, and how that lead me to where I am now, at 26.”
Clever and slightly self-deprecating, Ellen Froese’ songs get into the places of your heart that hold both those quieter melancholic feelings and those moments of warm contentment that make you want to dance shoulder to shoulder with whoever is around. Today, she’s sharing two new live videos for “For Each Flower Growing” and previous single “Like I’m Looking At You”. Recorded live at Rec Hall Studios, the performance sees Sam Corbett on Drums, Clayton Linthicum on Guitar, and Chris Mason on Bass.
Ellen is also revealing the artwork for the new album from Saskatchewan artist Yonina Rollack. “For continuity between this album cover and Ellen’s single, I used the same technique of cutting shapes from painted paper. Ellen was drawn to the colour yellow, so the sunflowers are also a repeating motif. In this landscape, the sky is prominent – a reminder of both the vastness of the universe and the sanctity of a single moment. The pink colour suggests the sun is about to set, and stars will soon appear in the sky. The flowers are stemless and appear to be floating up towards the sky to become a part of the cosmos.”
