The Montreal, Quebec artist, Littleuniverses aspires to be an artist with an ability to inspire through her craft and connect with an audience from all walks of life. She believes art’s connection to everyone subject to it is unique, and the way it strikes a chord is so deep to provide strength, solace, empathy, and joy, breathing life into all who experience it. Littleuniverses needs art and music to feel complete. Whether writing poetry or creating visual art or music, she always felt she created little universes. She chose Littleuniverses because, as a singer-songwriter, she strives to create immersive “little universes'' that listeners enter when experiencing her music.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello Littleuniverses. What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician?
Perseverance, dedication, and emotional intelligence. I believe in the compound effect. There are so many factors that are out of our personal control that contribute to achieving musical goals. The one thing that will always be under our control is our personal ability to persevere and to continue to dedicate time to what we have chosen to create. So much is a mental game and a difficult one at that. Therefore, before starting anything I like to check in with myself to understand if what I want to do will help me move in the direction that will make me a better musician and artist.
Who inspired you to make music?
Bjork and Leonard Cohen in that order. Particularly listening to Hyperballad and Suzanne. Each song is incredibly different, but it was the way that each paired their unique writing styles to an arrangement that pushed me to believe that anything could be possible if I were to write my own music. When Bjork sang about throwing cutlery off a mountain in Hyperballad I was fascinated and when I read Suzanne by Leonard Cohen and then discovered that he created a song that brought his poem to life, it convinced me to learn an instrument that would allow me to accompany my lyrics.
Your latest release is 'littleuniverses'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
Writing littleuniverses was a completely different experience for me because I had a clear vision that I wanted to create a full-length album. I knew I wanted to create songs that when combined on an album became a sort of introduction to me. My vision for the album was for its listener to experience it as a movie with highs, lows, and moments of intensity. I also knew that there would be no way (because of the pandemic) that I would record any of my new songs in the tiny closet of my home studio (something that I did with my EP Corners and for Wanderlust). I felt that I was on a mission to elevate my writing, my composition, and vocals. Also, most of the time I start writing on guitar. On the other hand, with my upcoming album, I did a lot of it directly on my piano.
Can you shortly describe each of the tracks that are on the album?
1-Magic: It's a gothic folk love song that goes through the journey of the elements of magic.
2-Woman: It’s a celebration of feminine mystique and sensuality that was based on a poem that I had written. There is a “wild celebration” in it and a neo-soul / jazz harmonic ending.
3-Bird in your hat: Bird in your hat is an analogy of having felt like a little bird fluttering back to its magician and being afraid to spread its wings. It has an experimental electronic vibe.
4-Forever to never again: An experimental folk song about never knowing what moment with a person will be the last. It unfolds in vocal “acts” like acts of a play.
5-Will I be a mother: A very personal song that has a very direct storytelling style.
6-Snowflakes: A spoken word poem/ progressive rock song about a fun night in New York City.
7-Sword: A post punk song about someone who fetishizes the digital version of their muse but continues to yearn for their muse in their true human form.
8-Your lake: A song indirectly inspired by The Memory Remains by Metallica and Marianne Faithful but has a real freak folk borderline jazzy sound.
9-8: 8 is a gentle dark core song and the only French song on the album. It's a love fantasy that revolves around a written love note.
10-Send it away: It's a singer-songwriter song, recorded live in one take at Strange Weather Brooklyn with Arjan Miranda. It’s a song that communicates a message of hope; and maintaining positivity without being what I consider “cringey”.
How do you stay up-to-date with the latest musical trends?
Before the pandemic I went to a lot of live shows. Since the pandemic because I was forced to be in lockdown and wanted to create a lot of music, I really got into watching a lot of YouTube live performances on KEXP and NPR. Also in general, I like to explore new music by reading about new releases and playing a sort of discovery roulette in vinyl stores.
What makes you different from others?
I am also a poet.
What’s an average day like for you?
I just launched my album two weeks ago. The average day of this past year and a half was like living the life of an entrepreneur, in the sense that I had to split myself in two to balance the creation of the music with planning and researching all the elements involved in an album launch. For the most part, each day was a mix of composing and performing the songs and researching, conceptualizing and planning for photography, album art, styling, videos while figuring out ways to stay financially afloat. I don’t have a team, so I had to do a lot of research. Days were also spent “digging within” and designing to come up with ways on how to best express my music visually over and above writing and performing it. Basically the average day was filled with trying to manage the moving parts that would enable me to launch a debut album and create music that got my vision across. Days felt and still continue to feel like putting a puzzle together.
Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans.
DM on IG, my website email and Soundcloud messages.
What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Time tries to play you for a fool. Sometimes just when you think that everything is over and you are out of time, it is only the beginning. Meditate and put yourself back in check.
What are your plans for the future?
I am looking for a manager and to put together a team because my plan is to focus on composition and performance. I plan to tour with my new album.