THE BEAT GOES ON UNDER ISOLATION
Artists discover ‘cool and creative’ ways to release new music with their audiences under lockdown
Country singer-songwriter Shantaia meticulously planned every step of her first EP release. The first song was set to come out on the radio in mid-may, just before the Juno Awards, and a radio tour across Canada was set to pre-empt the release on April 3.
But global pandemics have a way of changing plans.
“Having to navigate this new world and trying to figure out how releasing an EP was going to look like ... we found some cool and creative ways to help us rather than hurt us,” she said.
Shantaia — whose full name is Shantaia Poulin — was forced to make quick changes to her EP release plans with the onset of COVID-19 curtailing any chances for public performances or a tour to promote her new music.
The new EP, entitled Chapter One, is full of new music the Saskatoon-based performer said has been in the works for some time. She chose the name Chapter One because the process of putting it together led to “a lot of highs and lows” and helped define her as an artist, she said.
“And then among getting ready to release it, all this craziness started happening,” she said with a laugh.
Instead of touring to promote her new EP, Shantaia has gone digital. She’s made personalized videos for radio stations across the country endorsing her music and asking them to consider playing it.
Randy Woods of the Randy
Woods Band in Saskatoon also saw his new album launch waylaid by COVID-19. The band had scheduled a launch party at The Bassment in early April for their new album, Soul Hammer — a grooving, soulful, instrumental-heavy assortment of songs — that was scuttled by the pandemic.
“What really has changed this time more than ever is, we had put so much effort and time into rehearsing the show and promoting the show to release the album,” Woods said. “Instead of preparing for a live show ... it’s all been online promotion.”
Woods and the band have joined a list of musicians releasing creative music videos online — the band created a video compilation recording of their song Be In The Light from the new album and posted it to social media.
Woods said their video is a hit with fans, and people who have listened to the new album have been giving “a lot of love” to the band in isolation.
“We’ve had some pretty positive responses ... and we wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t for (the pandemic),” Woods said. “I think that was pretty interesting, and dare I say a bit of a benefit to the situation we’re in.”
Other musicians in Saskatchewan see the quarantine as an advantage for releasing new music. Byrun Boutin-maloney, who goes by the stage name Lord Byrun, is set to release his first album on May 8.
Boutin-maloney said the pandemic almost “levels the field” for emerging artists, because they’re all now connecting to their potential audience in the same way: digitally.
“I almost feel like it doesn’t matter how big or small you are anymore. It’s how you use the internet,” he said. “So I’ve been focusing on videos ... just really trying to be online and present.”
Boutin-maloney’s album, Spirit Animals, features collaborations and songs in both English and French, and he’s been working hard to push his new music online. He even leaked the songs for free a week early on the music site Bandcamp to give people a taste of his new music.
As he puts it, art is about connecting to people — so in these difficult times, Boutin-maloney said he hopes people who listen to his music while stuck in isolation can find something to connect with.
“I just hope ... people like it, that they enjoy it, that it speaks to them and it makes them happy,” he said.
It doesn’t matter how big or small you are anymore. It’s how you use the internet. So I’ve been focusing on videos.