The Breakout act
heads up: Tei Shi is going to be 2016’s Kiesza. The 25-year-old’s new EP— dreamy but driven, orchestral yet urgently intimate (like mercury morphing to the rhythm of a kick-drum beat)—is one of the year’s most-buzzed-about alternative releases. The latest single, “Bassically,” has over a million listens on SoundCloud and a video racking up hundreds of thousands of views and is laden with the sort of promise that makes a massive first album a neargiven. Before the Vancouver-raised, now Brooklyn-based performer embarked on a busy summer of festival shows, we grabbed her to talk labels, names and why she loves being Canadian. Your real name is Valerie Teicher. Why did you opt for the stage name “Tei Shi”? “I never thought my given name, Valerie, was interesting or sassy. I also like the idea of having a separation between the personal self and the career self. Tei Shi is very much an extension of me, but it also allows me to access a more extreme side of myself—I feel more free to explore.” You’ve called your sound “mermaid music.” What does that mean? “It was just a lighthearted way of not labelling my music and calling it something ambiguous. It doesn’t really mean
anything, so I don’t think it limits me in any way.” Do you feel that growing up Canadian has shaped the sort of music you
make? “There’s an independent mindset here. When you grow up in Canada, you’re not surrounded by lots of people trying to make music or become an artist—but because of that, I had the chance to form who I am as a musician in a more genuine way. It’s something I feel in young Canadian artists.” You live in Brooklyn right now, but when you think of Canada, what comes to mind? “Fresh air. When I go back to Vancouver, it’s the polar opposite of New York; it’s like stepping out of a stuffy oven into an open, fresh garden.” Is it easier to be creative in a space like Vancouver? “There are different kinds of creativity, fuelled by different environments. A place that’s so heavily charged with energy can be inspiring. On the other hand, it’s important to be able to be alone and have the space to be creative, and that’s something that is hard to find in a place like New York.”