MILK & BONE

“Sometimes when I’m performing a song, I’m removed from it and thinking about the audience,” says Camille Poliquin, one half of Montreal electro-pop duo Milk & Bone. “And other days I’m almost moved to tears because I’m feeling the exact emotions I felt when I wrote it.” Across the stage, musical partner Laurence Lafond-Beaulne might not have experienced the love or anguish that inspired those emotions, but having worked on the songs, she gets it. “When bringing a song to the other person, sometimes it’s hard to explain because it’s too much,” says Lafond-Beaulne. “But Camille never goes there with me; she just knows.”

In their music, Poliquin and Lafond Beaulne don’t shy away from difficult discussions; their debut album, Little

Mourning, was a “cheating album” that confronted burdensome memories of remorse, forbidden love and conflict. Their piercing harmonies alternate between feeling like a gut punch and a balm, releasing hurt and anger, bringing relief and forgiveness.

While important to their process, reliving hardships can hinder the journey toward selflove, says Poliquin. Most of us confront pain in private, while musicians often let it feed their very-public art. “I have to get in touch with that part of me,” she says. “But I also have to remember to take care of myself.”

Their favourite love songs: All of Chet Baker’s love songs; “Vibrate,” Rufus Wainwright