Dragonette is an artist Eat This Music first came across back in September when the Toronto-based artist released the title track of her brand new album. Since then, she has gone on to release “Seasick“, another favourite of Eat This Music.
North America | Worldwide | Streaming Services
“I think it’s an invention of my imagination,” Dragonette says about the namesake of her project. “It’s kind of like one of those mythical fairytale creatures that are a hybrid. A big scaley fire-breathing dragon, but with dainty little shoes.”
Following on from the release of her ‘Royal Blues‘ album in 2016, Dragonette’s newest offering sees the artist use the platform to challenge herself in different ways – personally and professionally: “This album represents a lot of different things for me,” Dragonette continues. “Challenges and fits of personal discovery. I see every piece of art I make as a timestamp of a particular state of mind. And this particular TWENNIES stamp I believe is going to live on for me forever as a really important moment in my emotional and creative life.”
In saying that though, when it comes to creating a new album, there is always some new learning curve; for Dragonette: it was about learning that she didn’t need to put a limitation on what she could be for herself (as an artist and as a person).
“For a few of these songs I had at first some trepidation about including them because they sort of fell outside of the musical range that I’ve inhabited in this band. But I learned that it’s important to let go of that and follow the creative energy where it takes me.” — Dragonette
This is the type of album Dragonette has put all of her blood, sweat and tears into per se. Although, as Dragonette joked in our interview: “Well, cells completely turnover every 7 years, so I’m almost an entirely new person since then… I’m joking but kind of not.”
Dragonette made her previous album, ‘Royal Blues’, in a completely different state, in fact, it was a polar opposite world, with emotional and mental states that do not connect to who she is now. “All I really know is that the process of making TWENNIES uncovered a lot of new creative tools for me that will definitely be used in whatever I do next,” Dragonette says.
Dragonette grew up writing songs on guitar and piano and performing them solo, very singer-songwriter style. Although, when the world of pop and dance and digital production opened up to her, she walked through that door and just didn’t look back.
“It was so fun and exciting,” Dragonette expresses about that time of her life. “And by the time I started missing it, I didn’t really see how to reintroduce that side of me. So I think it took stepping back, reacquainting myself with my instruments and really meditating on what was inside of me and how to get it out.”
With all of the formalities out of the way, it is time to dive into the record… on the whole, Dragonette’s Twennies is simultaneously a view of the past and the future.
Dragonette isn’t the type of artist to go into an album wanting to say something and expecting to make her statement on any particular matter. In fact, she tells Eat This Music that she goes “into the process of songwriting with a desire to find out what it is that has been going on inside me.” Essentially, it’s a deep-dive discovery process. And then she comes and sees what she has (storywise and instrumentally). And it’s like: “Ahhh! Yes! That’s true, thank you for saying, (or rather, singing) that out loud.”
Twennies is the type of album you’ve got to listen to from the beginning to the end to truly appreciate the story across the 10 songs – that’s not to say any other album doesn’t work listening to in that same order – as the process of writing and recording Twennies was so opposite to how Dragonette worked in the past.
“For all previous albums, the process has been sort of piecemeal – writing when possible, slowly putting the pieces of a song together and then deciding that it’s an album once there [were] enough songs,” Dragonette reveals on the creative process of her new album. “The process of TWENNIES was concentrated. Dan Farber, my [co-creator], and I were living and breathing these songs, and the energy of our creative process was almost like a dream state hanging around us. It was such a delight. I know a lot of artists make albums like this. In fact, that’s how most albums are made. But I hadn’t worked like that Before.”
With 10 songs, it is hard to decide where to begin – other than from the first-to-last method as mentioned above. However, Dragonette recommends a different order: “I would say listen to Winning with the knowledge that it started with a sample of The Phantom of the Opera. It took a sharp turn in a different direction and landed on the most emotional ballad on record. But I just love listening and looking back on the circuitous path it took to get there.”
“I know it’s a lot to ask these single streaming days, but I hope people really hear the album as a whole,” Dragonette continues. “It really feels like a collection that holds together like an episode of a show. So I hope listeners find their way from one song to the next, in order… A girl can dream.”
Now that Dragonette’s new album is out, she actually still has a lot to say, in fact, she tells Eat This Music that this is just the beginning. “Saying things as an artist is what my whole world revolves around. Not necessarily for others to consume, but for my own sustenance. Creating things gives me my energy. So I don’t necessarily know what I’ll make next, but I will make it. And that’s what’s important to me.”
