For Julie Fader, music is all about the experience from start to finish: the place where songs are written and recorded, how an album is packaged, where her audience hears her music and even what medium a record is played on.
My first call to Fader went unanswered as she was in the middle of recording some of the last tracks for her first album at her home in Toronto, and during our conversation I could hear the tuning of guitars in the background. Turned out this was none other than Graham Walsh of Holy Fuck, who is recording and engineering the album.
But Fader didn’t have too many details for me as far as the album goes, not even a title. There is an approximate release date of May or June. One thing is certain, though. The album will be released on the Hand Drawn Dracula label, a project of Toronto artist James Mejia.
“James’ vision is to get the music out there but also make it a collector’s item, make the packaging stunning and quite beautiful, and also release it on vinyl,” Fader said.
Hand Drawn Dracula is currently home to acts such as Brian Borcherdt and Contrived. It has done vinyl releases for Wintersleep and compilations with international acts such as Black Moth Super Rainbow and Shugo Tokumaru.
For Fader, making her releases available on vinyl was important from day one. Although she sees a decline in the usefulness of CDs, as most of them just end up on her computer or iPod, she said vinyl is undergoing a kind of renaissance.
“I think everyone is going to be making [CDs] for a while but they seem so much more disposable … the CDs have a temporary quality about them, I don’t think vinyl is based wholly on nostalgia. They sound good and they have a nice warmth,” she said. “[There’s] the whole message of side A and Side B. I like that the artwork is bigger. I like the sound quality.”
The artwork on the album is especially important to Fader, who often spends eight to 10 hours a day painting and will be doing her own artwork for the album.
Most of the recording for this album was conducted at a studio built inside a picturesque old barn outside Toronto. Canadian music icons, including Ron Sexsmith, have also used the space, which is decorated with vintage recording gear. Fader said she finds the barn and the fields surrounding it an inspiring place to be, but equally appreciates that the facility allows her to cook a meal just as she would at home.
“While I’m recording, when Graham is engineering in one room, I’ll be in another room cooking,” she said.
Multi-instrumentalist, Fader has toured with the likes of Sarah Harmer and Great Lake Swimmers, playing in their bands or as vocal accompaniment, but music was not always what she wanted to do. After playing the flute throughout school, she studied as a silversmith at Humber College with the intent of being a jewellery designer. It wasn’t until she picked up her flute again and jammed with friends that she came back to music.
It was also some time before Fader began seriously working at her own songs. But she appreciates all the time she spent touring with those artists.
“I find it just as exciting playing songs written by someone like Tony Dekker or Sarah Harmer because they’re such honest and beautiful songs—I feel fortunate that I get to sing along,” Fader said. “To be honest it’s always exciting when I get to think about my own shows and my own stuff, but I like Great Lake Swimmers and Chad VanGaalen and Sarah Harmer just as much, so I’m pretty lucky.”
Fader’s musical world is very much intertwined with the world of bands such as Holy Fuck and Wintersleep—both through personal relationships and her label—bands that happen to be Kingston favourites.
Fader only has few dates supporting her own material before hitting the road with Great Lake Swimmers to support their new album, Lost Channels. She will be on tour up until her own record drops later this spring, so she had to get off the phone with me and wrap up the last of the recording.
Julie Fader plays with Brian Borcherdt tonight at The Grad Club. Tickets are $10.
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