[Interview] Ora Cogan
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If you have been reading the site for a few years, the name of Ora Cogan is probably already familiar to you while we covered her album Crickets, released in 2017. If you still do not know the talented experimental folk musician from British Columbia, now is the time to discover her incredible work, as she will release her new album Bells In The Ruins, the eighth LP in her collection, on July 13. Enchanting soundscapes, melodies filled with reverie and splendid aerial song are again there and that, to our delight. On the occasion of this launch, we asked Ora Cogan a few questions to learn more about her work and this great record.
© Photo: Zoe Alma
Bells In The Ruins will be your eighth album since 2007. I was wondering what your creative process was like and where did the main idea behind the composition of an album comes from?
There are a some very tender songs on this album… There was no thought out concept. It is very much an emo album. I was writing about love and humans and struggling while dealing with love and humans and.. struggling. I think a lot of the interesting bits started to form while I was on tour up north. I went with Reggie Bast to my friend Marin Patenaude’s Dad’s house in Horsefly to write for a while.. It’s a very dreamy place. Marin’s family is very musical and we’d take breaks for kitchen jams and to roam around with the dogs there. Getting out into places like that always sorts my head out. That was the first time things started to really gel. Before that the writing process was really hard. I’d start working on things and would go back and take them apart a lot. Things started to get more natural and interesting working with everyone at the studio. All the musicians I worked with are also good friends. They’re all fantastic musicians and we had a lot of fun putting it all together. I was still finishing the lyrics for the songs at night after recording sessions… It was messy and fun.
You have traveled a lot and lived in several cities in recent years. Can you tell us about your background and how these trips have influenced your music and inspired new creations?
I grew up on Salt Spring Island, moved to Gabriola Island when I was 15 for an apprenticeship, then lived in Vancouver for almost a decade.. After that I basically lived on a motorcycle for a couple years, then moved around to a ton of small towns before moving to Montreal. Montreal was a dream. I miss in there so much. Now I live in Victoria. I’ve always been a pretty restless soul. I’m really trying to stay in one place this time but I get so cagy it is ridiculous. I’m really grateful to have had the opportunities to collaborate with so many artists all over.
© Photo: Crystal Rose
With the release of Sleeping video, you were explaining the story behind the beautiful album cover. Can you tell us about this project by Natasha Lavdovsky and why you chose this illustration to represent Bells In The Ruins?
I wouldn’t want to speak for her. I can say that when she showed me the piece it felt like it fit like a puzzle. This is what Tasha had to say about the video:
«Sourced from Natasha Lavdovsky‘s experimental performance series titled, “Primordial Safety Tests”, the footage in Ora Cogan’s newest music video (shot in 2019 on the shores of Haida Gwaii) contrasts our struggle for safety with the peacefulness of surrender. Lavdovsky utilizes the trope of the post-apocalyptic figure alone in the landscape to highlight the precariousness of human life on earth in the face of environmental destruction, climate change, and sea level rise. On a carefully chosen day (according to the moon phase and tidal flux), with the help of one assistant working the camera, Lavdovsky stood in the ocean for 90 minutes, allowing the tide to rise over her body. After this, she spent the rest of the day alone, filming herself floating and struggling to climb onto a rock. Beyond themes of apocalypse and survival, this video is about the strong human desire to be reunited with nature, and the peace one can find when we stop fighting for control, and just be in the moment. Floating on the edge of the ocean’s vast silence is both alien and familiar. Being held in the ocean’s soft embrace is like returning to our primordial home, and reminds us that we are always somewhere between birth, and death.
The video was shot with respect and reverence, in the K̲andaliig̲wii, on unceded Haida territory. Editing was gratefully completed on unceded Tsawout territory, by the Salish Sea.»
You released a fantastic video of your song Skull on June 12, which is really different from the one for Sleeping. Can you explain the idea behind the black and white stressful kaleidoscopic video and why is it important to put images on your music?
This song is about alienation, dissonance and love. Jordan King directed vid and we had friends acting in it portraying different archetypes. It is one of my favorite video projects i’ve worked on so far. Jordan shoots with VHS cameras and has a really unique, frantic style of editing that I believe works well with this song.
Bells In The Ruins will be released on your brand new label, Prism Tongue Records. What prompted you to launch your own label and what does the future hold for this fantastic project?
It is a strange time to release music without touring and whatnot. I felt like it would make more sense to keep things really simple, not knowing how well things will go. After losing my job from COVID I have a lot of time on my hands too so figured this might make sense. I’m excited to release some music and compilations on Prism Tongue in the future… for now just starting out releasing this record.
We don’t know what the future holds and it’s extremely difficult to plan under the circumstances, but are you planning an online launch for your album or are you waiting to see if you can hold a release show in the upcoming months?
The album comes out July 13th! I’m going to do a small, social distanced release show at The Vault in Nanaimo with friends on July 17 but otherwise no plans! Just music videos and online things! Such a strange time.
Being thousands of kilometers from British Columbia, we know a little less about the musical scenes that hide in its different cities. Is there some artists on the west coast we should absolutely discover?
There is so much good stuff out here. For starters.. David Parry who recorded the album has a band called Loving that is fantastic. Elan Noon who also did percussion on the album is one of my faves.. White Poppy who just released a fantastic album. I’d check out Mourning Coup, Behaviours, Shearing Pinx, Crack Cloud, my bud Marin Patenaude just released a great record too..
Thank you for your time!
© Photo: Emma Yates