Foxtrott is the project of Montreal based artist Marie-Helene Delorme. It’s experimental and electronic while harnessing organic sounds and conjuring familiar feelings. It’s the kind of stuff that hits you in the core. It punches you in the heart with it’s vulnerability and refuses to be ignored. Take her phenomenal video for “Shaky Hands” (below) for example. Dancers are scattered around a rocky cement like site. The location is cold but the movement itself is moving.
Delorme got her start doing sound for film, always making music but being very shy about it. Then back in 2012, she made her debut with Shields a short but memorable three-track EP. “It took me a while to gain confidence” she confesses, crediting life’s bumps & challenges giving her the urge to sing and write. “There is a certain type of energy or emotion you can’t really express in any other way. You can spend ten years in therapy and it won’t give you the same clarity.”
Since then she’s been slowly burning, playing shows and gaining attention for her unique sonic perspective. Just listen to her chilling take on this classic by The Smiths.
Just this past November Delorme released her debut album A Taller Us. When asked what emotions drove the record Delorme responded…
“There’s a lot of them! It’s pretty packed. Emotionally charged. When I wrote this record I really tried to make it an emotional journey too. I didn’t want to write a record that’s just one flow of sound… I worked through a lot of anxiety through this record. I’ve dealt with breakups, shitty relationships, good relationships, family. For me it’s a journey as a young adult. The record is a condensed version of what I’ve lived through from my early twenties to my mid-twenties, which is a pretty important time in life… The more I listen to it now, it’s a record of self-affirmation; there are songs that are more bold and others that are more introverted.”
When we asked about her writing process Delorme shed some light..
“There are some songs I wrote as a text before they were songs, and I think you can hear it. The song “Patience” was a text I wrote in the middle of the night… and now when I listen to it the way I sing it is more of a declaration.”
On “Patience” Delorme sings “love of my life I ought tell you I missed you and craved you all this time” and how she comes from a place where hearts are silenced. It’s relatable and it’s powerful.
We asked Delorme how she’d suggest someone listen to A Taller Us for the first time to which she responded in a car, walking in headphones (“a lot of my songs have a walking tempo”) or alone at home. “Focused and loud, there’s a lot of bass.”
A Taller Us is out now on One Little Indian. Stream it here and buy the vinyl here or digital download here.
Like Foxtrott on Facebook + follow her on Twitter & Instagram.
On The Rise is our spotlight series on new and emerging artists. We last featured Annika Zee. Stay tuned for next week’s On The Rise artist!
photos by Kate Killet.