Begonia, Winnipeg’s “alt diva” is on the brink of a new musical era. She can feel it coming.
“It feels like I’m on the cusp of a new chapter of creativity and – it sounds dramatic – but I feel like I’m entering a new chapter of life,” she says.
Begonia, a.k.a Alexa Dirks, just released a new EP, Open Swim. Her 2023 album, Powder Blue, a melange of ‘synth-soul’, blues, pop, and country received immense attention from both critics and fans. It was shortlisted for the Polaris Prize and nominated for a Juno Award.
“The songs on Open Swim were crafted around the same time as the Powder Blue stuff but it felt like its own separate identity,” she says. “They didn’t necessarily fit the flow of the Powder Blue album but I really believed in them.”
She and producer Marcus Paquin created the three songs in his Montreal studio. She’s happy the music is getting its moment in the sun now.
“Oh, it feels so great,” she says. “Marcus is such a special collaborator and pal of mine too, and I just loving putting more music out into the world in general. And it feels kind of like a bridge between what’s coming next and what came before it.”
Powder Blue has been out over a year, and Open Swim is out now. That chapter is closing, she says.
“I feel like, the cycle of it, it’s winding down a little bit. And I’m thinking, ‘okay, what’s next?’” she says. “It just feels like a fresh start.”
She’s been touring heavily, across Canada, the United States and Europe. She just signed with ATC, a UK booking agent, to expand further into that part of the world.
“Touring is a chaotic lifestyle. It’s everything all at once,” she says. “It’s beautiful, it’s painful, it’s incredible, it’s crushing, it’s exhausting, it’s life-giving, it’s all of the spectrum of emotion.”
It’s also intense. If she finds herself with 15 free minutes, she is generally “staring at the wall” as she puts it, not necessarily songwriting.
“The schedule is so busy there is a level of planning that has to go into creative time,” she says.
To that end, Begonia flies to LA at the end of the month to work with her longtime collaborators, the producing duo deadmen, i.e. Matt Peters and Matt Schellenberg. They all met in Winnipeg as young musicians and have worked together ever since, co-writing Powder Blue. Later in the year, she’ll be in Paquin’s studio in Montreal once more.
“It all feels like ‘ooh, I wonder what the next chapter is,’” she says. “It just feels like a mystery that is part intimidating but part kind of exciting.’”
Learn more about Begonia and keep an eye out for her shows, on her website.
“Get to You” from Open Swim:
