When we catch up with acclaimed Canadian musician Charlotte Cornfield, she’s at home in Toronto, folding what feels like a million piles of laundry.
It’s part of her new(ish) reality as the parent of a small daughter.
“It’s never-ending,” she laughs, of the laundry basket’s demands.
Parenthood has of course brought limitations, Cornfield says, especially with time and scheduling. But it has also brought an unexpected sense of freedom, one that’s woven through her sixth album, Hurts Like Hell, out March 27.
Cornfield spent the first 18 months of her daughter’s life caring for her full-time. It was a beautiful time, she says, but not terribly productive, musically.
“I had these little fragments of ideas that I’d voice memo, but I wasn’t really writing complete songs.”
That changed when her daughter started daycare. “I suddenly had my days back,” Cornfield says. Around the same time, her friend Tamara Lindeman of The Weather Station offered her access to a writing cabin behind her house.
“I spent time there and found that these stories were just flowing out,” she says. “I felt less inhibited, less self-edit-y.”
That openness became a major part of Hurts Like Hell. It’s rooted in her connection to the world of kids, she says.
“It’s about freedom,” she says. “Kids’ creative brains are completely uncensored. Being around that energy, it feels like creativity in its purest form.”
Parenthood has also shifted her perspective. “It’s pulled me out of myself,” she says. “It’s loosened me up creatively and made me more open-minded.”
Working with producer Philip Weinrobe further encouraged that openness, as did the group of musicians Cornfield brought into the studio. She recorded the album with a full backing band, including Big Thief’s Buck Meek, Palehound’s El Kempner, and Lake Street Dive’s Bridget Kearney, and recruited vocalists like Dirty Projectors’ Maia Friedman and Canadian icon Feist.
“Everyone involved was a dream collaborator,” Cornfield says.
Cornfield, who has a degree in jazz drumming, tours less these days she’s soon headed to Alberta for an appearance at Drumheller’s Cold Bones Fest.
Cornfield lived in Edmonton for several years as a child and has fond memories of checking out fossils in Drumheller.
“I’m really excited to play Cold Bones and be in Drumheller for the first time in, like, 30 years,” she laughs.
Charlotte Cornfield plays Saturday, February 7 at Cold Bones Fest in Drumheller. Learn more about Cornfield here and Cold Bones Fest here.
“Hurts like Hell” from Cornfield’s soon-to-be-released album of the same name:
