Lauren Dillen, Toronto singer-songwriter, has a lot going on right now.
She recently finished a tour opening for Canadian indie favourites Great Lake Swimmers. Soon she launches on her longest tour yet, opening for roots-rocker Northcote. And she has a new EP coming out in the next few months.
She has been working with the Victory Pool label out of Toronto, with musician, producer, and former Albertan Jesse Northey.
“He has sort of scooped me up and kept me busy, which has been awesome,” she says.
In addition to her solo career, Dillen is a member of Burs, an indie-rock quartet that she formed with several friends while studying music at Humber College.
“For a long time Burs was the priority,” she says, “but now I’m in a season of prioritizing my solo work.”
“Burs is self-managed so things happen a little slower,” she adds. “It’s nice because there are four of us who need to take time off from other parts of their lives for it. It’s a nice pace for us.”
Dillen recently released a single, “Candles.” She recorded it at the National Music Centre in Calgary.
“It was a bit of a one-take wonder sort of thing,” she says. “I just really loved the way the space and me were having a relationship through the means of the recording.”
She liked the result so much that she went back to the same studio to record the rest of her EP.
Called Blue Star, the record’s name is inspired by Dillen’s grandmother, who was a gardener and a herbalist.
“She gave me a ton of books, with a bunch of her sticky notes in them,” Dillen says. “I like to go through the sticky notes to see what she was looking at. One of them was a flower called Blue Star.”
Dillen has also been experimenting with cyanotyping, where she prints photographs using UV light and special chemicals, producing only blue and white images.
“It’s really a wonderful blue hue so I think this EP will have blue art and blue vibes,” she smiles.
Next up for Dillen is opening for Northcote. They are touring the entire month of June.
“I’m feeling excited. There’s a lot of mystery because it’s my longest tour yet. And there are some places in inner BC where I truly don’t know a truly single soul, so where will I sleep that night? We’ll find out,” she laughs.
“I’m excited for the process of learning a lot and figuring it out and meeting people in all quarters of the country.”
She’ll be singing on four Alberta stages and encourages everyone to come out for the shows.
“My songs are sad and reflective and might hurt a little bit to move through with me,” she says. “But some are really hopeful. People tell me they have moving experiences when they see my set.”
Lauren Dillen opens for Northcote in Lethbridge, Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton. All details can be found on her website.
“Candles” by Lauren Dillen:
