Growing up in Wingham, Ontario in the 1980s. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson knew there was music waiting to be discovered beyond what the local country rock radio station was offering.
She had a palpable sense of it from where it was on the dial, almost next door to Toronto alternative rock station CFNY 102.1 (The Edge), which could be faintly heard, underground music flickering in and out of range but somehow still deeply captivating.
“I'm trying to find myself and figure out who I am in the world, and a lot of people my age nowadays are listening to rock music or country music that's on the radio,” Simpson says by phone from his longtime home in Peterborough, Ont. “And I'm slowly, with this group of friends, discovering things like punk music and new wave, and there are these tapes that go around and you duplicate them.”
She continues: “And I remember going out on Friday and Saturday evenings and trying to record a tape from the car radio on some hills in the farmland around Wingham to [capture] bands such as Joy Division, New Order and The Cure. Sometimes the music you listen to in high school and early adulthood kind of defines you and guides you through adulthood.”
After Polaris Music Prize shortlist nomination And review 10/10 from Exclaim! for her 2021 album, Ice theorySimpson moves forward, but remains thoughtful. A renowned academic, public speaker and acclaimed author, Simpson is a prolific and influential force whose work on Indigenous issues and experiences, informed by her own Anishinaabe perspectives, is inspiring. It also clearly requires a lot of hard work.
Compared to acoustics Ice theorySimpson's new album, Live like heavenreally more infused with the electrifying sound of alternative rock and new wave that she heard on the radio in the late 80s and early 90s. But new songs like “Pyrric Victories,” with the lyrics “She says, 'Breathe through it,' like it was easy / I'm scared all the time, and all these songs need lyrics,” are more than just a nod to her teenage self, sounding a lot like the musings of a somewhat stressed-out adult trying to get some work done.
“The term 'Pyrrhic victory' means winning, but in the process you essentially destroyed yourself,” Simpson explains. “I love this term because it really resonates with what's going on in the world right now. The victories don't feel as victorious as they may once have felt, and the artists, and especially the organizers, have to go through a lot of self-sacrifice to achieve these minor victories. So the song is born out of struggle.”
She explains: “I did have problems in my personal life. Something bad happened to me and I was working with a trauma therapist who kept saying, “Just breathe through it, just breathe through it.” And during the period when I was recovering from the injury, it was very difficult for me to even breathe through it.”
In terms of moral support, Simpson was fortunate that a number of collaborators, including Jonas Bonnetta (“Hymns”), Stephen Lambke, Kaylee Runciman (“Boyhood”), her sister Ansley Simpson, Tanner Pare and Nick Ferrio, responded to her unusual call to come up with the music she heard in her head so she could write the lyrics to their arrangements – the opposite of the process that gave rise to Ice theory.
“I didn't want to just make an '80s record,” she explains. “I wanted to create something that also resonated with modern times. So I called people like Zoon and OMBIIGEEZ the 'loafer look' and 'shoegaze' and brought in some of those elements.”
She says: “The lyrics are very Debbie Downer, so I didn't want the music to be Debbie Downer too. I wanted to be able to dance, have fun and find a sound that resonated with me and my voice. I really enjoyed the process and I’m really happy with how it sounds.”
