Following on from a string of highly-praised offerings throughout the last few months, Montreal-based singer-songwriter Molly Trueman is back to deliver her breathtaking new album 'Angels & Aliens'.
Featuring the previously shared gems 'Found Me At The Wrong Turn', 'Dream Song', and 'Spring In My Step', this new ten-track collection makes for an incredibly rich and riveting listen. With her spellbinding vocals layered across a warm and shimmering production throughout, 'Angels & Aliens' continues to cement her as one of the more mystifying names on the rise right now.
So with the new album now doing the rounds, we caught up with her to find out more about her origins and what has been inspiring her most over the years.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
Probably voice! You can express so much through singing, a whole lot more than speaking. I also just love that your voice is completely unique to you. It’s literally a part of you, which makes it all the more vulnerable and scary, but I love that.
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
I grew up on The Beatles, which I still love to this day, and lots of folk music. My parents are both musicians, so they introduced me to some pretty niche music early on, like the Finnish folk band Värttinä—they were my favorite road trip band for years! The first artist I really fell in love with was Taylor Swift. I was obSESSED with her. I loved the country-pop vibe and the bluntness of her lyrics. She is the queen of catchy hooks, and her storytelling was super easy to latch onto, even for an eight-year-old. It was always so easy to scream the lyrics to her songs.
What was the first album you remember owning?
Fearless by Taylor Swift. This album was always playing in my friend Grace’s mom’s car, which is how I discovered Taylor in the first place. So, when I found a rack of Fearless CDs at Target, I begged my mom to buy it for me. Still one of my favourite albums of hers to this day.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
There are many, but one that comes to mind is “erase me” by Lizzy McAlpine. I remember hearing that song for the first time on TikTok. It was just her and a guitar, with these absolutely insane background vocals she’d recorded overtop. As soon as I heard that minute-long snippet, I could not wait for the whole thing to be out. The melody, the chords, the backing vocals…I swear this song has crack in it.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
I’m definitely more musically-savvy than I am lyrically. I don’t think I’ve ever started a song by writing lyrics. I usually find myself starting on the guitar, playing random chords (mostly likely in open D tuning). Sometimes I’ll fall into a chord progression, sometimes I won’t. But oftentimes when I get into a progression that I really love, melodies will start coming to mind. And the more I hum through melodies, the more random lyrics will start to come out of my mouth. My biggest ritual is just recording everything, even if I’m not really feeling it. You never know what ideas, no matter how small, will emerge when you’re least expecting it.
Who are your favorite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
My current obsessions are Magdalena Bay, Nilüfer Yanya, Madison Cunningham, Weyes Blood, and The Strokes. The rotation is constantly changing, but these five have been my consistent go-tos.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
I would love to open for Lizzy McAlpine. She’s the artist that directly inspired me to get back into songwriting after years of writer’s block and being intimidated by the vulnerability that comes with making music. It would only be right to open for her!
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
I absolutely love it when people come up to me and say “I relate to this song you wrote so much” or “This song got me through such a hard time” or something along those lines. Music is so unbelievably powerful and can connect people in ways you’d least expect. I love knowing my music resonates with even just one person.
And what is the most frustrating part?
As much as I love how easy it is to release music nowadays, I hate that Spotify is taking over the music industry. It feels so quantity-over-quality and is truly just a numbers game. Part of me is like “I can boycott Spotify and just release on Bandcamp!” But the other part of me sees that Spotify has become the most effective way to get people to listen to your music consistently and build a fanbase. Additionally, part of me wants to ditch social media as a whole, but how could I when it’s the best way to promote my music? Making music in a digital world is convenient and accessible, but gets frustrating and exhausting.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
Just keep doing you. Don’t worry too much about fitting the formula that is commercial music. While fitting the formula (under 3 minutes, chorus within the first minute, not too many chords, simple and catchy hook…) might get you a Billboard hit, it’s far more fulfilling, at least for me, to really lean into my own unique sound and not think too much about what people want to hear. It’s for sure easier said than done, but at the end of the day, it’s so very rewarding to make music that I genuinely love and feels wholeheartedly me.
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Molly Trueman's new album 'Angels & Aliens' is available to stream now. Check it out in the player below.