La Faute releases video for her single, “Watercolours”
A hidden gem from the frozen heart of Toronto, ON, La Faute is an art school dropout and Sony Music Publishing artist Peggy Messing’s dark, dreamy solo project. A visual artist, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter originally from Winnipeg, MB, she explores themes of surface vs. depth, longing, betrayal, mourning, and desire.
On the heels of the critically acclaimed title track “Blue Girl Nice Day” from her forthcoming debut album of the same name, La Faute unveils another haunting single. “Watercolours” teeters between a feeling of longing and a little bit of darkness. Is this song about love or an unhealthy, unrequited obsession?
Watch the video for “Watercolours” below and learn more about La Faute via our mini-interview.
First off, care to introduce yourselves to our readers?
Hello dear reader. My name is La Faute, aka Peggy Messing. (Pronounced La Fote, like the first half of the photo.) It means the mistake or the fault in French. I’m a singer-songwriter and visual artist from Winnipeg, currently living in Toronto, impatiently waiting for spring to get here. I am allergic to talking about myself.
You have unveiled your latest single, “Watercolours.” What can you tell us about the writing process behind the release?
I was partly thinking about movie scenes that I love that are covered in rain, like the doomed romance of In the Mood for Love or the tears in the rain scene from Blade Runner. Visually I’ve always been interested in how water makes everything blurry, borderless, and reflective. I’d been trying to paint as well, and I always struggle with watercolours because I never know if it’s going to turn out well, but that’s also what I love about them. I was also thinking about my relationship to music, how it’s kind of an obsessive, unrequited thing.
“Watercolours” follows your previous single, “Blue Girl Nice Day,” which are both from your upcoming debut album. What was the highlight of the album creation process?
Making this music was quite a private experience. I spent a lot of time awake at night while everyone was asleep, singing quietly, waking up from dreams to write down lyrics, and that probably influenced the sound. I collaborated on a song with Villemin from France, and the music was produced by Topher Mohr in LA, but I didn’t meet up with anyone in person. I wanted to make the songs sound intimate, to be listened to in headphones or in a car, a quiet whisper from me to the listener if they’re out there. It was very special to send and receive files back and forth with my collaborators. The piano and keyboard tracks that Villemin wrote inspired me to write really easily. It seemed like the melody and song idea was already right there. Topher had an amazing way of bringing out what I had made and adding so many of his own touches. He did beautiful work on this. One highlight was receiving a finished track from him while I was camping with my family and listening to it under all the stars in the quiet night. I felt so happy to be working with someone who really got the gist of what I wanted things to sound like.
On top of releasing the single, you have also unveiled a music video to accompany the release. How did you come up with the idea for the video concept?
I wanted to shoot rain any way I could and combine it with the idea of the character in the video (played by me, haha) searching for something or someone, possibly on a stakeout, possibly stalking. I have all these Covid restraints on my video making since I am not doing unmasked indoor stuff, so I have to work alone and often outside. I got the idea to alternate scenes of inside the car and outside in the rain as a metaphor for the character’s inner fantasy life vs. the cold, harsh reality of the rainy outside. I’m no actor, but it shows on my face the different moods inside vs. outside because it was warm and cozy inside the car and freezing cold out in the rain. Dreams vs. reality.
Last but not least, what else do you have planned for 2023?
I have many more songs to release videos for, so I’ll just be putting them out one by one, and I’m doing a remix of Magician’s Assistant from the album with a Canadian composer named Ryan Carlson. We are also creating some new stuff together, which I’m excited about. I found him because I loved the music he did for this really cool animated series called Hilda and the Mountain King. I tracked him down, and luckily he was interested in a collaboration. We’re doing some really cool spooky synthy stuff. I’ve started writing more as well, I just got a new tiny electric guitar, so perhaps there will be more electric guitar riffs on this new stuff. I won’t be playing indoor live shows for the near foreseeable future because I’m still vulnerable to covid, but I won’t say never to that. I am optimistic. Thanks for asking all these questions. I appreciate you taking the time. Take care! Xo Peggy