Country-Pop Singer-Songwriter Sykamore To Release New EP Through the Static
Canadian country-pop singer-songwriter Sykamore has released her anticipated new EP Through the Static via CMDSHFT on all streaming platforms.
Produced by Bobby Campbell (Nashville TV Series), Through the Static is an elegant addition to Sykamore’s evergreen observations of life and relationships through her signature lens. The collection of four tracks reveals a vulnerable and intimate side of Sykamore, exploring themes of past love, nostalgia, infatuation, and youth in the EP’s opening track current single, “Emotional.”
“It feels great to be releasing new music again and I can’t wait to show what I’ve been working on the past 18 months,” said Sykamore “These four tracks illustrate the emotional journey of opening your heart and the many ups and downs that can entail – two songs explore the beginning of love, and two songs recount the experience of love coming to an end. I hope “Through the Static” reaches people, regardless of where they are in their love story.”
First off, what have you been up to since we last spoke?
Playing shows and writing songs mostly! This job is never short on adventures!
Congratulations on your EP Through the Static! Can you share a bit about the inspiration behind the title and what listeners can expect from the tracks?
Thank you! The title is actually a lyric in one of the songs – one called “Highway Towns.” In the first verse, there’s a bit where I talk about a long drive home, just trying to find something to listen to on the radio. In my experience, I almost always hear a preacher on one of the stations preaching through a bunch of static on an AM station. When it came time to title this project, I liked the idea of these songs sort of standing out and cutting through the noise in my daily life – enough to inspire me to write them. So you could say these four tracks cut through the static of my mind and gave me my inspiration to create and express. The songs are really just about surviving the human condition, specifically relationships and how they affect you, and all the angles you can look at love.
The EP includes songs that explore both the beginnings of love and its endings. Can you speak to the emotional journey you’ve portrayed in these tracks and what message you hope listeners take away from them?
I feel like the ‘seasons’ of life are things we all pass through; seasons of anxious emotion or seasons of grieving lost love, things of that nature. These songs really put those seasons under a microscope and examine them for what they are – and how they can be unique experiences in and of themselves. I hope people listen to the songs and think of a season of their life that the music might illuminate for them – maybe it evokes a good memory, or maybe it helps them process a not so good memory.
The EP’s opening track and current single, “Emotional,” has already caught the attention of listeners. Could you share the story behind this song and what it means to you personally?
It’s unique to me in part because it’s the oldest song in the collection by far – once upon a time it was considered for my last album, Pinto that I released in 2022. But it didn’t make the cut in the end. I always liked it though, and hoped I could put it on a record in the future. As this current project started to come together, it seemed to be a great fit for it, both sonically and as it related to the subject matter. I wrote it about the grey area that some of us find ourselves in at the beginning of a relationship when you know how YOU feel but not necessarily if your feelings are reciprocated. It can be an agonizing feeling but also kind of thrilling as you anticipate what might be in store for you.
Your journey in the music industry has taken you from a small town outside Calgary to Nashville. How has this transition influenced your music, particularly in terms of themes and storytelling?
I feel like overall I am a better writer than I was when I first came to town, which was my goal in the first place! So I feel good about that (although I still have so much to learn). In terms of the things I write about, I think I have settled down a little bit and gotten more OK with just writing about my experiences, as opposed to trying to unpack what a “hit” song is. I’ve learned that there really is no formula for a hit song – the only thing you can control is if you like it and you are passionate about it. That’s something people listen for in music – they want to know that you believe it because that’s what gets them fired up about it right along with you. If you’re just in it for the metrics or the popularity, it takes all of the authenticity out of it. And your audience can feel that too. Best to just stick to what’s in your heart, what makes you unique, because that is the greatest thing any artist has to offer.
Your music often reflects authentic and relatable narratives. How do you ensure that your songs remain genuine to your own experiences while still connecting with a diverse audience?
I feel like I touched on that a little bit in the last question! I think there is a delicate balance between writing your truth and writing it in such a way that other people can access it as well. And that is my lot as a songwriter – to create a bridge between my world and my audience. If I’m doing my job right, a song should be a catharsis for me as well as anyone listening to it. But I really do believe the key is starting from an honest place – somebody told me once, “Landslide wasn’t written because somebody wanted to write one of the greatest songs of all time. It was written because somebody needed to say how they felt.” And I guess that’s my ultimate objective with my craft – I wanna write “Landslide.” Or at least say that I approached my work with the same level of integrity.
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