Vancouver, BC-based harpist, Elisa Thorn combines elements of pop, jazz, experimental and new music to create her music. Elisa Thorn’s HUE is a trio made up of James Meger (bass), Justin Devries (drums), and Elisa Thorn (harp). The three will be releasing a live video EP, The Other Side: Live at Afterlife, featuring Toronto vocalist Laura Swankey, as a companion to their recent instrumental album, Flowers For Your Heart.
We’re stoked to unveil the live video for “Flowers For Your Heart” live at Afterlife. Check out the video below and find out more about Elisa Thorn via our Five Questions With.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
I’m a harpist originally from Chicago, but Vancouver is home now. I mostly work in the contemporary, improvised and experimental realms – right now my three main projects are Elisa Thorn’s HUE, Gentle Party, and The Giving Shapes, although I also play sometimes with a number of other local artists like Tonye Aganaba and Lief Hall.
Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.
I think a lot of my career so far has been defined by how to reconcile my personality with my instrument. I have quite an abstract mind, and I’m also a total people-person so I am constantly trying to balance the abstractness and accessibility in my music, and figure out how to lead a band with the harp
in a way that does not compromise sensitivity with its boldness or aesthetic beauty with its curiosity. My music combines influences from post-rock, jazz, experimental and indie music, so I often have a hard time defining it in terms of genre.
Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?
To be quite honest I’m feeling a little bit overplaying Vancouver right now – so I’m laying low at the moment, and working on figuring out a plan for touring that makes sense with my big giant harp beast. But in terms of describing the live show — this is it! This track is the first of four songs recorded live that will be released slowly as an EP called The Other Side: Live at Afterlife. Part of the impetus of this project was to build a bridge between live performance and studio recording at a time when the two can be so far apart.
If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?
Devours, Only a Visitor, Bernice, Weaves, Ten Moon, Tonye Aganaba, Thanya Iyer