LINNEA SIGGELKOW OF ELLIS

After a tumultuous beginning, Canadian artist Linnea Siggelkow has overcome many adversities to arrive at a place that feels like home. Having grown up in the prairies and surrounded by the church, moving to Ontario as a teenager brought with it more than just a geographical change. Questioning her faith and channelling her thoughts and experiences through the cathartic filter of song writing, her EP received high praise from high places. Things looked set to skyrocket for the burgeoning musician until the walls closed in. Now in a post lock down world, Siggelkow has emerged triumphant and with added resolve to push through all barriers as her debut album attests to.

Hi Linnea and thank you for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology. thanks for having me! You were making quite the ascent with your meteoric rise on the back of The Fuzz EP and Born Again LP before everything was abruptly curtailed due to the pandemic. Did this force you to take stock, consider what you already achieved, and reevaluate your approach toward the rest of your career post-Covid?

Oh man, definitely. I think I was sort of in shock for a while. It felt like all of these doors that had opened it front of me suddenly slammed shut and it was very disorienting trying to figure out how to move forward again. I was really reevaluating everything - I even applied to go back to school! I didn’t get in and I sort of took that as a sign to keep writing, and I’m glad that I did.

What lessons from these two records have you carried forward into your latest long-player No Place That Feels Like?

I have learned so much about myself along the way, but I think the biggest thing is how important it is for me to feel safe throughout the entire process. that’s the way this project started - making The Fuzz with my friends was such a special, positive experience. This record was a return to that process. I am lucky to have so many creative friends that I trust wholeheartedly. I feel very cared for by every single person involved in this record, and I’m grateful!

Is there an overarching theme throughout the new record or a varied assortment of ideas, concepts, and sentiments all coalescing across the eleven tracks?

I didn’t write this record with any particular theme in mind, but as the songs started coming together I noticed some very obvious ties between them. I wrote them over the last four years while I was feeling very unsettled and confused about what I’m supposed to be doing and where I’m supposed to be. I write songs to process my feelings and make sense of the world around me, and at the heart of this record is this real yearning to find some sense of belonging - to feel at home, inside myself, with others, somewhere.

In what ways has your native Ontario informed your music and shaped your given style?

I actually spent most of my childhood in the Canadian prairies and moved to Ontario as a teenager, but in Ontario, I’ve been lucky to be in such close proximity to so many other talented artists who have inspired me in so many different ways. Charlie Spencer, who co-produced this record with me, is in the band Dizzy - one of my very favourite bands from Ontario! There are also a lot of geographical references throughout this record - I moved a lot growing up and I feel like there are pieces of all of those places in these songs.

You have openly acknowledged the struggle with your religious upbringing and subsequent outlook on life. It most certainly is something many artists grapple with and can be both a source of confusion and inspiration. For you, how have you reconciled the two notions of your life, your perception of the world and that of instilled views and the rigidity of faith?

I really love this question - it’s something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about! I did really struggle for a few years after leaving the church. It was a sort of identity crisis, and I had to wade through some confusion and resentment and hurt, but I’ve come to such a place of peace about it all now. There are so many beautiful parts of all religions, and i have tried to rediscover and bring those parts with me, even as I’ve moved further away from the parts that I no longer accept. A lot of my love for music came from being surrounded by it at church - the feeling of a bunch of people in a room singing together is still such a sacred thing to me, and I am grateful to still experience that when I go to shows. I think it is part of the human experience to seek community and find belonging, and I think those things are inherently spiritual.

A notable difference in your new work is that of the collaborative approach and having worked with several artists on multiple tracks across the album, did you feel like something was unlocked inside of you that previously would not have been a musical option for you?

Definitely! I have had a tendency to be very guarded and insular in my writing process but I was also getting stuck in ruts while writing this record, so I decided to step out of my usual comfort zone and open some of these songs up for collaboration and I’m so glad I did! I still feel very protective of these songs, especially of the lyrics, but bringing in a fresh set of ears and a different perspective really brought new life into some of these songs. I’m learning a lot about which boundaries are important to me, and which ones I’d like to be brave enough to push. I’m so thankful for the artists who poured their care and creativity into these songs.

During this time, were there any words of wisdom spoken to you that really resonated with you and in turn altered the way you will forever approach your craft?

My good friend Jeremy Greenspan (of Junior Boys) said to me, “Do me a favour and do something kind of weird on this record.” I think I have a tendency to sort of play it safe, but I did constantly hear his voice in the back of my head as we were working on the songs, and it led to some of my favourite parts of the album. I hope to continue to push myself out of the box when it comes to writing music!

Taking such deeply personal and intimate experiences that your songwriting encapsulates and projecting these to a global audience must be both daunting and liberating at the same time. Is this especially the case when performing live?

For sure! I have always been a pretty emotionally open person, but there is something particularly vulnerable about performing live. I already suffer from pretty debilitating stage fright, and there are certain songs I’m even more nervous to perform. but also, like you said, there IS something very liberating about getting to experience those particular songs in that sort of setting. It comes back to what we were talking about earlier - this sacred thing of being in a room together. sometimes I feel like the songs haven’t served their entire purpose until they’ve been performed live.

Can you share with us one of the best shows you have played and what made it so special for you?

The show that comes most immediately to mind was opening up for Mannequin Pussy in Denver, Colorado in 2019. It was my first time ever playing there, and I don’t know if there’s like, something in the Denver tap water, but the place was just buzzing with this really exciting energy and there were some kids in the front row singing all of the words to all of my songs!

What does music give you that nothing else does?

Oof, it feels sort of corny to say, but this record explores the idea of home, and I think that’s what music is and has always given me - a familiar comfort, a safe place to belong. When everything else around me is always changing, it’s been the one thing I can always turn to, and I’m grateful.