They might have ‘God Complex’ but we’re here to praise them.

There are not many more soul-filling combinations than harp, violin and velvet-wrapped vocals. That’s why we’ve instantly fallen for a chamber pop trio, Chamber Party. They serve an exquisite entertainment, full of Lynchian-like mystery, on heaven-level hitting compositions. They’ve created a sacred space, in between playful and pathos, presenting the essence at its best on their upcoming album, ‘God Complex’, exploring the art-artist relationship. We’re here to touch the divine with them. Amen.

Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

We are a chamber pop trio with a sound that is dream-like, pandemonious, playful, and evocative. Harpist Elisa Thorn (The Giving Shapes, HUE) and Juno-award-winning violinist Meredith Bates (Pugs and Crows) weave a lush bed of strings with acoustic virtuosity and electronic processing for the hauntingly evocative voice of Jessicka (Hunting, Jessicka) to rest on. We’re excited to release our sophomore album, God Complex, on February 17, 2022

How did it all start?

Meredith and Elisa started improvising together, eventually joined by a cellist named Shanto Acharia, who invited Jess to join us - and thus, Gentle Party was formed! The band has evolved a lot over the years, and on this latest album we have worked closely with our producer, Chris Gestrin, to incorporate beats made from sounds from our acoustic instruments.

If you were to describe your sound to someone who’d never heard you before, what would you say?

Lush, cinematic, melancholic, colourful and frenetic! One of our favourite things about our sound is that with the thoughtful arrangement, electronic processing and extended techniques, it’s often hard to tell which instrument the sounds are coming from!

How are you feeling about the release of your new single 'God Complex'?

We’re so excited about it! We love how the track turned out, and it was such a pleasure to collaborate with illustrator Eva Dominelli on the video, which brings to life some of the imagery from our album artwork that she made. We think this represents some of our best work yet.

Can you tell us more about the themes behind this track?

‘Can you separate the artist from the art?’ has been a question that has come up a lot in the past few years since the Me Too movement began and the questions of social and moral accountability started developing into what is now called cancel culture. These questions come up alot on a larger, pop culture scale with artists who have a lot of notoriety, but is just as pertinent on a small scale local level. The song was inspired by a misogynistic person who is celebrated in our arts community, but also refers to the question on a larger scale, as it is all around us.... We believe in art’s ability and function to help people find moments of spirituality, shared humanity, care, and love - therefore, we don’t think it’s morally responsible to separate an artist’s ethics and actions from the art they are creating.

Are you planning on realising any record (EP, album) this year? If yes, can you tell us a bit about it?

Yes! This is the title track from our sophomore God Complex, which will be coming out on February 17, 2022.

What inspires your music?

I think we are all inspired by our surroundings in the beautiful pacific northwest, the influences of the music community here, and our strong desire to smash the patriarchy.

What advice would you give for anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to your band?

Experiment lots and be playful :)

If your music were a film or TV show which would it be?

Hmm….Twin Peaks?

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?

Talking Book by Stevie Wonder - this album was one of the first I became super obsessed with as a little kid. It’s so rich, soulful, and timeless.

What do you hate right now?

ALL OF OUR INTERNALISED PATRIARCHY

…dating apps, and covid, lol.

What do you love right now?

Friends, good speakers, big snowflakes, and our band mascot Jax (who is Elisa’s 14lb grandpa dog baby)

What comes next in the Gentle Party story?

Well we are so excited to release the album! Hopefully, covid restrictions permitting, we’ll be doing a release show in Vancouver on Feb 18th at the Fox with some wonderful special guests. Later in the spring we will be releasing another music video, and we’re also working on a special project called Re:Mix. Re:Mix is a community activation process where we will share the stems of the singles from our next album, God Complex, in order for people to create remixes. The process is free and open to anyone who would like to take part. We have invited Ruby Singh to lead two 4-hour remixing workshops at the launch of this project. All of the completed remixes that are uploaded back to the Re:Mix webpage will be compiled into a digital album. This compilation will be available for purchase by donation. All proceeds from the sale of the God Complex Re:Mix album will be given directly to WISH Foundation in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

We’d love to stay connected! You can follow us here: Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, Bandcamp

Start Listening To: Gentle Party