Artist Spotlight: Meet Carmen Braden
What was the creative process like for this particular song?
The song originated several years ago. I heard a local friend + radio host share what it was like to experience a major technical issue and not know if anyone was listening to them talk into the darkness of radio-space. I remember writing the lyrics imagining what that would have been like, especially loving the ideas of our human voices going out into the airwaves with just a hope that someone’s listening. Radio’s a big part of northern life here in Canada, and I’ve grown up being a total radio junkie.
I remember making the first demo of the song back then, late at night at home in the deep of a Yellowknife winter night. And because my baby was sleeping in the next room, I sang it super soft and gentle, but attempted to create a big, warm, driving drum+synth+bass+texture outer-space vibe for the song to live in.
Moving ahead to when my producer Mark Adam and I were tracking songs and ideas for the album, we wanted to keep the frame of the song the same, and amplify the original spacious and delightful energy as we created the final version.
How did you work with the producer or engineers to bring your vision for "Voice in the Dark" to life?
Producer Mark Adam and I have worked closely together on all my albums, on everything from chamber classical music to catchy folk songs to gentle improvisations. For this latest single (and my whole upcoming album ‘A Hard Light’) I trusted Mark to take the core of the song, and create space + sound around it. It was great to have ideas for the song evolve in terms of subtle shifts in harmonies, tempos, even melodic moments as we worked on it.
We fully embraced satisfaction and play of the studio, using synthesizers, upbeat drum grooves, percussion instruments like marimba, layered vocals, and post-production fun… Mark arranged and performed most of the instruments on the tune in his Wolfville studio, with Nova Scotia guitarist Richard White tracking big beautiful electric guitar washes. Some of the original sounds from my 2018 demo even made it into this final track!
With Mark living in Nova Scotia, and myself living in Northern Canada (the Northwest Territories), most of this work was all done over internet connections for the recording and mixing, with a trip to Nova Scotia for final vocal tracking. Kind of bringing the idea to life of our voices moving through huge spaces to connect to each other!
What did you enjoy most about making "Voice in the Dark?"
I loved having this tune find the right balance between simple song-craft and the edge of chaos. A lot of my output in the last 10-15 years has been contemporary classical composition, which isn’t often something you can tap your foot to, or hum along with. So making this tune for me brought out a feeling of joy + fun. And I was so grateful to have Mark bring such incredible ideas + production to the whole process!
What has been the most memorable experience or achievement in your music career so far?
I’ve been honoured to receive national-level awards and recognitions for my compositions, and I’ve been able to perform on some fantastic stages with wonderful musicians.
But I gotta say that watching my kids see me as a working musician - a working musician woman + mother - is something that I’m really proud of. It’s not a glamorous moment or a prize or anything, and its shine is often buried in the ups and downs of day-to-day life, but it’s the thing that sticks with me the strongest.
How do you collaborate with performers and ensembles to bring your compositions to life? How important is communication in these collaborations?
I’m constantly learning the lesson that performers’ instincts are the strongest resource I can have. There’s a strength to knowing something in the body, feeling it in the same timespan with them, experiencing the efforts of creating the sound yourself or hearing the sound others create through real air that has the quickest and deepest effect for me.
So when I’m composing, I love bringing people into the space who I trust and who are ready to bring their reflections + ideas to the table.
At a nuts-and-bolts level, I often bring elements of freedom into my composed works - places where the performers can make creative choices within a guided framework. Maybe it’s my own life-long struggles with "practicing” to do something the same every time, or maybe it’s my inspirations of patterns+variations in the environment, but I love it when I am surprised by my own music. This means that communicating those expectations is hugely important, whether it’s on the page, or in the room, or in a recording session!
As I just told my therapist, I’m craving relationships in my work. And I’m realizing more and more that composing alone in a room is the least exciting part of my job. It’s when I’m in the room with people and we’re working together that has the utmost satisfaction and energy.
So thinking back on this single “Voice in the Dark” … making this single and my upcoming album was the same: my favourite parts were when I was in the room with people like Mark Adam and the other players. But since we’re all so spread out, it’s the idea of the song that’ll keep me going - how we still find ways to stay connected.
