Tegan Wahlgren was just at the post office, mailing copies of her debut album to fans both near and far.
“Somebody ordered one from Prince George the other day and I had to mail one to, actually, Greece. That was surprising, but I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll mail it there,’” she said.
The Vancouver-based musician, who goes by the stage name Wallgrin, said she’s relieved to have finally released her first record earlier this month. Bird/Alien is an art-pop record full of looped strings and vocals and electronic sounds. She’s been working on it for the past three years while at the same time completing her studies in Simon Fraser University’s music composition program.
“It captures my musical world that I was living in in my head at that time,” she said.
Wahlgren wrote, produced and mixed the album herself and plays all the instruments save for some bass parts. She recorded Bird/Alien in her living room and added some finishing touches in a little cabin near Bowser. Wahlgren said doing everything on her own was partially about having control and partly due to convenience.
“It was just really an interesting challenge to have to do it all myself and I find that I really feel satisfied about having done [it] and just being able to put exactly the inflection that I wanted onto each note. Just those little things,” she said.
“I’m very detail oriented and I feel like it was important for me to do that myself for the first time.”
On July 27 Wahlgren brings her CD release tour to Nanaimo’s White Room. Like the album, Wahlgren’s performance will be a solo affair. The musician will be armed with just her violin, loop pedal and electronic effects.
As her first record, Bird/Alien will serve as an introduction for listeners and Wahlgren said she wanted to take the opportunity to showcase her versatility. She’s already looking forward to getting started on a follow-up.
“It’s a very pop-influenced album, but there’s also a lot of, like, non-traditional pop stuff on there. There’s a slight bit of noise, a little bit of Celtic-y sounding tunes. I wanted to show a range of the kind of music I’m interested in making,” she said.
WHAT’S ON … Wallgrin performs at the White Room, 4 Church St., on Friday, July 27 at 8 p.m. $10 admission.
arts@nanaimobulletin.com
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