Out December 4, 2020
Physical copies available from Eve’s Bandcamp
Worldwide digitally from Coax Records
It is a common misconception that the caterpillar’s transformation is one of serenity. In fact, the small insect’s retreat to cocoon is anything but a sabbatical. Within the chrysalis walls, a violent mutation churns, a corrosive goo stripping fleshy foundations to solder new forms, assemble colored beauty. Chrysalia, Montreal multi-instrumentalist Eve Parker Finley’s stunning debut full-length, holds within it that same gooey potion, expending the burden of terrestrial flesh to build toward some colourful winged future.
Born herself out of the ashes of several former Montreal projects (Lonely Boa, MagicPerm), Finley began a hectic 2020 by turning her back on both a graduate program and a full-time career with plans of committing to creative pursuits. After nearly a decade of Montreal bonafides in art circuits as diverse as drone sleepovers, classical concert halls, and pop band house parties, Finley’s first solo effort shows the mark of a practiced craftsman bent on superstardom. With an approach rooted as much in baroque neoclassicism as popstar bombast, Finley’s latest proves a daring effort from an exceptional artist at the top of her game.
Chrysalia (2020, via COAX and Floraphone) dives deep into the gooey chaos of transformation, an ethereal dream space that effortlessly glides from the delicate marches and syncopated stepwork of Berlin electronica and UK dub, to the desperate yearning of contemporary classical, and continues further still into the elemental denouements of post-rock and indie classics. With a tracklist that pulses forward from Montreal’s sweaty and thudding warehouses to the pensive open fields of small town Ontario, Chrysalia is the fissure in the shell, a small window exposing the gooey mess beneath, and the rare talent at its center.