What People Say
“Carlie is unquestionably a masterful and passionate bassist, but perhaps their truest strength is the ability to put you entirely at ease while also inspiring you to be better. When we play together, I feel like my best self, both musically and personally. She is a comforting presence, a well of kindness, compassion, and humour, and is just an absolute joy to work with..”
— Brielle Ansems (Songwriter, Recording Artist, Vocalist, Multi-Instrumentalist)
COUNTY LINE ROMANCE is the country folk project of Tanya Davis and Carlie Howell. With intimate covers of classic tunes and lilting new compositions, the duo explores what life is like in the country, what love is like when you go slow and steady, and what sounds come from a shuffle down a rural road.
photo © Carlie Howell 2023
BEVERLY GLENN-COPELAND is a 76 year old Black trans man who arrived at McGill University in the 1961 and hasn’t quit making music since. His unique style is an idiosyncratic mix of ambient electronica, jazz, classical, and psychedelic folk, featured on two renowned albums – an eponymous record from 1970 and Keyboard Fantasies, a cassette released in 1986. Since his rediscovery, he has toured twice across Canada, the UK and Europe and appeared at the MOMA PS1.
photo © Sophie Valentin 2019
CULTURE REJECT creates Lo-Fi Soul music in broken pop-songs, characterized as the “boldness of the new Canadian sound,” with comparisons to Yo La Tengo, Frank Black and Feist. Culture Reject’s latest ‘Breaking with the World’ (Specific, France) -a collection of lushly constructed, broken pop anthems with a futurist lens. mixed by Justin Nace (Andy Shauff, Alvvays)
photo © K. North 2012
LARANJEIRAS are a Brazilian-Canadian trio interpreting their womanhood through poetry, song and double bass. They bring new light to old songs, and their original works reimagine what it means to be in relationship; with themselves, each other, and the world they live in. They are romantics and rebels, old souls and young at heart, the girls next door and the international women. Sweet orange blossom meets poisonous petal – this is witchcraft that is Laranjeiras.
photo © Marcela Boechat 2016
OS TROPIES grew out of the impossibility of travelling back in time. Influenced by the music of the revolutionary tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil, these six Canadians versed themselves in psychedelic rock and popular culture in order to imagine what it was like to be a Brazilian radical in a time of heavy political turmoil and protest song purism. Even in present day Toronto, there is still plenty to say and ways to say it: fuzz guitars, theremins, berimbaus, cowboy triangles, some sha-la-las, and haunted church organs all make up Os Tropies palette of sounds, an international cannibalist love affair of a sound, in irreverent and impassioned musical juxtaposition.
photo © K. North 2013
THE RIVER PILOTS is an instrumental trio with an eclectic yet captivating sound. Their original compositions are inspired through improvisation, and take root in the organic nature of traditional folk musics from around the world. They have 2 albums The Unexpected Adventures of… and 432, as well as DELTA, a graphic novel with accompanying CD. They have just been accepted into the Hall’s Island Residency 2020 to create a site-specific recording.
photo © Daphne Simone 2013
VULVA BEAT is a collective using our musical voices to project our political cries. We are predominantly woman, but include male allies, and play music that speaks to the talents and tribulations of women around the world.
photo © Taiana S. 2019
CARLIE HOWELL 