Winnipeg based musician Aaron Funk, who is best known for his work under the alias Venetian Snares, and Toronto based producer and music artist Joanne Pollock first met in Belgium when Joanne attended one of his shows. Back in Canada, Joanne visited Aaron in his studio and played him her own music. From then on, a musical partnership was born and they called it Poemss. Yesterday saw the release of their self-titled debut album, a ten-track effort written collaboratively in Winnipeg between January and May of 2013. Here’s how the pair described the album:
“To us, this album is an album of beginnings. It’s the beginning of knowing someone, the beginning of a new creative endeavour, and fresh possibilities. The very first song that we wrote together is included in these tracks, and was to us just an experiment. As musicians, it seemed natural to see what we would make. We can hear ourselves becoming more comfortable with each other as it progresses; an evolution recorded in an album. This record comes from a very intimate place for both of us, largely because it was recorded in Aaron’s house, where Joanne was visiting at the time. However, although it was recorded in Winnipeg, to us this record seems less rooted in a particular place or time, and seems more to be born out of our thoughts, dreams, and reflections. Listening back to every track, it is difficult for us to isolate which parts either of us brought individually to each song. We launch each other creatively, melodically. One of us will usually be inspired again to add to what the other is laying down and it works in a kind of cycle like this. It’s a nice way to flow and pleasantly surprising to see what the other person brings to it. Much of the time, it really sounds like the two of us together rather than a combination of what we do individually.”
To allure you into Poemss, take a listen to the track ‘Moviescapes’.
Poemss is out now via Planet Mu.