By: Hailey Miller, Staff Writer
Born in Ottawa, and a long-time resident of Montréal, Leif Vollebekk is an indie artist whose music is full of smooth rhythms, soft melodies, and lilting lyrics. His highly-anticipated album, Revelation, will be released on September 27, with a European tour to follow this fall. I had the pleasure of interviewing Vollebekk over the phone ahead of his performance at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, which took place on July 19.
“It’s always lovely playing a folk festival. I haven’t played Vancouver in what feels like a million years,” Vollebekk said, adding that he feels at home on stage. He also touched on how “the audiences are always so nice” at folk festivals around the country — where he’s also playing in both Calgary and Edmonton.
Vollebekk’s musical influences stem from a variety of places. “I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan,” he said, also listing The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Radiohead. From thoughtful musicality to pondering lyrics that seep through every line of a Bob Dylan song, Vollebekk reminisced on his early days of music. “I kinda got lost in that,” he said.
As our interview took him on a trip down memory lane — combing through his inspirations, songwriting, and recordings of the past — it was evident that Vollebekk has come a long way, shifting his sounds and focus. Regardless of Vollebekk questioning whether he’s “evolved” as a musician, it’s clear the answer lies in the thread-woven orchestration of his songs and the depth of his lyrics. “I’ve definitely doubled-down on a couple of concepts, like playing live and recording with a live band,” he added.
“Once I get the band together and the studio together, and everything sounds good, and we get all the sounds right, then we just do one live take,” he explained. “It’s kind of like an old-school way of making records,” he said of playing live off the floor — meaning from start to finish, with vocals and instrumentals done all together — and recording to tape.
With Revelation, Vollebekk was able to “get a bit closer” to his desires. “When you first start out, you don’t know anything,” he said with a hearty laugh. At first, he didn’t know what mixing and mastering was, and that a song wouldn’t be finished immediately after being recorded, but quickly learned to unveil the multiple layers involved in producing a record. Now, with more experience and four years’ worth of effort poured into it, Vollebekk looks forward to Revelation’s release this September.
Two singles have already been released ahead of Revelation being dropped: “Moondog” and “Southern Star.” Vollebekk had “Southern Star” in his back pocket for years, which he used to play live before ever recording it. With deep, echoey piano keys and tender poetry spoken of the speaker’s “friend or lover,” this track is the perfect slow dance ballad for a cool summer night. At first, Vollebekk sung it solo, then later landed on the drum part. Once those pieces came together, the recording process took shape, and it soon became the first track recorded for Revelation.
“‘Moon Dog’ was written entirely on acoustic guitar,” Vollebekk explained, knowing the idea of the song right off the bat. A kickdrum was all that was needed to set the track ablaze with rhythmic emotion. Vollebekk recalled watching The Beatles: Get Back documentary, where they didn’t fully have “Get Back” together until the keys were added in by Billy Preston. Evidently, Vollebekk relates this to his own songwriting and recording processes, as he continues to find elements that perfect a song.
From adding strings, harmonies, orchestration, and synthesizers, with various band members, and even quartets, Vollebekk’s recording process is vast. He leaves no stone unturned when squeezing out every ounce of talent and pouring it into his works. “It involves people’s emotions,” he explained. “When people are all in the room together, they really wanna get it,” Vollebekk said, of capturing the takes.
Touring gives Vollebekk a space to further develop his idea, and looks forward to getting back on the road. Listen to the release of Revelation come September 27, and prepare to be immersed in vast orchestration and effortless vocals.
