There are people who write songs without the audience in mind. They forget all about the eventuality of sharing the song, and about how its atmosphere might allow people to sink into a moment. Coco Love Alcorn is not one of those people.
Her approach to songwriting has changed over the years, but at her core, she’s an artist who has learned to bend energetic frequencies in such a way that you can’t help but become a part of the magic when you’re present for it.
Getting her start in classical Jazz, Coco attended Berkeley College of music when she was 17. Next, a world of gigging, collaborations, mega tours, performances at legendary festivals like Lilith Fair, and a life of genre-melding soul searching, would find her.
But does our destiny ever really find us? Or are we the drivers; making the turns, dodging the road kill, doubling back, and cruising all night to get us exactly where we were always headed?
Early gigs, like a weekly residency at The Passion Café in Vancouver, and gigs at The Glass Slipper, with sit-ins like saxophonist Seamus Blake, led Coco to the beginnings of her experimental journey. If she played a gig with a trio one week, the next she would perform with a stringless arrangement, a solo bassist, or a pianist. These early stages of experimentation opened her up to a new means to achieving something that all great artists should: having fun.
Transitioning from jazz to folk, she performed regularly as a singer-songwriter in some Toronto venues you’ve definitely heard of. The Rivoli, C’est What, and The Hughes Room, became regular backdrops to her “folky years” as she calls them. She toured with the likes of Ani DiFranco, Chantal Kreviazuk, and spent time on the road singing backups for 54-40: a band whose members she eventually formed alt rock band Paloma with. Though these years of travelling the world to festivals like and collaborating with some of the biggest names in the music industry were some of her favourite, she longed for change.
The world of electronic grooves, pulsing movement, samples, and layering; opened up an entirely new form of expression. She began working on projects like Joystick; a soulful experimental electronic duo that you might have heard in series like The L World. Here, she was able to “tinker” with new tools and was ultimately able to begin learning a new artistic language that would transform the way she created art.
Her albums Sugar (2006) and Joyful (2009) seemed to signify the amalgamative efforts of an artist who worked tirelessly to immerse themselves in new genres and fluencies. Pulling from her jazz background, incorporating folk-inspired instrumentation with soul melodies and playing within the grooves of electronica; helped her to create her own vocabulary. One that led to the development of her own unique sound.
After extensive touring, Coco Love brought her new daughter, Ellie, to Owen Sound in order to decompress from the wild ride that had been her life for years. She describes an appreciation for nature as one of the factors that allowed her to slow down here. Some of her favourite spots in the area are Boyd’s Crevasse and a secret spot where she finds Chanterelles, a location I’m not at liberty to disclose.
She explains that “nature is able to accomplish what songs strive to do every time” which is to pull us out of whatever is going on in our lives, and to hold us in a space of connective presence.
Between hikes, and regular unexpected conversations in local gems like Heartwood Home, The Ginger Press, and Boon Bakery, she has experienced a rejuvenative sense of community here.
Coco talks a lot about “catching a song”. The feeling of being in the right place at the right time in order to catch the perfect piece of music before it slips through your fingers… or into a sea of unorganized iPhone voice notes. Before taking her hiatus, she sustained a repetitive strain injury that impaired her ability to play the guitar. What seemed like an obstruction at the time, ended up positively impacting her craft.
Getting back to her art, started playing with a ukulele and a 5 track looper to avoid more strain. This tool allowed her to stack layers of her own voice, creating arrangements in a way she’d never done before. One day, when creating a sonic scene, she accidentally laid the perfect beds for her to express what she’d been feeling. When she looked out from her house, the Sydenham River flowing nearby, she wrote The River.
Soon, The River was picked up by choirs around the world. Directors loved its capability to translate to a group signing environment, and the weight that it seemed to carry was immense.
This inspired her so much that when she returned to touring with her album Wonderland in 2016, she and her manager Steve Kenny contacted choir directors across Canada. This collaboration involved local choirs joining her at every show, and made the performances larger than life.
In the years that followed, she began facilitating online choirs, allowing her to interact with directors and singers from across the globe. Having worked with thousands of singers, she explains how this was a breeding ground for positivity, growth and energy during a universally tough time. When the world closed, Coco was immersed in an online community of music and reciprocity.
As cycles go, after years of dedication to the choir, the pull to “dive back into the woodpile” to carve out the next batch of songs—has returned. If improvisation and audience interaction weren’t already massive components of her music, working with choirs took it to the next level. When she approaches a new song, she often composes from a place of “how can this be elevated by my audience in a live setting?”.
In the control room of her new-found digs; a custom home studio, Coco has begun writing and composing her next LP. From jazz and electro-folk, to a ten year period of choral arrangements, she continues to evolve into something new with each album. Now, she focuses on the collaborative elements of play, pursues the healing power of song, and uses the experiences she’s gathered to bring new work to life.
At one point while we’re speaking, Coco tells me “Our job (as artists) is to be in the moment and to bring others into it, but also to create art in a way that is, at times, so solitary”.
She explains balancing the personal, with creating a resonance for others, and I’m overcome by the responsibility she takes. Not only in the pursuit of growth, but in ensuring her music does that intangible thing that music does to people.
To learn more about Coco’s Zoom sessions, online singalongs, and exclusive member updates, visit Patreon,com/CocoLoveAlcorn. To join one of her in-person sessions, visit Wonderlandsingers.com and to access new music and updates visit Cocolovealcorn.com
Written by Marshall Veroni
Photos by Ashley Winters
