Onelight album release party at the Media Club, Saturday, Nov. 23, 8 p.m. Tickets $10. For more information visit themediaclub.ca.
On a rainy night in Vancouver singer/songwriter Amy Usher and drummer/producer Hamish Thomson met up to discuss music.
"We really didn't know each other very well," Usher says. "We spent one night in the studio talking about what it is to live a musical life without actually playing anything together."
Instantly a connection was made and the two joined forces to form indie electronica duo, Onelight.
"He texted me the next morning and said are you into this? And I said I was," she says. "The next morning it was on."
Tomorrow night Onelight will be throwing their album release party at the Media Club in Vancouver.
"We are really excited because it has been a long time to get the record recorded," Thomson says. "We've done a lot of tours trying to improve on our live show."
"This time we have a great roster of musicians coming in," Usher says. "It's going to be a special night for us."
Three days later, Onelight will officially release their independent eponymous debut. The duo explains that the 12-track album is beat driven with lots of harmonies.
"It is sort of a mix of my influences from a singer/songwriter perspective and Hamish's electronic sound. So it's a unique sound created from those two things meeting," Usher says about their upcoming album.
"It's a real mix of electronic music and acoustic instruments," Thomson, a former Capilano University student, adds. "There are lots of layers."
Usher says they made the album out of love and didn't have any expectations with it.
"The record has really taken shape to part of our own life journey," Usher says. "It really speaks to the soul of journey and to have that sense of unbridled optimism and opportunity that you get."
Usher and Thomson, who both reside on the North Shore, come from musical backgrounds. Thompson, who went under the stage name The Hermit, was signed to Nettwerk Records and released three albums.
The Powell River, B.C., native says that he decided to leave The Hermit after he felt like he was losing focus.
"I kind of got to the point where I felt like I was losing focus of what it was I was doing," Thomson says. "I was making ambient sounding music and then when we would go and play in different places they would want to hear more upbeat music and we started rocking out a bit more."
"I feel like I've come back to the beginning in a sense," he says.
Usher, originally from Toronto, has spent the majority of her life travelling the world creating music.
For the duo the name Onelight represents the idea that humans are all related in one way or another.
The songs on this album really speak to that," Usher says. "It also speaks to that idea of people who are able to have one foot on the street and remain grounded and then have one foot up in the milky way."
Onelight have previously performed in Vancouver, New York State and toured throughout India. The North Vancouver duo says India is a great example of the meaning behind their name.
"It seemed to me like everyone was honking and not paying attention to the road signs but at the same time it worked. It was like this organic beauty," Thomson says about India.
"It is this total beat of life there but then everybody is super connected. There are temples at every corner and a real sense of connection to a higher spirit and our higher self," Usher adds.
Thomson says that the clubs in the major cities, such as New Delhi, are similar to bars and clubs in North America.
"It could have been anywhere," Thomson says. "You get your meal, your ticket and there is a sound check. Everything is totally the same in that sense."
While in India, Onelight performed at the Rajasthan Desert Festival in the Thar Desert, near the border of Pakistan.
"It was totally enlightening and totally exhausting at the same time," Usher says. "Just getting there was tough. You know how you get stuck in snow drifts in Canada? We got stuck in sand drifts just trying to get to the venue."
"We had camels hauling our gear around. It was amazing," Thomson adds.
Onelight were the only band from North America performing at the festival. The duo played two sets out in the desert, which included a set in the blazing afternoon heat. "It was basically high noon. It was absolutely brutal." Thomson says.
"People had to find shade just to watch," Usher says.
