Friday, October 12 marked the EP release of Peterborough musician, Caitlin Currie, who you may also know from the band formerly known as The Cane Toads.

Originally hailing from Whitby, Currie began playing shows for collectives, Broken Arts and Living Culture, at venues such as Isabella’s Café, and Cocoa and Joe Café. Both of these collectives support local artists, musicians, and poets in the area, and can be found on pretty much every social network online.

When I arrived at The Spill, it was already packed with friends and family eagerly supporting and cheering on Currie’s new release. The crowd also gathered in anticipation of performances by locals, I, The Mountain, and Oshawa’s Lady and the Giant.

Lady and the Giant are a cute, folk-indie duo, and they won everybody’s hearts with their unique acoustic covers of popular songs such as Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines”, Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean”, and Lorde’s single, “Royals”.

The Spill is one of my favourite atmospheres for live music, as it invites people to settle into their creative space and let the tunes sink in. Aesthetically unique and insanely eclectic, the environment encourages a think-outside-of-the-box collective consciousness within the crowd.

Titled All a Dream, Currie’s EP was produced and recorded by music label, Fallen Love Records, founded by former Broken Arts member and originator, Harley Pageot. Oshawa’s indie scene took off with the creation of Broken Arts, which Pageot recently retired from, to focus on Fallen Love Records.

Broken Arts is still alive, with a new group of people organizing and running events. Fallen Love Records promotes, produces, and records local bands anywhere from Oshawa to Toronto to California. The single, “All a Dream”, includes bass from Oshawa musician, Jonathan Sloan, who is a member of various bands such as Hairy Holler and Mellowkotzen, as well as violin player, Emily Posteraro, of The Penny Loafers.

The night was a wholesome, all-ages event with Currie’s sister handling doors, and session members, also formerly part of The Cane Toads, jamming out on stage.

The night had been built up for weeks, with a Facebook following and countdown. We were all excited to hear what Fallen Love and Currie had created, and they did not disappoint! The album is beautiful, with a colourful cardboard sleeve donning adorable artwork. For seven dollars, I got into the show and received a copy of Currie’s EP, an excellent deal.

Currie’s album was sold out by the end of the night, so it’s safe to say that it is absolutely worth purchasing! More copies are in the process of being made. You can acquire one by simply contacting Currie, finding Fallen Love Records on Facebook, or looking up All a Dream on Bandcamp for a digital copy of the album!

I asked Caitlin how it felt holding the physical, completed copy of All a Dream and she replied, “It feels very surreal, but I’m so happy with how it’s turned out. Looking out into the crowd at my show and seeing a bunch of people holding my album was such a great feeling.”

I was also curious about the recording process, so Currie filled me in. “It was unlike anything I’ve ever done. Cat Jones and Harley Pageot are amazing. It was just so much more complex than I’d anticipated, and I feel like I got to know my songs much differently. It was both stressful and incredibly fun.”

While on stage, Currie switched up instruments multiple times, rocking the guitar, piano, and accordion, displaying a variety of musical knowledge and talent.

Lastly, I wondered which track off the album Currie preferred the most. “The last track, ‘Je N’Entends Rien’. Although my French is not the greatest, I love that we stripped it down to just my guitar and me. It’s also one of my favourite songs that I’ve ever written. It was one of those rare moments where a song says exactly what you want it to say at that particular time in your life.”

Currie performed every song on her EP, including “Je N’Entends Rien”, which sounded gorgeous.

It’s great to see primarily English-speaking musicians break into Francophone lyrics, reminding everybody that Canada is a bilingual nation with many French-speaking folks. Paying homage to our French side through music is a great way to encourage bilingual dialect. Multi-talented and extremely sweet, the performance was a treat, and everyone who went home with a copy of All a Dream went home smiling.

Keep an ear out for Currie! She performs often, and is heavily involved in Trent and Peterborough theatre. You can find her artist page on Facebook. Don’t forget to grab an album, you will not regret it.