CANADIAN TOUR DATES WITH LAND OF TALK BEGIN MAY 1 - TICKETS HERE
WATCH / SHARE “BIKE DREAM” (ROSTAM COVER) HERE
BUY / STREAM “BIKE DREAM” (ROSTAM COVER) HERE
BUY / STREAM IF I WAS, I AM HERE
“Larsen, flanked by a bassist and drummer, breathed his pain so beautifully to life it would have been an injustice to not bear witness to it. With raw lyrics that painted sweet and sombre vignettes, Larsen's songs spoke to a poignantly and honestly lived life. With his voice a confessional hush, he shared lyrical meditations on loss, grief, sugary young love, the unruliness of nature and how small and ostensibly negligible moments and people hold enormous heft in our lives. It was impossible to not fall in love with him.”
Exclaim! | Live Review, Highlands Music Festival
“the unvarnished honesty and worn charm of a bedroom recording while retaining a sense of immaculate beauty” Under The Radar
“Romantic and bittersweet, If I Was I Am oozes folk summertime sadness.” RANGE Magazine
“Listening to a Bells Larsen track feels like a homecoming” The Line Of Best Fit
Photo Credit : Matteo Gueli // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Montreal-based songwriter Bells Larsen is announcing his upcoming tour with Land Of Talk which begins May 1. Tickets are on sale now, full dates can be found below.
In addition to the announcement, Larsen is sharing his cover of Rostam’s “Bike Dream”. “Rostam is one of my favourite songwriters and producers,” says Larsen. “The lush yet epic quality of his music never ceases to make me feel like I’m in a dream. That’s why – of course – I love ‘Bike Dream’ in particular. The song’s lyrics place you in a very specific moment in time while the production (of the original) instills this flourishing sensation of timelessness in your chest. I put my own folky spin on the tune with guitar and doubled-vocals but also tried to maintain the dreaminess of the original with the help of Thanya Iyer’s violin.
“Is this song about the anxiety of biking through a city? Is it about having two boyfriends? Who knows. The song just feels good and that’s why I love it.”
The track arrives complete with a video filmed during the winter in Montreal. “As soon as winter rolls around in Montreal, most people stop biking,” explains Larsen. “Most years, it's too icy to continue riding through the cold. If you walk around Montreal from January-February, you'll see abandoned bikes covered in snow and chained to poles, waiting for their owners to return to them in the spring. There are a select few Montrealers, however, who bare the chilly air on their bikes and keep on keeping on as though they're riding on a summer's day. This video is an ode to both the forgotten bikes and the hardcore people who bike through the winter months.”
WATCH / SHARE “BIKE DREAM” (ROSTAM COVER) HERE
BUY / STREAM “BIKE DREAM” (ROSTAM COVER) HERE
MORE ABOUT BELLS LARSEN
Bells Larsen is a Montreal-based songwriter who weaves together cathartic lyrics and memorable melodies in his music. Drawing from experiences of loss, love, and identity, Larsen's songs speak to his life as a trans, queer person. His folk-inspired sound and ardent lyricism slows down the pace of the world around him to create space for contemplation and expression. Traversing between emblematic and actualized narratives, he sees storytelling as a way to make sense of and connect with both the ordinary and unpredictable moments in life.
Good Grief, the 2022 debut from Larsen, was conceptualised during a time of restoration. Healing from the death of his first love, the album bridges the gaps between I, you, and we to narrate an intentional meditation on how we try to grapple with the meaning of loss. The album was soon met with acclaim; The Revue called Larsen "undeniably one of the most exciting young artists to arrive on the scene." Larsen has been featured on the CBC, Exclaim!, and has showcased his music at School Night, POP Montreal, and SXSW.
If I Was, I Am, his new EP out on Next Door Records, embraces stillness. For Larsen, the last few years have involved a lot of movement — this new collection of songs is an attentive, inquisitive recuperation. He returns sonically to a place of familiarity, reminiscent of early bedroom demos, yet the frequency has shifted. With his newly-baritone voice front and centre, accompanied often only by a guitar, Larsen says: "Contrary to what some might think, the point of my transition isn’t about an arrival at a final destination; I don’t know that such a place exists. The only arrival that makes sense to me is the one where I come home to myself.” Grappling with stories of selfhood, change, and homecoming, If I Was, I Am considers the act of finding oneself as a constant state of becoming.
LISTEN TO BELLS LARSEN’S INTERVIEW ON CBC q HERE
BUY / STREAM IF I WAS, I AM HERE
TOUR DATES WITH LAND OF TALK
May 1 - Park Theatre - Winnipeg, MB
May 3 - Festival Hall - Calgary, AB
May 4 - Aviary - Edmonton, AB
May 6 - Dream Cafe - Penticton, BC
May 7 - Wise Hall - Vancouver, BC