Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.
Every Monday, there will be a fresh ‘New Music Monday’ article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up-and-coming, well established or hidden gems!
For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at CFUV 101.9 FM, UVic’s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.
This week, Dana Sipos is the New Music Monday highlight!
Dana Sipos has been a prominent figure in Victoria’s music scene since she moved here from Toronto in February 2020, just a month before the pandemic set in.
Her music style can be described as cosmic folk, or tenderly-skewed folk.
“I feel like [tenderly-skewed folk] really suits the style, because I’m not doing this on purpose, but my song-writing isn’t really straight forward, a lot of it is kind of cloaked,” Sipos told Victoria Buzz.
“It’s a bit skewed with a tenderness to it I suppose.”
Sipos says her earliest memories of music are of her mother singing to her in bed, and through her young life when she took piano and violin lessons.
Though in her teen years she quit taking lessons, she came back to music by picking up a guitar and slowly finding her voice.
“I was going to school at [Dalhousie] but moved to Yellowknife and was there in the summers and living there full time after, and that was where I really kind of came into my own as a songwriter,” said Sipos.
“There was a very cool supportive arts community and it was a pretty cool place to live geographically with all the natural elements and stuff.”
From there she has continued to write a lot, has moved around Canada, living in Vancouver, Toronto, then Victoria and has released six albums.
The latest of her albums, Golden Molten, was just released on January 23rd.
Sipos says that this whole album has a lot to do with themes of transformation and embracing change.
“It kind of refers to that moment when pressure is so intense it kind of comes to a head—it’s maybe not the best example but when coal is getting squished [and turns to diamond],” she explained.
“So Golden Molten in my mind is when that pressure is happening, that’s the general theme of the album—a lot of songs are looking at certain situations of chances where there’s pressure.”
Sipos added that she was really trying to explore those states of pressure and change, trying to see what something will look like on the other end.
Highlight Track – “Gemstone”
“Gemstone” is the second track on Golden Molten, and was released as a single along with the album.
Sipos says the first line, “When they crack you open do they find you glowing?” sets the stage for what this song explores, which coincidentally has a lot to do with the overarching theme of the record.
“That whole ‘Gemstone’ thing, like when you’re cracked open, what will they find draws back to these themes of what’s going to reveal in this pressure situation,” she said.
“The song looks at some of those cracks a little bit closer.”
She says this song stems from a time when she was going in for a surgery, which sparked the idea for that introductory line of the song, as Sipos contemplated the fact that she would literally be cracked open in a way.
“I was trying to put a bit of a poetic lens on that experience, or to try to take the edge off it” she added.
The song also speaks to “dreamers,” which Sipos says she hoped would invoke the idea of letting the present reality go, even just for a moment.
“Something that can take us past our present moment, especially if we’re in a uncomfortable or painful situation,” she explained.
“If you’re a dreamer then you can always shoot yourself into the future and have a bit of relief there.”
Sipos noted that “Gemstone,” like much of her music, began as a song about one thing, but weaves in a number of other ideas and thoughts for the listener to ponder and find their own meaning in.
Listen to “Gemstone” by Dana Sipos below:
Check out Golden Molten by Dana Spos in its entirety on Bandcamp, Tidal, Apple Music and Spotify.
Now that the album has been released, Sipos will be embarking on a 21-date nation-wide tour alongside Miina, another powerhouse Victoria act.
Miina and Sipos will be playing at the Capital Ballroom on May 9th, near the end of the tour before heading up-island for two last shows in Tofino and Port McNeill.
Follow her on Instagram to stay up-to-date on all upcoming shows and music releases.
Related:
- New Music Monday: CORRODE releases split EP with hockey-themed hardcore band Slewfoot
- New Music Monday: Porcelain Horse release chart topping EP years after break up
- New Music Monday: Trackmeet releases first indie-powerhouse single ‘Johanna’
CFUV is a non-profit campus and community radio station that plays a ton of local music of all kinds across Vancouver Island. If you like to support local music they are an amazing resource with a plethora of new local tunes in their arsenal.
“I’m a huge fan and supporter of community and campus radio,” said Sipos.
“It seems like there’s a lot of love behind the project there, and making sure that all sorts of genres and all sorts of people are represented—they do a really thoughtful job.”
Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or online!
Let us know what you think of Dana Sipos in the comments below!
