Saint John musician Sadie merges pop and grunge influences on her new single, Popcorn.
Matt Carter
It’s really easy to pigeonhole a music scene. For years I’ve talked about Saint John as being this hotbed for loud, noisy rock and roll, born from an era of mohawks, plaid and army boots. And while there is some truth to that assumption, it is certainly a narrow perspective. Over the past few years we’ve been treated a wealth of sounds coming out of Saint John that speak to something much larger, much more diverse than guitars cranked to 11. Artists like Brent Mason, Kylie Fox, Tooth and the Fang and Jessica Rhaye have helped strengthen folk music’s place within the city’s musical makeup, with countless others doing their part to diversify my outsider’s perspective.
Channeling much of what is happening in her hometown right now, the new single from Sadie ties together a lot the city’s musical strengths. Opening with a simple melodic guitar hook, Popcorn quickly morphs from pop familiarity to unconstrained rock and roll with a subtly that builds as the song gives way to a grungy guitar solo before eventually dissolving back into its original form, relaxing, breathing, reflecting.
Since her 2014 debut se, Sadie has released only a small handful of singles over the past six years. Remaining an active player in the city’s live music scene, her interest in recording seemed less of a priority until now.
Speaking on a recent edition of the Strange Grooves Podcast, Sadie and Corey Bonnevie, who engineered and produced the track at his Monopolized Studios, explained a bit about the song and the process that went into creating the track.
“I think we started it before quarantine and then finished the track once we were allowed to get together again,” said Sadie. “It’s called Popcorn because I thought it sounded poppy and Corey referred to it as a pop song, which it is. I kinda like the name because I think it’s fun and it’s cute and I can put popcorn emojis in my posts.”
“Sadie came over and we started just layer things, just the two of us,” said Bonnevie. “The whole track is just the two of us. I remember we recorded a lot of stuff and just threw everything at the wall.”
Popcorn is out today on Bandcamp. It’s also Bandcamp Friday which means if you purchase anything on the platform, independent artists and labels like Sadie and Monopolized Records will receive 100% of the sale.
You can catch Sadie performing her new single, opening for indie-folk trio The Olympic Symphonium on November 20 in Fredericton at Charlotte Street Art Centre. Keep an eye on Sadie’s Facebook page for upcoming Livestream performances.
