After establishing herself as the lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter in Sparklesaurus, an Ottawa-based dream-pop band, Fliss (aka Felicity DeCarle) has ventured on her own as a solo artist with a new folk/country sound.
This project highlights her tender vocals and introspective signwriting style. Her debut single as a solo artist, Comfrey and Calendula was released on December 6th, with a full EP to follow in 2021. Comfrey and Calendula is the most vulnerable song DeCarle has written to date and it explores the tops of trauma, abuse, religion and homophobia amidst a tender backdrop.
I spoke with DeCarle about embarking on new beginnings with her solo career, her upcoming releases and her life as a musician during lockdown.
On the end of Sparklesaurus and her solo career
After DeCarle’s former dream-pop band, Sparklesaurus, with some of her childhood friends recently came to its natural conclusion, she started to focus on her solo career. However, she notes, the band members are all still best friends.
“There is no bad blood there,” she says.
During her time with Sparklesaurus DeCarle says she was always writing songs. Some of the songs were written specifically to play with Sparklesaurus but adds, she “always had other songs on the side that I was working on that weren’t quite a fit for the band.”
“Once we kind of decided to call it quits more or less with the band, I already had all these songs that I was potentially planning on doing something with eventually, didn’t know what that was,” she explains.
DeCarle says it was mostly the style that helped decide which songs she would tackle as Fliss.
“I’ve never really shied away too much from writing very personal songs, even with the band because we were all so close so I never really felt weird sharing personal stuff because it was all out in the open anyways,” she says.
On deciding to release her most vulnerable song “Comfrey and Calendula”
DeCarle shared that she wrote the song almost two years ago and is releasing it now because it took that long to bring it to life, to record it how she wanted to.
“I had the help of quite a few friends on it as well, so one of my friends is playing drums, one of my friends is playing violin, one of my friends is playing bass and then my friend Charlie actually produced, engineered, mix and mastered it and played keys on it,” she says.
The song was also written during a hard time when she was coming to terms with homophobic family members.
“I wrote it all in one shot and it just spilled out of me, so it comes from a very internal place…in writing it, I was working through a lot of these issues in my own mind, it was almost like a conversation with myself,” DeCarle explains.
Writing the song also allowed her to “process a lot of these difficult traumas, which sounds really intense, but [she wants] it to come across in still a very loving way”.
“I’m still a little bit nervous to release it honestly, especially as my first single that I’m releasing as a solo artist,” she says. “It’s deep and dark and personal and intense, that’s why I say it’s my most vulnerable song that I’ve written to date. There’s been enough time since I have written it, it has created a little distance at least, I’m not feeling it so heavily, there was a time I couldn’t get through the song without crying.”
“I’m at the point now where I can perform the song and not be breaking down while playing it,” DeCarle shares.
On her transition from a dream-pop sound with Sparklesaurus to a folk/country with Fliss
Over the past few years, DeCarle has gotten more into old country music and fallen in love with singing in that style.
“I think because I have been listening to so much of that and also jamming with my friends, it kind of just filtered into my own music style,” she says.
However, DeCarle says her indie-folk, alt-country style as Fliss is different from traditional country.
“I am not a storyteller in the same format as those songs, but I still derive influence sound-wise and melody-wise, but the way I write lyrics is different,” she explains.
On being a musician during lockdown
DeCarle recently moved to Edmonton, Alberta with her partner and had a West Coast tour booked for the spring and summer.
“There was going to be a month-long tour,” DeCarle says, “and I had all the stops booked, and all the band, so I had to cancel all that. It was going to be my first solo tour too.”
Despite this disappointment, she remains positive.
“I’m glad I have this release as something to look forward to and something to work towards.” Still, DeCarle shared that “it’s been hard to adjust to not being able to play live, when I moved to Edmonton that was the plan, I [was] going to make the most of being in this city and being out west and play live as much as possible and meet other musicians in the area, which hasn’t really happened.”
DeCarle also says that she’s had less inspiration since COVID hit and that she’s been having a harder time finding things to write about.
On her upcoming EP
“Overall, it’s a similar direction but each song is very much an entity, as opposed to all of them flowing into each other in one similar progression,” DeCarle says.
The songs were written over “different periods…some of the songs were written a few years ago, some were written more recently,” she explains.
Even though she says not every song sounds exactly like Comfrey and Calendula DeCarle hopes that people who like the song will enjoy her upcoming EP.