Celebrating Life's Sensuousness with Lou Canon's 'Audomatic Body'

Lou Canon joined our Tower Livestream on Instagram to talk about her new album, Audomatic Body, out in July, with Whitney Moore.

Though Lou Canon’s work is usually categorized as “Electronica”, her compositions are genre-pushing and often have a strong use of vocals, particularly evident on the new release.

Lou Canon is in Toronto, and they are in “Phase 2” of opening, where some shops are open and some socializing is allowed. It might be a little better with mask wearing there, with something of a “cautious” approach, than it has been in the USA.

Asked about what she’s been up to in quarantine, Canon said that she found it “paralyzing” at first, feeling a lot of “insecurity” about the health of her community and family. It felt like a struggle to promote her new record, with so much going on. They moved her May release to July to help with that. She tends to couple creativity with a “break in routine” and that’s been difficult because days feel the same right now.

She’s been trying to “look at an old space with new eyes” and finds that a more “productive and healthier way” to operate than in the past, so that’s been a positive development. Her bad habits lately have been eating ice cream every day. But the things that “remain the same” have been the parts keeping her together and “grounded”, like her community and learning to work in her own studio space.

There’s a “new life” in that space now because she has been forced to be there rather than touring and going to South by Southwest as originally planned.

Moore observed that “we need music desperately” right now and asked how Canon feels about that.  Canon thinks we do need new music right now, and it’s a “language, religion, voice, and therapy” to us, but at the same time, listening and learning has been a big part of her experience right now. So she’s trying to find a balance and make sure she’s not just trying to get a spotlight for herself but is also paying attention to what’s happening in the world for black and indigenous people.

Canon has been working on music a little bit, and a lot of her creative energy is going into presentation of the album and creating the “visual side” of it through the photos and music videos that she’s been releasing.

Moore described the new album as “romantic” and “sexy”, and noted that people refer to her music as a “whisper” sometimes. Moore asked if Canon has an idea of who she creates music for. Canon said it’s somewhat for “everybody” but there was a “shift in her vision” on this record.

She bought an OP1, this keyboard that’s tiny, that allows for sampling, and she’s been recording her voice and “shifting” her voice on it. She started with the idea of “The Chorus”, a track you’ll hear on the album. Like in the ancient Greek world, this chorus helps guide the audience through a story, and “sets the flavor” of the performance.  It helps guide the audience to be “sensual” and “sensuous”, and “sensual” may be the most important word to describe this record, Canon said.

She’s been diving into Black literature, reading a book by James Baldwin called The Fire Next Time, and he has a quote that describes for him what it means to be sensual. He talks about the fact that to be sensuous is to “rejoice in life” and to be present in everything in daily life and love. Canon is asking the listener to be “present” and shift from the “automatic” to the “intentional”. She’s been “diversifying” her reading intentionally because of Black Lives Matter. The book starts with a letter that Baldwin wrote to his nephew on the 100^th anniversary of emancipation, but is reflecting on the racism and oppression that was going on at that time. It’s horrifying to realize that it’s all still going on now.

Another one is a newer book, How to be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi, which she finds to be very “eye-opening” and Canon has been reading it and discussing it with her husband. The author has a great way of explaining that racism is not a “permanent place”, but it does matter how you’re acting in a particular moment. Another book is a book by Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is “beautiful”, and she recommends reading.

Does she have anything to say to fellow white people about how to start on a journey to being antiracist? Canon said that “listening and learning” is a great place to start. Many musicians and public figures are speaking online, so listen and support these communities.

Lou Canon will continue to use some of her innovations in a live set up in future, once that’s happening again. The album seems more “plural” than previous albums, according to feedback she’s gotten, Canon said. She started using an app on her phone to record sounds happening around her, and “became enamored” of a woman who she heard on the train speaking in both French and English when traveling back and forth to Montreal. Then after a couple encounters, she asked if she could record the woman’s voice for her album. You’ll hear it there on the interlude into the song “Sleeper Wave”. She’s given the woman the name “Auralee”, which is the name of the cabin she slept in the night she and her husband were married.

Canon’s previous album was more “cinematic” in sound and she “shifted away from that” in Audomatic Body. Other voices on the album include her brother-in-law Hayden, who is a musician and has been a guide and “inspiration” for her. Ariel Engel part of La Force and Broken Social Scene, is on the record. Tim Kingsbury, who is part of Arcade Fire is there, too.

Asked about the music video for “Invisible Desire”, Canon said that the visual side of creating music is as important to her as the music itself. She got the idea for the video from a previous experience working on a video and created a “piece of work” from her kitchen table at a time when she couldn’t go out and film with other people. It was definitely shaped by “isolation”, but she’s happy with it.

The video for “Next to You” was also part of lockdown, which she started talking with a friend about before quarantine, but took place during quarantine, getting fans to write lyrics on their bodies and film them. It “translated” the isolation that people were feeling and “connected everyone together”.

The song on the album, “M.O.T.R”, “Mouth of the River”, was named after the Russian River in California where she stayed before lockdown. They were supposed to film an elaborate video with dancers wearing fabulous wardrobe, and she’d still like to make this video at some point, but quarantine meant that they didn’t get to film it. There’s a spoken word segment in the song which is really important to Canon, a sort of “belly of the record”, so she would like to make something visual for it. She’s desperate to make an “elaborate dance video” and hopes that’ll happen someday.

Asked about her experience of live shows and what she’d like to be up to in the future, Canon said that she’d really like to tour in Japan. She’s traveled there a few times, not music related, and was fascinated by the culture and the food. She hopes her label watched the show and will get her to Japan!

Talking about the visual aspects of the new album, including the photos for the album, Lou Canon said that she’s working with a woman who she has worked with before, Rebecca Wood. They actually met in a park last night and did another “distance shoot” and had a glass of wine together on separate blankets. These shoots allow Canon to feel “comfortable” with a “camera in her face”. She’s drawn to images that are “awkward” or “uncomfortable” in some way and wants to leave viewers “asking a question”. Rebecca Wood really “challenges” Canon in that way.

She also works with her sister who is a production manager and a good friend, and she helps her find odd props to use on visuals. She has a “tight woman team” around her and relies on them. Her mother is also someone who can “make anything”. Canon found some green satin in a cloth shop and her mother created this bed skirt out of it, which ended up being used on the cover. Her mother helps her take the ideas she has in her head and bring them out, so she’s “fortunate”.

How does awkwardness and sensuality go together on this album, though, Moore asked. Canon said that both require “presence” and “introspection” when you’re viewing these things, but they “play well together”.

Asked about our Tower Records’ motto, No Music, No Life, Canon said that “Music is everything. It’s love, religion, therapy, and art. Music is Life, and Life is Music, so that expression makes sense.”

Is there anything she’d like to say to fans or viewers? Lou Canon said that she wants everyone to be “safe and well and listening and learning”. And that’s it!