Martina Sorbara of Toronto synth pop band Dragonette are taking a break from writing their new album and collaborating with countless other musicians to play Freshfest at the University of Lethbridge, Sept. 12.
Sorbara and band mates Dan Kurtz and Joel Stouffer , best known for their hits ‘Hello,’ ‘Run, Run,Run,’ ‘Live In this City and ‘Big in Japan,’ return to Lethbridge for the first time since 2013 to play Freshfest Jamboree with a variety of other acts including Grandtheft, The Dudes, Kytami, Alee, the Blue and AJ Baragar.
“We’ve only got three shows this fall. U of L, UBC and Toronto. I wish we could do more, but we’re not allowed because we’ve got to finish the album,” Sorbara said.
“ We always enjoy the welcome back shows. There’s so many elements. But the audience is always enthusiastic and a lot of young kids,” she said, adding there are a lot of technical aspects to the show which have been improved, which may not be apparent to the audience.
“I know there's more clarity on stage and I’m having fun every night,” she said, promising a lot of new songs in the show.
“I know people want to hear the songs they know, but we have a lot of new songs, so I hope they will be patient with us,” she said.
She is excited about finishing the new album, which she hopes will be ready for a winter release.
“I can’t quite put my finger on it. There is a softness to the new songs, though it won’t be a soft album. There will still be a lot of sounds and still a lot of electronica. But there are a lot of textures and it’s quite vulnerable,” she said.
The band moved back to Toronto from London, Ontario three years ago, and things have been happening quickly for Dragonette. They have been asked to collaborate on a lot of other artists’ songs.
“We’ve been doing a lot of collaboration, so that has afforded us time or maybe that’s why finishing the new album has taken so long. It’s been a long time coming” she said.
She enjoys the collaborative process.
“ I get a lot of music in my inbox,” she said, adding she often never knows what will happen with the finished product until it is released.
“I wrote two songs with Christian Karlsson from the band Miik Snow, who has written pretty much every single Britney Spears song you know, so that was amazing. It’s been super inspiring,” she said adding some of the collaborations have more than exceeded her expectations, like “Peanut Butter, Jelly.”
“It ended up being the biggest thing we did,” she said.
“I love the process of collaboration,” she added, noting usually she will collaborate online, but sometimes they need to do it in person.
“ It’s difficult to open yourself up to a person and be vulnerable to a person you don’t really know and let them really know you,” she said.
Performers include hip hop artist Grandtheft, Calgary rock band the Dudes, fiddle virtuoso Kytami, who used to play with Delhi2Dublin, local rapper the Blue and AJ Baragar.
The Freshfest Jamboree, which runs from 3-11 p.m. on Sept. 12 at the University of Lethbridge outside the Student’s Union Building, is open to students or as a guest of a student for $25.
— By Richard Amery, l.A. Beat Editor
