FOONYAP set to release new album
By Rachel Woodward, Oct 11 2016 —
Foon, who goes by stage name FOONYAP, was born in Calgary and has been part of the local music scene since the age of four.
After classical violin training, she entered the Mount Royal Conservatory of Music at the age of 11 and has been involved in the music industry since.`
“I had an intense classical music training until I was 17,” FOONYAP says. “I dropped out of the conservatory and for a couple years I listened to a lot of punk music and post-punk and then I started my own band. In 2009 I started writing some of the songs that are appearing on this album and here I am today releasing my first solo album.”
That album, Palimpsest, will be released on Oct. 21. She will perform at the Ironwood Bar and Grill on Oct. 20 to celebrate the release. FOONYAP says that her upbringing and exposure to various genres of music .helped form her unique style.
“I describe it as folk music influenced by Asian elements and electronic. If [audiences] are a little bit more versed in the music scene I’ll tell them it’s minimalist, electronic, introspective, dark and foreboding,” she says.
The 10-track album is a delicate exploration of FOONYAP’s past, while still hinting at future hopes and dreams. A “palimpsest” is a manuscript that has been altered but still shows aspects of its former or original self. FOONYAP says she worked with her producer to create the album in an organic way.
“Recording started in 2014 and took a year and a half. Instead of coming into the studio and recording basically what you hear live, my producer and I delve into that electronic production mode and allowed the songs to shift as we recorded them and worked with the textures,” she says.
FOONYAP is a University of Calgary alumni and says while receiving her bachelor’s degree in communications, her professors helped her music flourish into the state it is today.
“Going to U of C had a huge impact on my music career because I had professors who were willing to work with my artistic tendencies,” she says.
FOONYAP will embark on tour next summer and is working on a remix EP.
“I want to explore more of the classical gaps of knowledge in my training, to go back and visit those,” she says. “I want to explore Indian classical music and hone my electronic skills and take a dive into bluegrass. I’m sure the next album will be just fucked up.”
The album release party will start at 8:00 p.m. on Oct. 20. Admission is $17 at the door.