cloud collecting #15: Laurie Torres
on finishing ideas in one session, opening our senses to possibility + trying new sound combinations
cloud collecting features three-question interviews with women and gender-expansive artists, exploring their creative processes. I recently had the pleasure of connecting with Montreal-based musician and composer Laurie Torres about her newly released debut EP, Correspondances, along with her insights on improvisation, photography, and the essence of play.
Laurie Torres is a Canadian musician and composer raised in Montréal, Québec by Haitian parents. Since 2008, she has been a trusted stage and studio performer for Julia Jacklin, Pomme, and Land of Talk, with live tours spanning across Canada, the United States, Europe, the UK, and Australia. She was also a founding member of Folly & The Hunter, with whom she recorded four studio albums and toured Canada, Europe, and the UK.
Growing up in South Shore, an eclectic love for music bloomed, traversing hip-hop (Nas, Missy Elliott), Motown, household rotations of 70s-80s Haitian music and pop before deep diving into post-rock local royalty Godspeed You! Black Emperor. As a child, Torres began classical piano lessons which continued into her teenage years, where she went on to pick up drums, playing high school bands and jazz ensembles, embedding herself in Montréal’s enriching community.
In 2023, Laurie shifted focus to work on her own creations, a process of making time - the will and the need becoming omnipresent, leading to what would be her ‘Correspondances’ ep. Her debut album, which centers around the piano, drums and synthesizer, will be released on the label imprint Tonal Union in early 2025.
1. Congratulations on the release of your debut solo EP, Correspondances, which came out last week on Tonal Union! The first track you shared, "Intérieurs," showcases your unique approach, being based on improvisation with both drums and piano performed by you. Were all the songs on the EP created with this free and improvisational mindset? And what inspired you to compile your own collection of music after years of being in bands and working as a studio session musician?
I was always making music throughout the years – loops on Ableton, piano or guitar riffs here and there. Over the years, as I became busier with work, creating my own music became more of an urge, but I struggled to find the time and space to sit and create something that I would see through. It felt like my entire process needed to change.
I wanted to start and finish musical ideas in one session, and not have to constantly reopen and rework old tracks after long gaps of time – I wanted to exploit momentum. Improvisation as an approach allows me to do that: it both forces me to be present and to take the time, while making the process of creation spontaneous and quick. And what that “quick” process allows is quite beautiful and vulnerable: it requires me to put self-doubt aside, and to follow my intuition. And it leads to happy accidents.
When I recorded the songs from Correspondances, I showed up to the studio without preparing, wanting to make something that would reflect the mood of that time and place, and my state as I was making it. I would sit at the piano and pick a key, come up with general direction/speed/energy, and hit record after a couple of minutes. I would then overdub drums in a similar manner – have a go or two at playing to myself, or with myself, intuitively. I made a conscious effort not to track over and over again, and redo. I wanted to trust the initial ideas that came out and commit to those surprises that improvisation allows for.
Additional instruments such as bass and in situ field recordings were overdubbed to underline some parts and glue everything together.
2. As a multidisciplinary artist, you play multiple instruments and are also a talented photographer. How does your photography influence your music, and how does your music inform your photography? Additionally, do you have any practices that help you balance all the creative pursuits you enjoy?
I’m by no means a professional photographer, but I’ve always been very intrigued by the colors, shapes and angles that surround us. Photography allows me to capture, as best as I can, that initial enchantment I can feel from something I see. When I notice something special, and capture it, I feel lucky (and with film photography, that sense of luck is even stronger when the photo is finally “revealed”).
I believe that this approach translates into musical improvisation. Recording whatever comes out can lead to happy accidents, surprises – and feeling that enchantment as I play feeds my inspiration and my playing.
Taking the time to see, and to hear, in a way, opens my eyes and my ears to possibility. The more I look, the more I see. The more I improvise, the more ideas come to me.
3. How do you cloud collect (connect to childlike wonder) in your creativity?
I love experiencing new things. That can take many forms, but one example is that I change my set up constantly.
I do love experimenting with new synths or pedals, but I also just love to move things around in my signal path and try new sound combinations with what I already have handy. In doing so, I (often accidentally) discover new tricks just by playing around and making soundscapes without an end goal but to make something I like. I like to think of these jams like a conversation with my instruments. I’m getting deep into my knowledge of them through creation, avoiding an approach that would be too intellectual or technical from the get-go. This practice is full of surprises, and has been a great source of inspiration.
Similarly, I have the privilege to visit new places regularly – mostly through tours. This allows for constant exploration, and the experience of new sights and sounds. I love taking long walks and basking into this sense of discovery – and I take photos when I can.
Best online places to find + support Laurie:
Love this. Thanks for the introduction!
Very, very wonderful read and stunning pictures!