Jennifer Castle takes a break from working with acclaimed artists like Final Fantasy, Fucked Up and Chad VanGaalen.

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Castlemusic with Julie Fader
Palomino
Saturday, October 17 - Saturday, October 17

More in: Folk / Country

Like a trek through the woods with no clear path, the twisting, turning folk songs of Toronto’s Jennifer Castle (a.k.a. Castlemusic) reveal more with each movement. In both her eerily sweet 2008 album, You Can’t Take Anyone, and her semi-improvised live shows, Castle allows herself to explore and meander, favouring spontaneity over structure and powerful performances over perfection.

“I don’t shun structure because my songs have been written and have backbones, but I feel OK to abandon those principles from time to time,” says Castle. “I feel like I’m the most interesting as a performer when I’m working things out in the moment — and I’m definitely my most creative [in that situation]. If something sounds nice about a phrase I said or something I played a little differently than usual, I’ll rearrange the rest of the song around that. I feel like, if something is compelling to me, then it has a chance of being compelling to someone in the audience.”

Hers may not be a household name yet, but Castle has already toured and collaborated with artists as (relatively) well-known and diverse as road-weary rockers The Constantines, mystical minstrel Wyrd Visions and Polaris-winning punks Fucked Up. Earlier this year, she jetted over to Europe with Final Fantasy and is now rolling out West with Chad VanGaalen. However, the honey-voiced singer picked up her first guitar for an onstage debut far away from home in an even more unlikely location.

“I started performing live when I lived in England at age 19,” Castle explains. “There’s a really great folk scene out there and my first live gigs took place at a tiny little venue that’s actually inside a bomb shelter. I think it was almost easier because I didn’t know anyone and it just felt really natural, so I stuck with it.”

After returning to Canada, Castle continued making the rounds on the Toronto trad-folk circuit for several years before finally finding a home playing with rock acts and more experimental musicians. While there’s a great divide in volume between her sparse acoustic rambles and the amplified antics of both the bands on bar bills and their audiences, Castle has learned to make the most of the experience.

“Opening for a band like The Constantines is pretty different just because of the crowds,” she says. “I would often wonder if their fans knew what was going to happen, because I would walk out there and play pretty quietly. It’s all good, though, and I can take liberties with a crowd like that and do whatever I want because I know everyone is only half-watching. It’s a creative space in its own right.”

If Castle’s contribution to the genre-defying 18-minute Fucked Up song “Year of the Pig” came as a surprise to listeners, the final result possibly astounded her even more after she went into the project largely unaware of the band’s sound.

“I had heard of them just from the scene in Toronto, but didn’t know any of them or their music,” Castle says with a laugh. “When I went to the studio, there were only a few bed tracks laid down, so I didn’t think it was as hardcore as everyone makes them out to be. When I heard the finished project, I was like ‘Oh my God.’ Since then, I’ve performed with them a few times, and they actually covered one of my songs and released it in Japan. Sweet.”

Big-name artists aside, Castle’s largest inspiration as of late is her one-year-old son. Perhaps taking a cue from her straightforward nom de plume, she’s knighted him Sonny.

“I started YouTubing Elmo earlier this week and he’s got some pretty awesome songs,” Castle says. “Sonny loves it, so I think there’s going to be lots more kids’ music coming into my life in the near future. Maybe even an Elmo cover.”