The Montreal music scene is nothing if not eclectic and chaotic. A true reflection of the diversity within the city, one can find a DJ set, a rock’n’roll band, and a French rap singer all in one night out on Saint-Denis. Sometimes, you can even travel in time, like with the help of Montreal’s own old-time band, Old Soul.
Founded in 2017 and achieving its final lineup in 2019, Old Soul is a mischief-loving foursome comprising vocalist Loreta Triconi, bassist Joseph Bottaro, drummer Ryan Palfavi, and guitarist Peter Rallis. Inspired by the psychedelic soundscape of the 1960s and 1970s, Old Soul’s artistic mission is to “set out with a unified vision to ignite nothing short of a rock’n’roll revolution.”
The band’s live performances prove to be nothing short. Triconi’s vocals, reminiscent of Janis Joplin or Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick, take the audience back to a time where bell bottoms, chunky belts, and platform boots were still all the rage. Palfalvi’s wild energy on the drums almost always translates to his ending the show shirtless and drenched in sweat. Rallis’ guitar solos never fail to leave anyone, whether it be his bandmates or the crowd, hungry for more. Meanwhile Bottaro’s bass line, intricate and executed with intense precision, carries the whole ensemble forward as he joins Triconi in headbanging with his own silky black bob in true bassist fashion.
Outside of the limelight, however, they’re just four friends excited to make music together, pursuing a shared passion with their chosen family. Old Soul released their debut album, Overgrown in February 2023, and have since been featured in publications such as The Suburban, Wavy Magazine, and Forget the Box while performing at music festivals across Ontario and Quebec. They were also part of the lineup in both 2023 editions of McGill’s Open Air Pub (OAP).
Earlier this year, they released their single “Blue Bossa,” a consummate blend of sounds inspired by their usual 60s rock jams along with hints of Brazilian bossa nova and blues influences. Shortly after, the band announced their second album, coming November 6, titled Undercurrent; a further departure from the colours of Overgrown. The album’s cover art, which features a model posing as a mermaid surrounded by water, is almost violently blue — a stark contrast to the warmer hues of its predecessor. The Daily sat down with all four members of Old Soul in order to find out more about the band’s story, as well as their hopes and dreams for their newest ventures.
This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Youmna El Halabi for the McGill Daily (MD): What was the main inspiration behind Undercurrent?
Joseph Bottaro (JB): I think it was just because at the start of writing the new songs, we all collectively thought of the color blue. We felt like the songs were just…blue. It was a kind of synesthesia where we were all like, “Okay, these songs are just really blue. Starting with “Talking to Myself” — that was blue. And then “River” — also blue.
Ryan Palfalvi (RP): It’s very moody, very introspective music as well. So there’s the idea of being “under,” within the subconscious. It’s more of an introspective record.
JB: And we used to practice and record in a basement, until that basement got flooded. It got covered in water, all of our equipment was submerged, and it was almost completely destroyed. Then we started relocating to different practice areas. I think Undercurrent really came together once we started to record the first few songs at a cottage up north, while it was snowing outside. There was a whole body of water there with a river covered in ice. We were taking a walk outside when we saw this tree branch underneath the see-through, icy water. And it was just like that — we said, “oh, that’s Undercurrent.”
MD: So what was going on in your mind when you were writing the songs featured on Undercurrent, as opposed to the Overgrown songs?
Loreta Triconi (LT): Undercurrent was written while Overgrown was being recorded and produced. Because some of these songs we’ve had since like 2020. For the more moody songs, we felt like they didn’t fit with Overgrown so they kind of became separated in their own way. A lot of those songs were ones that we had written while in isolation, during the lockdown, but some are newer.
Peter Rallis (PR): It’s weird. The songs (on Undercurrent) are either four years old or they’re six months old. Half of the album is six to eight months old, and the other half is, like, three or four years old. And that’s also why writing this album was different. We didn’t come in with all the songs prepared. We had those — I don’t want to say leftovers, but — [these older songs] were a different sound which didn’t feel like part of the first record. It was still interesting to see, nonetheless, what new songs we kind of wrote on the spot and just managed to put out there.
MD: So, from what I understand — unlike your last three singles, “Talking to Myself,” “The River” and “Blue Bossa,” which you guys produced with Brandon Barsoumian, the new album is entirely self-produced. What old, reliable creative tools did you reuse for this album that you used in the first one, and what were some new ones that you learned?
RP: Well, I think the common thread would be that we’re always in the same room together when we write our music. So I think there are some ideas that each individual member brought forth for certain certain songs, but I think everything is done organically in the room when we play it together. And then the newer things would be what we’ve figured out in production and in recording ourselves.
JB: Everything in the production sense was completely different from what we did for Overgrown. It wasn’t thrown out the window, but it was a different process entirely. We were recording in spaces such as our basement or makeshift studios in an Airbnb. So it became more creative and more tactile and hands-on in that way. We were literally standing on chairs to hang overheads on the drum kit and putting duct tape on the ceilings to record Undercurrent, whereas in Overgrown we would be eight hours in the studio [with equipment.] Undercurrent was a longer process, so we were taking more time to put things together, and it was more DIY.
MD: It’s interesting how your first album was recorded in a studio, but the second was purely DIY. Do you feel like that changed something in you, as musicians?
RP: For sure, because everyone was responsible for learning on the fly. I think there was less hand-holding, because everything became the responsibility of all the members of the group. In the case of our first experience, we were happy but there were still some things it left us wanting. So maybe [transitioning to DIY] could be perceived as going backwards in a sense, but it also allowed us a lot more creative control, and a lot more of an ability to express what we felt without having so many other mechanisms involved.
PR: I feel like when we went into the studio for the first album, we weren’t able to communicate how we felt about a lot of things, and we found it difficult and intimidating. There’s certain things that you look back on, and you say: “I wish I could have done it more hands-on, or more myself, or I could have been more involved”. And that offers you a different side of understanding when you’re making music, which goes into the final product, and that has to be taken into account. But we were also able to kind of make our own schedule without relying on anyone else, which gives a certain sense of flexibility.
MD: And what would you say was the most challenging part of the new process?
RP: With having flexibility in our own schedule, we learned from trial and error a lot. You need to be ready to work and to work very hard, because the responsibility of engineering your own project is a lot. Joe [Bottaro] had a lot of sleepless nights mixing this project. It’s a whole other level of workmanship that’s not just being a player and not just being a composer — you’re crafting the entire piece now. Everything that we’ve done [for this album] has been independent.
LT: You have to trust each other and trust that you’re all gonna be ready to show up and do the job, and work together as a team. Because it’s not always easy. Sometimes you have a vision, or sometimes you have a way that you want things to be done, and before, we were able to talk to the producer to get an “unbiased” opinion. But now, it’s all us. It’s a lot of back and forth, and sometimes you get charged arguments. But we make it work eventually.
MD: And how was curating everything for your upcoming release party on November 13 at Le Balcon? You’ll have The Space Wizards opening for you guys, a band you’ve played with multiple times!
LT: Well, we just wanted to make this show spectacular. So we needed to go with a cabaret-style, fabulous venue. This one’s going to be inside a cathedral. That speaks for itself. It’s going to be in the heart of the city. And for The Space Wizards, we just wanted a cool band we’ve played with before that’s been on the scene for as long as we have — even longer, actually, than us. And we enjoy their sound and playing with them. So it’s going to be an honor to share the stage.
RP: They’re a good vibe in that they’re more than reliable. They’re people that you can lean on. They’re also people who just love to get up there and play. And they get the crowd moving.
MD: And what do you hope your listeners get from Undercurrent?
PR: I hope people can find a soft place inside them, where they start picturing things, and their eyes are closed, and they can start feeling emotions that they didn’t know they could feel. Like connecting to the things that they haven’t connected to before. It’s like reading a beautiful novel where things are just popping up in your head and you’re taken to another place. I hope they’re just going to go on a whole entire trip from the beginning to the end, and make whatever they can from it — gather whatever they want from it, just to have their perspective, you know.
JB: The music kind of speaks for itself on the album. It’ll take you through a journey. It’ll take you to unexpected places, especially coming from us.
Undercurrent is set to be released on November 6, and the first live performance will take place at Le Balcon on November 13.