Aline Homzy plays violin in the cosmos with étoile magique

(This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.)

LP: Thank you for making time. It's great to be with you.

Aline Homzy: Thank you for having me.

LP: I just did another listen through your new record. It's such an enjoyable journey. It covers a lot of ground, sonically and metaphysically.

Aline Homzy: Yeah, a little bit.

LP: Something that stood out when I was reading some of the material about the record was a reference to 11 years in the making. What does that mean practically? Were you working on music for 11 years? And developmentally, a lot of life career and artistic development happens in 11 years. And so what's that all about?

Aline Homzy: Okay, I'm going to back up even a little more because it's always been like a goal to have a record out under my own name, like with my band as a band leader.

So that's where that started 11 years ago. And the idea was percolating in the back of my mind. And so I'd always. Maybe record me improvising some things and be like, Oh, perhaps this little bit of music could develop into a piece someday to fit on this record that I'm going to make eventually, like in that sense that these little incremental developments are happening over the past decade.

And yeah, some of those pieces are on the album. The first track, "Caraway," came from me playing like an improvised thing and just taking that little, da da da da, da da da da da, and just developing that theme over time. So we were set to record actually in March of 2020.

LP: Oh, of course.

Aline Homzy: As we all know, yeah. So that was a further delay. So we were ready. By then, but then, of course, we couldn't be in person and all this stuff. That was another chance to dig further into the music, develop some of those pieces, and think about what I wanted to say.

In 2020, I was just 30. So I was like, "Okay, I'm in my 30s now. I think I have this life experience and enough experience as a musician and a side person to know what's happening in the music community. And I'm ready to say what I need to say."

LP: Was there an element of permissioning yourself, or was it having the internal feeling of, okay, now's the time?

Aline Homzy: Okay, we're fortunate in Canada because we have great funding opportunities through our government. And I had gotten a grant to make a recording. So there was an impetus from that side of things like commissioning me to make this record. And that was another push with the deadlines and everything. Obviously, the pandemic also changed that to get things going and into motion.

LP: Did you toy with remote collaboration during the pandemic? I know you did some filmmaking, but did you work on music with other people during the pandemic?

Aline Homzy: Yeah, absolutely. So there's a guest, João Frade, who plays accordion. He recorded everything remotely from Portugal. So yes, it did allow for those kinds of collaborations. And it was good in that sense to meet people and collaborate with people who aren't in your immediate geographical community. Yeah, lots of interesting opportunities came from that, which is, again, a blessing in disguise.

LP: Have you met everyone in person who's on your record?

Aline Homzy: No, I still haven't met João. It's so funny because he's constantly touring. He was set to come and play a show in Toronto with this great Portuguese singer he plays with regularly, and this was like one of the many waves of the pandemic and then kept getting canceled and delayed. And so I never got to meet him, although we did have plans to meet. I'm hoping we'll go to Portugal and play this music because the drummer on the album, Marito, is from Portugal. And at some point, I hope we'll make it there and play with João.

LP: Yeah, I would say that the time to go to Portugal from Canada is pretty much like October to May.

Aline Homzy: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

LP: If I understand correctly, you've been gigging throughout the summer and performing this material in particular?

Aline Homzy: Exactly. So we went on a cross-Canada tour, playing all the big jazz festivals throughout the country, playing the music from this album, and a few other things. It's a funny way to do it because most people put the album out, and then they tour, but we toured and then put the album out. It was slightly unconventional, but it was really good for us as a band to play together a bunch, introduce people to our music, and create a bit of buzz before the album came out. And because now the album's out, I'm, "Okay, on to the next project. What do I want to do next?"

LP: What, if anything, could you say that you learned about the compositions from performing them live? Have they opened up differently, or have they surprised you in any way?

Aline Homzy: Absolutely, so there's one cover on the album: "Segments" by Charlie Parker.

LP: Which I love.

Aline Homzy: Yeah, thank you. That one's arranged by the vibraphonist in the group, Michael Davidson, and that one has, for some reason, transformed, and it's always so different when we play it live. And I think it just stems from everybody in the band being so open and being so like intuitive in their listening and just having this approach to the music that is creative, and the way, the best way I can describe what happens is sometimes there's like these tempo shifts and these feel shifts. The piece takes off, and it's, like I said, just different every time we perform it.

LP: That's exciting. And similarly, what, if anything, are you learning about your musical comrades?

Aline Homzy: Oh my gosh. Spending two weeks on the road with people, you see them every day. It's, you learn a lot. We learned that we all love food, and we all love great food and good wine. So we spent a lot of time searching. "Okay, we're in this city tonight. Where's the hot spot for dinner, breakfast, or coffee?" That was so much fun, just getting to know everybody and having that social aspect of being in a group. It's just so great.

LP: It's so funny how many musicians I've talked to, the conversation doesn't take long to turn to food.

Aline Homzy: You know what, I thought about this a long time ago, and I don't want this to come across any other way, but I get along well with people and musicians who are into food, and the musicians and people who aren't into food. I don't know; there's something different about how they approach music, and I don't jive as well.

LP: That's funny.

Aline Homzy: It's so weird. Yeah.

LP: Just for fun, I'd love to explore that with you. What do you overlay on that? Is it open-mindedness? Is it a sense of adventure?

Aline Homzy: Yeah, I think both things. It's just being open to just trying new things. Many of the restaurants we discovered throughout the country were places that don't have a set menu, so you have to be ready to eat what's in front of you and just go with it. So I think it does come across in the music making, in the improv, and even like people's composition style, just that openness of being able to go somewhere that's a little less comfortable.

LP: Yeah, I like the psychology of that. It's fascinating. It's fun.

Another theme I'm curious about is the notion, which comes up repeatedly in some of the material about the record, the idea of a musical universe or creating a sense of place with the music. Could you unpack that a little bit for me? There's clearly a lot of intention behind that.

I would love to understand what you were going for there.

Aline Homzy: Because this was so long in the making, the intention happened in the later stages when I assembled the pieces on this album, like the titles and everything of each piece. I approach many of my projects and compositional style, saying, "Okay, I'm entering a house. There are all these rooms to explore, and each room might have a different character, wallpaper, paint color, and different style of furniture." I go deep in exploring each characteristic of all these different rooms. Putting an album or composition together, I've used that approach on a smaller scale; a composition might be like one room, but a composition might be like several rooms in this house that I imagine.

But in this space theme, it's almost like its own little universe with its own solar systems. Each planet is like a room in that each planet has its little character and its color, heat, cold, or whatever it is that planet is doing.

LP: What function does that attitude play for you? Is it a framing device? Is it a way to be overwhelmed by limitless possibilities? What is that? What does that do for you as an artist?

Aline Homzy: I love the idea of limitless possibilities. I'm like, oh yeah, give them all to me. So, it does help me contain a sense of, as you said, a sense of place or a universe I can work within.

I don't know if the album is perceived as a concept album, but it is in the sense that every piece does belong to one place. If that makes sense. Yeah, it helps me keep things contained to a certain extent.

LP: It's very interesting that you bring up the notion of a concept album because my listeners will be familiar with this theme from other instrumental artists I've spoken with, some of whom utilize an intentional sort of conceptual framework or even a narrative framework I think as a way to provide a lot of the same kind of scaffolding that I believe you are referring to for composition or to as an organizing principle maybe.

Along those lines, something that comes up a lot that I love to ask instrumental artists is what role the song titles play and at what point in the process the song titles come up. And before I let you answer, I've heard things on a spectrum from some people who start with a song title and compose to the narrative that implies for them. And other people are very dismissive of the song titles almost to the point of like, yeah, these are funny things to call the songs, or they're somewhat evocative, but they don't mean that much. Where do you sit on that?

Aline Homzy: It's a mix of both of those things. For example, in "Caraway," I was in Montreal eating a bagel covered in caraway seeds. I said, "Oh my God, this is so delicious." I just went home, and that was the name of the piece. And then, in some of them, I write the title first on the page, and then I use it as inspiration to keep focused on a theme. Sometimes those titles stick, and sometimes they change because, by the end of the composition, I'm like, "You know what, this isn't conveying how I originally titled it." Still, it's giving me this idea, this other thing, which then I'll title it that. It ranges from piece to piece. And I tend to title things first and then think of where that's going, but they often change.

So it's hard to answer a question because many people ask, "What influenced this piece and this title?" And, yeah, sometimes you're right. You don't necessarily give it that much thought, or it just happens, and it's just, that's just what it ends up being called.

LP: If I may, I'd love to know where the line "Aliens are Pieces of Wind" came from because it's beautiful and evocative. I'm curious about that. It fits the music, obviously.

Aline Homzy: It came from the idea of watching the show Ancient Aliens, which I sometimes watch, often in hotel rooms when there's nothing else good on. (laughs) I noticed how much aliens are portrayed as almost human with eyes, a mouth, a nose, arms, and hands, and a lot of the time, they're green. And I'm thinking about how the media conveys this idea of how extraterrestrial life might look like. I'm just like, no, no, no. We have no idea what this other thing might be or look like, and our brains don't even have the capacity to be able to see them. If they're around or just going to the extreme, we can't imagine what another life form might look like from a completely different universe.

LP: So this is one possibility.

Aline Homzy: Yeah, this is one possibility. And the thing is wind, you can't see wind.

LP: Along those lines, or adjacent to those lines, if I understand correctly, there are these themes of this interplay of inner and outer space across the record and the exploration of both. And I wonder, beyond the music itself, are you comfortable articulating what you're playing with these themes and what that has to say about your cosmology or worldview? Are these things you're wrestling with, or do you have a coherent cosmology?

Aline Homzy: I don't know if it's coherent, but it's … (laughs)

LP: That's not for me to judge!

Aline Homzy: No, it's something I think about a lot, but it's not something that I've done a ton of research on, but I am very interested in planets and interested in sea life and like what's under in our oceans that we haven't really explored much yet, but just the idea of the unknown And for me, just like exploring different elements of our planet, but also beyond our planet.

It's just a curiosity for me. It's not that much deeper. It's just a little something that I'm interested in.

LP: Hopefully, I'm not belaboring this point, but could you talk about how that fits into the ensemble name?

Aline Homzy: Yeah. Étoile Magique, it means magic star. And I think it's like the idea of the magical part of it is like this, maybe this innocence or ignorance of my understanding of what is in space and like all the different planets and asteroids and all these things. To me, it's so magical in the sense that I don't have this deep scientific knowledge about all that stuff. So it all seems very magical. And stars, we look at stars, and they sparkle.

It's just so magical, but it's also very scientific. That's why I like those two words together. It also happens to be a mathematical equation. That's accidental, but I liked that it gave the name a little extra meaning. And I'm not going to do a great job explaining it, but it has something to do with a five-pointed star, and you assign numbers to each line. And when you add them up, they always have the same sum. It's just this other mathematical equation that is assigned the word magic. And to me, math and magic don't really go together, so I thought that was pretty neat.

LP: Something else that stands out with the record is the use of some post-production work or techniques. As a listener, I don't know how much I would have caught had it not been specifically called out in some of the narratives about the record, but with that said, the flourishes are there.

And there's an atmospheric nature to the record where there are moments where I feel like, "Oh, this is like firmly rooted in the tradition." I recognize it as almost — and I'm sorry to actually do this in front of the artist — but there's like a seventies fusion element. It sounds part of a tradition, extending from there and then to other times. For example, the more emotive, expansive moments, the use of synth pads or things of that nature, and the swelling nature of it. How do you contextualize that as an improvisational musician? Like how do you put guardrails around that or rules or … I don't know, I'm struggling to articulate the question. It's a different toolbox than simple improvisation. How do you think about using all these palettes?

Aline Homzy: I've always been fascinated with using studio time in that sense because it's such a different experience recording in a studio, playing in a studio rather than playing live. The advantage of the studio is that you can layer things at a later time. In the moment, sometimes when you're performing or even in a studio, you're playing, and you're like, "Oh, I actually can hear this other thing happening." But I can't do it all. It's just not possible when you're doing it live. That's, for me, the magic of the studio and the power of the studio.

Using it that way can enhance certain things and elevate certain things in a way that is just not possible live. There's one piece called "Rose du ciel," where, okay, it's not quite a synth, but Michael played bowed vibes. There are bowed vibes throughout the whole piece. And then in the studio, we just manipulated a bit of that sound and boosted some of the overtones and just mixed it in a way that it's this underlying layer that's just giving us this sense of warmth that's emanating underneath everything else that's happening.

I love that feeling when I'm listening, especially with headphones, where you can get into the sounds and discover another layer you might not have perceived upon first listening. So those kinds of things are special to me, and using the studio that way is really fun. It's such a fun process.

LP: Do you currently or do you foresee incorporating any of that into the live presentation? Would you trigger things or add another synthesizer player? Like, how does that integrate into life?

Aline Homzy: We haven't on this tour. We just did it with our instruments. But we were thinking about, in the future, if there was a way to have a synth, especially on something like "Segment," because it's such a vibe having that synth sound play those chords right off the top. And it's something that we could easily loop until we start soloing or something. So, to give it that extra boost. Again, it's all about the vibe.

LP: It's an exciting moment in improv music because there's a convergence of improvisational music and electronics. There are no real points for being a purist anymore, and there's so much interesting sonic possibility if you're willing to incorporate some of that.

I also wanted to ask about some of your other interests or concerns and, in particular, your work and enthusiasm around the economics of business and economic justice. I would like to know if you could talk a little bit about how you came to be aware of the disparities; I assume, to a certain extent, it's glaring, but not everyone stops long enough to adopt a concern for it. I would like to know if you could talk about your history with that issue.

Aline Homzy: Yeah, absolutely. It's being in a big city like Toronto; it becomes apparent the longer you're here. I noticed, I don't know, maybe out of school, perhaps, how few people in such a large city pay money to see art. And it's not just music. It's dance, visual arts, whatever it is, music for me. I will talk about music because that's my most familiar community, but just a city of this size, and you go out and see amazing music happen almost every night. And either there are other musicians there, or there's no one there.

Many of these gigs aren't supported by the venues either, in the sense that the venue provides a space for the performance to happen, but the venue needs to do more work to promote or pay the artists coming through their doors. It's unsustainable. They're not able to support themselves, and they're not able to afford to live in a city like Toronto, which is known for its culture and its diversity, but there's this disconnect.

Sure, you see big artist names, and it's going to be sold out, and there are lots of people there, but I always wonder, okay, but why aren't these people like out supporting like the local artists? Why is it so hard for them to justify paying 10 or 20 dollars once a month, or even once every three months, to go out and see a local show?

So, for me, spreading that awareness became a bit of a goal. I think this was in 2018. I put together a music series that was highlighting women instrumentalists, And part of that was that I wanted to actually open the accessibility to people who actually might not be able to afford to go to concerts. So, I wanted to open the doors to people. And so some people who could afford it paid more money, and some people paid less or nothing. They really couldn't afford it. But everybody was able to experience the concert.

LP: Was it voluntary, as in, "I would offer to pay more to subsidize someone else?" How did that work?

Aline Homzy: Not necessarily. I had set up a Kickstarter campaign type thing where I said, "If you want, you can pay for someone else's ticket, or you can pay for someone's partial ticket or whatever." And it was great. People were into it. So that's how that happened.

LP: You asked the question of, to paraphrase you, I apologize, but, like, why aren't people spending the 10 or 20 dollars to go out once in a while to see local music? And we could attach all kinds of qualitative words to that, right? Sometimes, it's even more surprising to learn that there are incredible musicians, maybe sitting next to you on the metro, and you wouldn't know it if you didn't go out. What have you learned about 'the why?'

Aline Homzy: It's really interesting. I live on a street called Queen Street in one of the busiest parts of our city. It's busy in that there are a few places where people will line up for hours to get into a club, restaurant, or whatever it is. There's a sense of a spectacle; they want to be at the place that everyone else is, and they will want to be seen. They take their phone out and take pictures of themselves in those places, and it's almost like checking a box. It's like, okay, I did it. I went to that super trendy place.

Now everybody can see that I did the thing. Truthfully, I've been to some of those places, and I'm like, this is nothing special. It's just an expensive way to spend a night. And people are missing the point of the experience and the point of spontaneity. And the idea that there's this music venue that has music every day. Let's see what's happening there. People aren't open to that. And I think people have become so concerned financially, which is understandable, that they're like, "Okay, I'm setting aside 200 dollars for a Saturday night outing, and that's it." And people will go and have a fancy dinner and drinks, and that's their spending for the week or even sometimes for the month. They limit themselves in what they want to do even though it's only going to cost ten dollars to go and experience something that might change your life, literally. Yeah. They're just not willing to go there.

LP: What's the path out of that?

Aline Homzy: Honestly, it's something I think about so much, and I don't have an answer, but I think it comes down to potentially two things. Perhaps education for young children and just teaching them about spontaneity and the benefits of experiences and the benefits of arts and culture and sharing arts and culture.

The second thing is, yes, we have a lot of funding support from the government, but we don't have visibility support from the government. So artists can put on events and have the budget to put on the event. But then it's hard to get people to come out because there's only so much an individual artist can do to promote their event.

LP: So almost a separate, the need for a separate media fund or a promotion fund that You could apply to in addition to your creative grant.

Aline Homzy: Yeah. But we must teach people it's worthwhile to go and be there and experience something, especially if they don't know who you are and don't know what you do. So it's a huge challenge, and I'm not saying it's specific to Toronto. It's happening globally, although there are some places, I think, that are doing a little better.

LP: Yeah, I'm curious. Specific to Toronto, are there venues for someone interested in, say, left-of-center music? If it's booked there and I buy a ticket, it will probably be, at the very least, interesting. Do you have those types of venues? Because we have a few here in Seattle that for sure if you just, if you buy the ticket, or some of the places are still donation based where there's an envelope and whatever money you leave goes directly to the artist, You're pretty much guaranteed to be somewhere on the spectrum of entertained or challenged, if that's what you're going out for. And that's exciting. I don't need to know who this artist is; if it looks interesting, it will probably be. Do you have those outlets?

Aline Homzy: We do. We have an amazing space called the Tranzac. It is like a pay-what-you-can situation. I spend a lot of time there because I'm interested in seeing what people are doing, and it's multi-generational. Sometimes, it's people who are still studying, and sometimes, it's veterans, and there's a super broad range of experiences you can get when you go to the Tranzac, and it's hit or miss in terms of audience. So it's a challenge to people to think that it's okay to go and spend time in a place that's presenting something and to be okay with an experience that, as you said, sometimes it's going to be perhaps uncomfortable because you don't know what you're stepping into.

And I've been in that situation a few times where I've been like, "This isn't my cup of tea, but I'm so glad I'm here because I'm learning about myself, and I'm learning about what people are doing around in this community."

LP: Yeah, sometimes it's enough to say, well, that was interesting. It was a good use of 90 minutes. I'm happy that this person gets to do that thing. It's not something I want all the time, but hats off to them, and they need to be enabled to do that.

Aline Homzy: Exactly, because artists, we need those spaces to be able to progress, right? And we need those spaces in order to develop. So it's so important, and, like, you're doing this of your own willingness of craving, perhaps, these experiences of going out and seeing that and not necessarily passing judgment, but being like, "That was interesting." Still, maybe I don't need to see that again. But just by you being there as an audience or me being there as an audience and experiencing what that person is presenting, it allows the scene to function and to thrive and to continue and people to try things out, which is so important.

LP: I think one of the beautiful things about music is also something that makes experiencing it as unknown or unfamiliar music a challenge, which is if you were to go to, say, an art walk or a gallery or whatever it was, and it was free, and you were just walking around and looking at art it wouldn't bother you if you didn't like the art or if it didn't resonate for you, you'd say, all right, well, that's cool. Like, you know, whatever. And it would be fine. But suppose you go somewhere and see music. In that case, even if it's free and you don't like it, you leave with a new experience. I'm painting with a broad brush, but I know I've witnessed people almost offended by not liking music in a way that other art doesn't offend. I wonder if it's part of the sensory overload of music or people's expectations. Still, it's an interesting differentiator how people have a different experience of music than they do other arts.

Aline Homzy: It's so true, and it's something that I haven't thought that much about, but you make such a good point, and it's interesting because I'm thinking about the museums here that are available in Toronto, and there's like a free night, and it's always packed with people that people are so excited. I wonder if it's because it's free or because it's the museum. It's something to do. And you're right. You can walk in and out without being affected by it. But for some reason, seeing music and disliking what you hear stays with you longer. I think you're right. It's a more full-body experience.

LP: Yeah, honestly, I can think of shows I saw, and I'm dating myself here, but I can think of shows I saw in the 1980s that I'm still mad about. (laughter)

Aline Homzy: It's good that you'll never forget those experiences, so maybe there's some positivity in there, I don't know, somewhere.

LP: Yeah, I'm just spoiled.

Aline Homzy: I want to know what it was.

LP: I'm embarrassed to, maybe off mic. I've been, regardless of genre, the same type of music fan my whole life. I will see almost anything once. Again, even if I don't love the music, I'm curious about what the artist is doing, how they'll present it, and how it might be different. That sets you up sometimes. First of all, it sets you up for amazing discovery, but it also sets you up for, like, "Eh, it's not better than I thought."

Aline Homzy: Yeah, that's very true. But that's okay,

LP: You opened the door earlier to something I wanted to ask you about. You said you're starting to think about what's next, and I wonder how developed your thinking is in that. Is it with this ensemble, or do you have a new concept? Is this ensemble your main creative outlet now? What's going on now?

Aline Homzy: I definitely want to continue writing for this ensemble and develop more ensemble stuff. I want to get more people in the band to write music for it as well. But I'm currently working on something different, which is a songwriting project of both French and English songs. I'm delving into my family roots, I suppose. My mom is from Quebec, and I'm learning more about my cultural background. I was very lucky to get an artist residency in Georgia, near Atlanta, called the Hambridge Art Center. And I spent some time there about a year ago, and that's where I discovered this thrill of writing words and music and putting them together, and that's where that started. Yeah, I'm looking forward to continuing on that.

LP: Atlanta's such a vibrant town. It's incredible. I was just there a few weeks ago, and I hadn't been in a long time, and it's a wonderful place. It's a very special place.

Aline Homzy: I didn't spend much time in the city, but it was so interesting. Talking to people about going there and people being one or the other, like Atlanta is a terrible place, don't spend any time there, it's dangerous, it's whatever. And then on the other side, people being like, it's such a vibrant place, you have to spend time there. It was so funny in retrospect, thinking about how divided it seems people are about the city.

LP: It's fascinating. I was also recently in Washington, DC. Both places gave me the feeling of being in an environment where — and in America, it's a complex discussion — but both of those cities have a wonderful sense of Black culture, entrepreneurship, and a vibrancy of the Black community that, quite honestly, I don't, I don't see a lot as a Northerner. And it felt great to be surrounded by that influence. And to not have it so separate and segregated the way it feels in other parts of the country. And it's in the air. You can feel it. You can feel the business ownership. You can feel it in, even just as a casual observer looking at advertisements for nightlife. It's really incredible. It's something to feel optimistic about if you're looking for something.

Aline Homzy: You're so right. And I had that experience as well because Toronto is super diverse, but it is quite separated. Especially in the music community, it is somewhat diverse, but it's not that diverse.

LP: I've spent a fair amount of time in Toronto over the years and always thought of Montreal as much more multicultural. I feel like I missed out on elements of Toronto. It's a beautiful city, but I never really felt the arts and culture the way that seems more apparent in Montreal. There's a different vibe. It could be the faux-European nature of Montreal, but yeah.

Aline Homzy: I think it is. I grew up in Montreal; going from Montreal to Toronto, there is quite a difference of just available culture at your fingertips. Montreal has you pay higher taxes, but you get this little card that you present at museums and things, and you get in for free, or you get in for a discount. There's just more in place to promote people going out.

LP: It's amazing. Well, thank you for spending time and exploring some of these topics with me. I very much enjoyed the album. And look forward to promoting it. So thank you very much.

Aline Homzy: Thank you for such a great conversation.