Elyse Aeryn: All or Nothing
WRITTEN BY: katie gordon // THE BOOM AT NOON
Elyse Aeryn and Garrett Taylor (Photo: Steph McNamara)
When it comes to taking chances and having them pay off, emerging Cape Breton musician Elyse Aeryn knows a thing or two. It wasn’t that long ago that Elyse took a chance by quitting her full-time job, to pursue a career in music. Her debut album, ‘Joy State of Mind’ drops March 31st and it features powerful themes of figuring yourself out and what it really means to find your joy. Her story is an inspiring one, as she encourages others to take risks and follow their dreams, no matter how daunting they may seem. As she prepares to share new music with the world, Elyse hopes to inspire others to take a chance on themselves and their passions and to let them know that it's okay to be scared - after all, it's often a sign that something big is about to happen.
Despite her passion for music and writing, she pursued a career in engineering, which eventually brought her to Toronto. “Toronto was a crazy, fast-paced city, I was doing the same thing every day and my life was very calculated,” said Elyse. “I knew that I had felt lost, and I knew that I wanted to change but I felt like I didn't know what that was,” she added. It wasn’t until someone asked her if she could do anything without time, age or money being a factor what she’d truly love to do. “I said I would play music,” she reminisced. “They said, ‘why don't you just play just because you love it? Why does it have to be this big thing? Why does it have to be your lifetime career?’ and I was like that's just how I am - all or nothing.” That conversation inspired Elyse to upgrade the guitar she had since she was 16 and she committed to picking it up every day, even if it was just for 10 minutes. “It was like a light went on - the next step was, making a video and posting it to YouTube. And that was like another little hit of dopamine and I kept going - I think it all happened really fast from there. Something just switched and I realized I wanted to do this so much more than 10-minutes a day.”
Elyse made the decision to leave her job in Toronto and temporarily move back to Glace Bay. “I was going to hang out with my mom for a few months and then I was going to move on to the next chapter of my life which was going to be a more flexible engineering role so that I could spend more time on music,” said Elyse. But then the pandemic happened and her plans changed. “I was on pause for such a long time that I was like what if I just didn't go back to a job like that? And then I connected with Garrett.”
Although Garrett Taylor and Elyse went to the same school, they hadn’t seen each other in several years. It wasn’t until they bumped into each other at a restaurant in their hometown before Elyse moved back home. “I just got up and gave her a big hug and said, ‘hey, what's going on? I see you're playing music - we should jam sometime when you're home,” said Garrett. “We ended up chatting and met up for an open mic and from there we started booking some gigs,” he added.
“I had done a few open mics when I got back home, but still had crazy stage fright,” said Elyse. “But when Garrett and I got on stage together, it was so different. It was like okay, I don’t have to carry this whole thing by myself,” she smiled. “I felt supported if I missed a chord or if I forgot a lyric and then our stage banter became such a big part of our show.” Although she said she still occasionally struggles with anxiety, she said the more they performed - the easier it became to overcome. Elyse credits Garrett for helping her break out of her shell and become the artist she truly wants to be. “I don’t think I could have found who I was without him. I would have been too nervous to really put myself out there in the way that I needed to,” she smiled. “He would also make me do a lot of things that I didn’t want to - he would say ‘we’re doing this gig’ and I’d say ‘I can’t do that’ and he would just say ‘well, I signed us up!’ I wanted to be that person who wasn’t scared to take a risk or put themselves out there and Garrett definitely lit that up in me,” she added. “I think we balance each other pretty well,” said Garrett.
After playing a couple shows together, Elyse still was unsure if she could leave her career as an engineer behind. “Garrett was like ‘you’re not going anywhere,” laughed Elyse. “At that time I was like ‘oh no, I have a job, I have to go on with my life. But it just seemed like the world decided for me that it wasn’t going to happen and then I just didn’t go back.”
In November 2020, Elyse released a self-produced EP, ‘Shades of Blue’ which featured songs about coming home and finding herself. “It was initially going to be a fun selfmade discovery project that wasn’t meant to see the light of day, but the more I worked on it, the more confident I got and I ended up releasing it and I’m glad I did,” she said.
Since diving into music full-time the band have had several highlights including opening up for Blue Rodeo in their hometown at The Savoy Theatre. “It was an incredible moment for us,” said Elyse. “It was a big turning point in confidence for me as well,” she added. “One of the biggest highlights for me though is just realizing you connected with someone. Doing that gives me license to be a little more honest, go a little deeper and push a little further.”
When writing the new album Elyse committed to writing every day for two hours and is excited to share more mature, honest and vulnerable music. “I think my writing can be a little bit obscure - I don’t want people to know all the details.” she said noting that she’s inspired by Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks and how their lyrics are obscure all while still conveying a feeling.
Leading up to the release of ‘Joy State of Mind’ on March 31, the band has released singles - ‘Under my Skin’ and ‘Cherries’ both of which have an accompanying music video and ‘Criminal’ which came out on March 3. In March, the pair also shared a one-take, live-recorded performance featuring four tracks from the album, including the unreleased song ‘Logical’.
On April 15, they will hold their official Joy State of Mind album release show in Sydney, Cape Breton, at the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion, home to the “Big Fiddle”. Elyse, Garrett and their full band will be joined by special guest, Hearts of Kin. Elyse and Garrett will make their way back to Halifax just days later to open for The Town Heroes at The Carleton on April 21. They are also looking forward to getting out of the province this summer, playing festivals including The Jubilee in New Glasgow and Rock The Lot in Dominion.
“It’s been a wild ride,” smiled Elyse. “So far, everything that I have said I kind of had a dream of doing has found a way into my reality. I think everything that I’m doing, everything that’s happened to me, has also been a choice. It’s me making a decision and saying, ‘I’m doing this, I’m moving forward, I’m working hard on this’ - it’s been undeniable,” said Elyse, adding that she believes she was meant to take a detour to get where she is today and she wants to let others know that their dreams can be reality. “When people hear my story, I hope they think that they could do it too. It doesn't have to be music, but if people think, ‘I could change my job’, ‘I could start my life over’, ‘I could leave this guy that's been shit’, ‘I could have a baby at 40’ - whatever your thing is, I hope they feel inspired by watching someone go for and do what they want to do. I think that my biggest purpose is to let people know that you can be whatever you want and it doesn't have to happen in a day. It will be scary and that's okay.”
Joy State of Mind is out now.
