Calgary electropop artist Selci inspired by sounds of lake ice shattering

Hiking at Banff National Park's Lake Minnewanka with microphone and laptop in hand, Calgary-based electropop artist Selci was struck by the sounds of ice shattering along the shore. 

To her ears, the sounds were rhythmic and melodic, and she proceeded to record and play back the sounds on her devices.

In typical form, Selci's latest single, Truth in the Sea, doesn't rely on typical instrumentation. The track utilizes sounds captured from the lake as a primary driver of the song's rhythm and melody.

One sound captured from the shores jumped out at Selci as being particularly rhythmic, leading her to use it as a drum hit that plays throughout the entire song.

The sounds Selci captured in Banff are just part of a growing catalogue of instrumentation that falls well outside the mainstream. Once, feeling warm to the sound of her apartment doorbell, Selci recorded the ring, developed a chorus around it and came up with a melody.

"I like to use whatever I possibly can. If it sounds interesting, I'll use it," Selci told the Calgary Homestretch.

Willingness to experiment

That openness to new sound can be attributed partly to Selci falling under the broad umbrella of the electropop genre. But her willingness to experiment means much of her output isn't easily classifiable.

Such a process began for Selci around four years ago, she said, when she began to teach herself to produce music. 

"I kind of wanted to be empowered, to have full control over the creation of my sounds," Selci said. "I think it's the classical musician in me. I felt like I needed to compose everything from the ground up."

But while Selci was going through a transformation in how she approached her music, her personal life was going through a transformation of its own. 

"There was a lot of changes in my mental health and my personal relationships and my goals. All these things happened," she said. "So Effervescence became the manifestation of a lot of my personal growth."

Effervescence is Selci's debut EP, set to be released Aug. 28. On the album, Selci explores themes of moving through significant changes in one's life and coming out the other side, such as on the track We Could be Together.

"The song is about loving yourself before loving someone else," she said. "I wrote it when I was falling head over heels for my current partner. I didn't want to fall into old patterns. I wanted to make sure I was getting enough sleep, taking care of myself and still loving myself before I dove headfirst into this new relationship."

The new album will be available on Selci's website, selciofficial.com.

With files from the Calgary Homestretch.