Shattered Glass
New Single from Thunder Bay Director and Composer
By Maya Ekman
Since the age of 12, Thunder Bay artist Adrien Harpelle has been writing and playing music, often in the punk/goth rock genre. A self-taught musician, Harpelle has written soundtracks for multiple films and just released his new single, “Shattered Glass,” on May 9.
“Shattered Glass” comes from a place of experience and is about the times in life when everything seems to go wrong at once. The single was written when Harpelle was in Europe with his partner, Alyssa Kusik, filming Where the Poppies Grow: Lakehead at War. The song is about romance and adventure and “that moment when it all falls apart.” With each song he writes, Harpelle tries to begin with a simple starting point to draw listeners in, then to expand the sound to evoke the emotions that inspired the writing. “I try to push my sound beyond the scope of the standard,” he says.
“I’m really obsessed with the art of songwriting,” he adds. “I just try to draw from honest places, and I think that it’s really important to be truthful.” Harpelle explains how he sits with his own emotions, or with the emotions of a film scene, in order to write, also using this process as a writing exercise for capturing expressive energy. “I figure that if I can write something honest then people will connect to it more, and in general that has always been the case,” he says.
Harpelle started to write music for film productions in 2016, beginning with the documentary Long Walk Home: The Incredible Journey of Sheila Burnford. Since then, Harpelle has produced the soundtracks for Journey to our Homelands, A Tale of Two Qallunaat, Carousel of Time, Mr. Noah and the Second Flood, Toxic Time Bomb, and Where the Poppies Grow: The Lakehead at War, resulting in a new album almost yearly. “I’ve always been in love with the sound department,” he says.
As well, Harpelle works to organize events like the Vox Popular Media Arts Festival, and is working on preparing a setlist for his new band (currently still under wraps). He shares his mindset as a versatile artist: “If you just force yourself to be there, to get into the art space, you’ll make something. It might not be great today […] but you can still get practice and move forward.”
For more information, visit adrienharpelle.bandcamp.com.