Flood Season by Talel McBriar

Flood Season is a collection of four alternative folk songs written by singer-songwriter Talel McBriar. With haunting vocals and lucid instrumentals, Talel’s lyrics are introspective and cathartic as her lyrics speak to the natural inclination to connect with others, while simultaneously finding comfort in solitude. Flood Season confronts the trivialities of change and growing up through stirring lyrics and harmonious melodies.

Flood Season was written over the past four years, as a way to distill my ideas and experiences into something tangible such as words and melody. I wrote this collection of four songs while visiting new cities, performing on trains, and attending music school. The lyrics from the songs off Flood Season draws from the discomfort of growing up, accepting change, and finding independence. Writing and creating music is incredibly therapeutic and I aim for my audience to have a cathartic experience listening to my songs.

During the beginning of 2020 while in lockdown, I spent a lot of time listening to rock bands of the ’60s and 70’s such as Crosby Stills & Nash, The Allman Brothers, and The Grateful Dead. Listening to these bands instilled a need to create musically with others and develop my song ideas into full-band arrangements. A year later, in 2021, my six-piece band and I performed the four songs that make up Flood Season for the showcase of my graduation from music school. It was such a cathartic feeling to finally have these songs come to life with a full band that I wanted to capture in a recording to share with others. In September of 2022, my band and I recorded Flood Season at Becoming Sound Studio in Ymir BC with sound engineer Shawn Stevenson. My first recording experience was with Shawn at Becoming Sound Studios when I was 17, so it felt full circle to record my debut EP here.

"Talk With Friends" was written in February 2020, right before the pandemic. It is a song about taking a minute to just sit with the feeling of being worn out from constant social stimulation and from absorbing other people's emotions so often. I wrote it about the need to just “sit and watch the planes fly down south” when everything else is overwhelming.

The song "I’ll Give it Another Day" evolved from abrupt changes and transformations in relationships with people who are close to me. It speaks to the feeling of being disoriented from navigating changes.

I wrote the title track "Flood Season" on a visit to New Brunswick. It was Spring, a time when the floods rose over the roads and backyards. Flood Season talks about being alone but not being lonely. It is about finding the ability to rely on yourself when relying on others is more familiar.

I wrote the closing track "Little Hell" in April of 2020, when I would take long walks “at the last light hour” and the sun would send long shadowed patterns through the trees. It is a song about being frustrated with trying to communicate with others, how messages can get warped in writing and result in a misunderstanding.

folk/singer-songwriter

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