On her immersive new EP Something Real, Edmonton’s Lindsey Walker reaches new heights as a songwriter, a commanding vocalist, and an alt-pop powerhouse. Voted Edmonton’s best solo artist by Vue Weekly, Walker’s latest sees her channelling the doom-pop sensibilities of Kimbra and the timeless, fiery vocal power of Stevie Nicks to create an irresistibly shadowy pop experience.

For this project, Walker teamed up with the multiple-Juno-nominated production duo of Brad Simons (Tupelo Honey) and Brandon Unis (lilyisthatyou, Celeigh Cardinal, Priyanka). These seasoned producers brought a “down-to-a-science fluidity” that allowed Walker to discover exactly where her nascent songs wanted to go. Studio days would unravel organically, starting with life chats that would blend into the songs they were crafting together. Between breaks to stroll in the cemetery next to the studio (which, Walker quips, “may have encouraged the dark feeling of the EP!”), the three would gravitate towards instruments and play around until they tapped into a just-right sound. “I went from being squirreled away and writing on my own to this inspiring, collaborative process,” Walker explains.

Working with others comes naturally to Walker, who has worked extensively in theatre as a sound designer, composer, and sketch comedy performer. She wrote a fully iambic pentameter script—and a stunning score—to the Toronto Fringe ‘Critic’s Pick’ show “Amor De Cosmos: A Delusional Musical,” and she’s a founding member of the sketch comedy troupe Sketchy Broads and a principal player on the improv soap opera “Die-Nasty!” Given her background, Walker felt empowered to treat these playful studio sessions with a “yes, and” sensibility: “you go out with an idea, and you go really strong with it, and then it’s done—there’s no time to question anything.” This EP is a tribute to the power of an artist going head-on into a project with an open mind: “the more time I have with anything the more I question it. The less waiting the better!”

Getting back to the studio was the antidote to the seven years Walker took since her previous album. Something Real packs the overwhelming feelings that have been festering over this time into introspective, vulnerable verses and heart-wrenching, wide-open choruses (as on “Everything,” as Walker belts: “I think I’m crashing / I’m falling apart / Like everything’s been caving in”). Expressing these emotionally vulnerable songs is the perfect counterweight to her work as a comic performer—in Walker’s words, it’s what allows her to be “an openly well-rounded weirdo,” in the best possible way. “I do so much comedy and light-hearted stuff, that the music becomes darker—these different artforms showcase the dichotomy of who I am.” 

Finding her ability to express a darker side with her music has been a lifelong journey for Walker. She grew up with a skilled pianist mother, and while she was encouraged to learn the instrument as a kid, it was musical theatre that really brought Walker into music-making. Developing her voice on stage, she was soon getting into blues and rock, “singing her soul” at open mics, and exploring the hole-in-the-wall venues of Edmonton’s DIY scene—“havens for oddballs” like The Artery. She embraced her love of songwriting, and, before long, garnered Album of the Year and Indie Rock Recording of the Year wins at the 2018 Edmonton Music Awards for her debut album this desolate bliss. While her new EP is still informed by Walker’s love of roots rock, Something Real builds electronically tinged verses to impeccably crafted dark-pop hooks. Walker’s vocals are shining front and centre, and thank goodness, because they are breathtaking.

When asked what she was most proud of about this record, Walker offered the telltale sign that you’ve got a banger of an album: “After listening to these songs, I’m still pumping my fist.” Across this cinematic and achingly sincere EP, There’s a yearning for—and an arrival at—something real.