Canadian singer-songwriter Blair Lee releases “Peachy World” and announces her debut EP The Puppy Game – set to arrive on December 2. A tale of the world you create in your head versus reality, this new single is a means of trying to convince yourself everything feels “peachy” even when feeling cast aside. Produced by close collaborator, ModMaxx (Drake, Roy Woods, Tinashe) this is the second taste of Blair’s upcoming debut project.
On the release, Blair said, “I don’t like to say too much about songs because I like listeners to be able to interpret them in a way that has meaning for them.” She continues, “Truthfully, I think I sometimes write them without deciding what they’re ‘about.’ I like to listen to the words after and come up with my own interpretations, which often change. I am inspired by lyrics by The National and Imogen Heap - quite personal and vulnerable, but not necessarily obvious or literal in their meaning.”
“Peachy World” comes with an official video directed by Benjamin Del Vasto that feels like the dream montage straight out of a coming-of-age film. Viewers see Blair move through picturesque settings of the beach, a carnival and outside the Bowlerama, feeling the presence of a veiled love from her past always nearby but not close enough to grasp onto.
On the video, director Del Vasto said, “What are the memories we hold when thinking of someone? What details do we remember? And if the memories are clear, do we feel them, or are they distorted by time? Do we look back on the past with rose-colored lenses because we rather tell ourselves a melancholic tragedy: something that couldn’t have been because of a, b, and c. The impossibility of it all adds a layer of romanticism which protects our hearts from maybe the colder sharper truth. These are the questions I wanted to explore in ‘Peachy World,’ so Blair and I thought of the character of the Ghost, a character who embodies a love interest/friend, who drifts in and out of Blair’s world as she inhabits transient spaces. The real idea behind ‘Peachy World’ is if we can miss something we never really had.”
Last month, Blair released her first single of 2022, “Hurdles.” Also produced by ModMaxx, this first track was deeply nostalgic and vulnerable, seeing Blair float listeners through a story inspired by missed family moments and watching her grandparents getting older. “Hurdles” found its way on to Spotify’s indie pop & chill editorial playlist, joining previous support from the likes of New Music Friday CA, Fresh Finds and Fresh Finds Indie. Both “Hurdles” and “Peachy World” will be on her upcoming EP, The Puppy Game.
Photo Credit: Felice Trinidad.
Blair Lee is driven by her feelings.
That momentum comes through in the soft ways her music explores the darkness that comes before the light, in the cinematic promise of a happier ending. Blair uses her lyrics to work through the things she doesn’t understand and the places she doesn’t fit in. Through some of the sadness, hope and warmth always make their way through. Her songs perfectly pair a delicate vocal style with her penchant for 90s style electric guitars and the kind of stark honesty that evokes a gentle nostalgia.
A classically trained pianist, Blair started making music when she was 10 and living in Cambridge, Ontario. She would use techniques learned through her music classes and apply them to songs she wrote herself. Sometimes learning by ear, she was drawn to the “minor” parts of songs. Chords and chord progressions are the emotions of the songs, and Blair learned to use them to color her own music.
Blair finds inspiration in the little things: her friends, interesting strangers, walks in the woods, moments of stillness, small towns, and quiet thoughts. She’s drawn to stories and the ways that music can shape and hold them.
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