With her third album out, the B.C.-based singer-songwriter looks back on her time in the Yukon
Paris Pick is still well-known in the Yukon. Though she’s primarily based in B.C. now, it was in Whitehorse where she got her start as a musician, frequenting open-mic nights and local showcases, eventually becoming a driving force within the Yukon music scene, both on and off the stage. Before she packed up for Nelson, B.C., to attend Selkirk College, Pick performed prolifically while also organizing events and mentoring younger artists. Her newest album under her solo moniker, This Time’s A Charm, was released in September.
“I had written a bunch of these songs back in 2021,” she says. “We began recording the album in the spring of 2022, so I had time to sit on a pile of songs I felt good about.” Pick is always the principal songwriter in her work, and works with whichever of her usual musicians are available at any given time.
On Third Time’s A Charm, the follow-up to 2018’s Feeling Love and 2021’s Hope for the Best, Pick worked with a host of musicians including Zacharie Pelland on guitar; Aiden Tentrees on bass; Patrick Docherty on drums; Lonnie Powell on percussion; Dave Satanove on trumpet; producer Jordy Walker on synths; and Pick’s partner, Damien Alblas, lending his skills for additional guitar parts on one song.
Some musicians Pick had in her band when she wrote the songs for the record—including Elijah Bekk, Selina-Heyligers-Hare, and Aki Jonasson—did not play on the record, but Pick recognizes their importance in helping shape the songs.
“When we started recording, it was the core group of myself, Aiden and Patrick,” Pick says. “I moved away for music school, and that kind of put everything on pause.”
As she’s found her footing and what sounds she wants to strive for and is moving into more of a yacht-pop sound from her soul-pop roots, Pick says her overarching idea for her newest album was to contemporize the 1970s yacht-rock style, mixing it with modern indie-pop elements.
“It’s kind of a weird mix of everything,” Pick says. I’m actually realizing more and more that I’m not as yacht-pop as I thought I was, because I’ve come across some yacht-pop artists who are copy-pasting the sound of the ’70s. I think I’m actually not doing that; I’m doing something different.”
Sometimes in life, Pick says, it takes a few times to get something right. That can mean a relationship, a personal goal or something else entirely—like a record. Like any serious artist, Pick places high expectations on herself and hopes that, with each record she makes, she gets closer to achieving her full vision.
“It’s just funny that it worked out that way, that it’s my third album,” she says. “It’s just that hopeful attitude of giving it another try.”
Pick took on a co-producer role for this record, something she’d gotten more comfortable doing after her previous experiences making records. She says on her first go with Feeling Love, she let producer Patrick Hamilton handle all of the duties and decisions, but has developed more confidence in her own ear, tastes and intuition. Of course, her schooling also equipped her with more of the knowledge she needed.
“I was super inspired by my fellow peers such as Selina, Elijah, Brent Gallant, Lee Campese, Etienne Girard—all these people that are really good friends and super talented—and they all went to Selkirk’s music program,” Pick says. “I was going through a transitional period and I knew I wanted to pursue music in a more professional way. I signed up and I got in, and it was pretty awesome.”
Pick completed one year of Selkirk’s two-year music program, citing financial constraints as her main reason for not returning, but her year of education proved to be invaluable in building on her skills and making professional connections.
“You learn a little bit of everything, like sight-reading, ear training, music theory,” she says. “Then you end up having to play in all these ensembles where you have to play with different people of different skill levels, and the whole thing just kicks your ass. It was amazing.”
Though Pick opted to stay in B.C. after her schooling, finding communities of musicians and music lovers in abundance, she still spends as much time as she can in the Yukon and plans to perform in Whitehorse in the new year, to celebrate her album release.
“I haven’t been living in the Yukon for quite a while now,” Pick says. “I’m a B.C.-based artist, but an honourary Yukoner now.”
Pick may not say it herself, but her mark on the Yukon’s music scene is still ever-present. She credits her stint as the associate producer for Arts in the Park and her participation in BreakOut West, in 2019, with cementing her scene as a member of the artistic community up north. One memory Pick looks back on fondly in the territory is her DIY festival Greasefest, which she ran annually until moving away.
“I really wanted to host something that could provide a fun platform for all my friends to have a good time and go watch each other and connect,” she says. “Sometimes having a change of landscape to express yourself, which in this case was a greasy backyard, is cool.”
Though Pick moved away years ago, she still keeps up with her old friends in the Yukon and hopes to see more in-person support for the arts coming back, as venues often struggle to stay open. She laments the closure of the Local (or the 202) and urges people to go out and see live music at Lefty’s Well and the newly revamped Kopper King.
“Go out to the venues that exist currently and make sure they’re supported so they don’t go under,” Pick says. “Even in the last year, the KK started doing live music and put all this work into reopening the other side, and it hasn’t been full-tilt yet, even though it has quite a bit of space.”
Because Pick has roots in several different towns, she wants to give each of her special places a celebration show for the new album. She kicked off the string of exclusive shows in November in Grand Forks, B.C., and will be hosting another in Nelson, in January. After that, her sights are set on Whitehorse, where she hopes to play a third-release celebration concert. Though she’s spent much of her life as a nationally-touring artist, Pick prefers to focus on one or two provinces at a time now.
“It’s so expensive and it’s really hard to do that much travelling in such a big country,” she says. “I’m trying to get one province at a time and really go to all the different towns in that province, introduce myself and get them to know me.”
To keep up with Paris Pick, visit parispickandthepricks.com, listen to Third Time’s A Charm and order a physical copy. Make sure you look out for vinyls in the local shops, too, as they will be available in the new year.
