Haycorn

Haycorn, the Montreal-based duo of Mélissa Charbonneau Bisier and Maicol Ospina Bedoya, have spent the last year dishing out some dreamy lo-fi bedroom pop tunes. Whether it’s the sunny rhythms on their most recent single “Good Times Are Killing Me” or the introspective sounds of “Crystal Clear,” the two musicians know how to write a soft, ruminative tune.  I’ve been following them for the better part of 2020, so I was thrilled to ask them a few questions via e-mail.  We chatted about their origins, their Shakepserean influences, their favorite current Montreal artists, and a whole lot more:

Hi Mélissa and Maicol! So, Haycorn is a relatively new project. What are your backgrounds in music prior to starting Haycorn? 

Hi Tom, first of all, we want to thank you for the opportunity. Look At my Records is an excellent outlet and, we think the page is a unique platform that encourages artists like us to keep creating all the art we love. Now we will proceed to insert an obnoxious text emoji reflecting our feelings.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ 💖💖💖💖 

Melissa: … well, responding to your question, music always had a significant place in my life. At the age of 12, I received my first acoustic guitar, and I never stopped playing it! I started writing songs a little bit after. However, I was a timid person. So, many of those songs never saw the light. Way later, I finally started to perform live music (alone or with a full band) in various places in Montréal. In particular, I played lead guitar and fronted in a cover band of the Runaways called The Crimson Queens (learn your rock and roll kids!). That experience trained me a lot as an artist and allowed my current projects to be released.

Maicol: ok, first, I refer to myself as an art unit, a video and music unit, and a riot girl band… ups, sorry that was CuBerry. BTW Tom, remarkable finding, those girls are amazing, and their videos are super cute. Kudos to them. Ok, coming back to ME. My interest in music started later in life (practically yesterday). A couple of years ago, I started creating and producing instrumental and lo-fi hip-hop only for fun. However, my passion for open tunings and delta blues took me to add guitars and voices to the beats.

How'd this project get started?

Haycorn was born on a summer afternoon in 2018, where randomly we ended up recording the track that became "Drop Dead." We loved so much producing songs from A to Z that our self-titled EP was released on Bandcamp shortly after. However, only in January of 2020, we started constantly releasing tracks on all the platforms. We just wanted to have fun, and we found that our connection worked as a duo.

I read that your song "In The Creek" was inspired by the character Ophelia from Hamlet. What about her as a character inspired you? 

Mélissa: Very young, I came across an image inspired by Ophelia painted by the artist John Everett Millais. I was captivated right away. I loved the contrast between the dark mood of the painting and the indescribable expression on Ophelia's face. I quickly went through whatever information I could find about Ophelia. I realized that she was a character in Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet." I always loved the mystery around her death. Some say that she committed suicide, others say because of Hamlet or others that she fell from a tree and drowned. Still today, for other songs and projects, She is a source of inspiration.

What else do you draw inspiration from? Do you tend to draw inspiration from literature from your lyrics? Or do you draw more inspiration from personal experience?

Mélissa: I must say that it may vary. Most of the time, writing is a useful outlet for transposing what I feel, what I experience, whichever the sentiment is. I can get as much inspiration from pop culture as renaissance pictures. One example we have is our song "Will Byers Demon.” When we wrote the song, we were binge-watching Stranger Things, which inspired us to record something. But for real, technically, everything inspires us.

I love the acoustic version "Crystal Clear." Why did you decide to release an acoustic version? Did you originally write it as a stripped-down track?

Mélissa: Indeed, Crystal clear was initially an acoustic song. We weren't sure to release it because it had been quite a while since I wrote it. So, we've decided to make some adjustments to give it the feel of a bedroom pop song. However, we found that the atmosphere between the two versions was different; that is why we decided to release both versions.

What's does your songwriting process typically look like? You also produce all of your own music - what's the recording/production process look like for Haycorn?

Maicol: Usually, I come with a chord progression played on my guitar or the keyboard. Later, I create a series of draft beats. If together we find an exciting idea, Mélissa will write the lyrics, sing and play rhythmic and lead guitar. 

"Good Times Are Killing Me," your latest single, is a brighter song when compared with tracks like "Ashes" and "Drop Dead" from your first EP. What direction would you say your sound is headed in?

Mélissa: That's a good question! It's true that musically, the song is more upbeat than the rest of our songs. We have the Latino side of Maicol that helped out a little bit ;). However, if we listen to the lyrics carefully, we see that it is not as bright as you might think. I believe we wanted to create a summer song with a little twist for the people who pay attention to the lyrics. We experiment a lot, Maicol and I come from different backgrounds, so we try many things. I believe our sound is still in exploration and development, and I think the best is yet to come.

Tell us a little about the music scene in Montreal? What's it like? Where are some of your favourite places to play?

Mélissa: I must say that the music scene in Montreal is very active and present. We are a reasonably connected community where almost everyone knows each other. One of the favourite places I was lucky enough to play a small show at a place called L'astral. It felt like home! Otherwise, I had the opportunity to play a few times at the L'Hemisphère Gauche, a renowned Montreal bar for live shows.

Who are some Montreal-based artists/bands that you'd recommend to our readers?

Alicia Clara, Petrol Taste, Little Daisies, TOPS. 

Once live music returns, which songs are you most excited to share with others in a live setting?

Unfortunately, we have not yet had the experience of playing Haycorn songs on stage because of the pandemic. I would say that a live show itself would be super exciting. We never thought of playing Haycorn songs in a live setting. But if we had to choose a song, it would be our next single. We're so excited to get it out and play it live ヾ(〃^∇^)ﾉ

What's next for Haycorn?

We have a bunch of material recorded, and we are trying to find the way to put it out in the best way, maybe in the form of an EP. Parallelly, we plan to release a set of videos with acoustic versions of our songs on Youtube. Many of our followers like our acoustics, so we are exploring that possibility. 

You can purchase Haycorn’s entire discography via Bandcamp. Their music is also available on all streaming platforms, including Spotify. Keep up with the band by following them on Instagram and liking them on Facebook. They also just released a lyric video for their song, “Sing Me To Sleep,” which you can watch via YouTube.