How one local musician has kept creative while navigating the pandemic

Craig Bakay | Sep 08, 2021

Like musicians everywhere, Prince Charles Public School alumnus Astrid Tanton hasn’t been able to play live much during the pandemic. She has had her online studies at Ryerson University in arts and contemporary studies to keep her busy but that doesn’t necessarily satisfy her musical muse.

“I’m a culture major with a minor in psychology,” she said. “Now that the world is slowly being to recover from covid-19, I’m excited.

“During the lockdown, it felt like I was watching a clock.”

She said at first, she found covid to be frustrating, but then she started finding a bit of introspection creeping in.

“Covid definitely impacted my creative abilities,” she said. “At first it was negative but then positive.

“I’m 18 and still learning but I’ve done a lot of self-inspection and maturing.

“I’m much more confident now.”

The result has been a debut album, From My Eyes, which to date has three tracks, Comfort, Better Off, and her newest release Jury (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMHs8qawDFg)

For Jury, Tanton hooked up with choreographer friend Lianne Tammi as well as film student friends and they had to scramble to find a location to shoot but she’s very pleased with the results.

“I’m beyond amazed at how things turned out,” she said. “Things go from 0-100 and you either feel nothing’s happening or everything’s happening at once.

“I think it would have been quite different (had there not been a pandemic) but this has been very much a collective effort”.

She’ll concede to being “in the pop music realm” but “with lots of other influences.

“I think Jury has a grungy vibe.

“Besides, pop just means what was popular in that age and that location.

For Jury, think of Lucinda Williams covering a Katie Perry tune . . . or perhaps the other way around.

As for the near future, Tanton will be returning to Ryerson but isn’t sure how much of it will be virtual.

She’s very much looking forward to performing live again but what that will look like is anybody’s guess.

“I’m looking forward to live shows but we’re trying to figure out what concert venues might be available,” she said. “Like what will capacities be and how many dancers can we have and how will the band have to be spaced out.

“But it will be more of an adjustment rather than changing everything.”

She said she’ll be releasing her album on all the social media platforms once she gets a few more songs in the can.

In the meantime, she does have several previous recordings on line as well as the completed tunes from From My Eyes.

“Just Google my name and all my songs will pop us,” she said.