The Hello Darlins Going Places With Impressive Debut

It's been over a year in the making and close to that in the waiting, but Calgary country group The Hello Darlins are finally on the cusp of releasing Go By Feel, their full-length debut album. It's something lead singer Candace Lacina is enthusiastic to see happen.

Photo by James May

"We've been waiting things out and doing the best we can to hold back," she says. "We're so excited, we want to be able to share this music and we've had a lot of people asking for it. We're anxiously excited."

While some groups fret away studio time and money trying to make things absolutely pristine on their maiden sonic voyage, the band used the album title as a simple mantra.

"We said we're going to write songs that come from the heart, we're going to write about things that are real and we aren't going to overthink the recording process," Lacina says. "We're going to do the best we can and go with our gut, go with our intuition. We had this go with the flow attitude. There was no rush, there was no deadline to try to meet."

The album, out today, is a great mix of radio-friendly singles like the title track with more thoughtful moments found on "Lonely In Las Vegas" and "Aberdeen" with Joey Landreth. The musicianship is also far above a typical debut effort thanks to Lacina, Mike Little, Murray Pulver (Crash Test Dummies) and Russell Broom (Jann Arden), leading some to call the band the "Broken Social Scene of Americana."

Lacina says "Still Waters" was another highlight thanks to Matt Andersen's appearance on it.

"I had this dream of having Matt Andersen sing on it, I'm just such a huge fan of him as a musician and as a person," she says. "Mike and I were down in Los Angeles for the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show and Matt Andersen sent back a demo of him singing his vocals. We were in Disneyland at the time and I had my headphones in and just burst into tears. I was so overwhelmed by what a beautiful and heartwarming performance he delivered."

Another track close to Lacina's heart is the short one-take coda "Farewell River Rouge" which was "spiritually influenced" by her grandfather.

"He's a musician and has guided me as a songwriter and performer," Lacina says. "We have a violin that belongs to him from when he worked at the Ford Factory in Detroit. The factory he worked out of was called River Rouge. I thought it would be so awesome to have a song that was just violin and vocal the way him and I would perform when I was a kid."

The Hello Darlins also shot videos for some songs including "Aberdeen" and "Catch That Train." Lacina enjoys the entire video creative process.

"It's become a new love and a new passion," she says. "I always thought that it would be fun to make videos. Having the pandemic come and being limited to promote things (has made) making our own videos a new adventure and I absolutely love it. I would love to start doing music videos for other artists as well just cause it's so fun. It actually scratches an itch that's very similar to songwriting for me. It's like putting these little puzzles together."

One of the blessings the group had was essentially finishing the recording process before public health protocols started. Lacina says most of the "bed tracks" with instrumentation were completed while vocals were done from a home studio.

"We're just lucky because playing live on a floor with a band and getting the musicians together there's a different energy when you are playing off of one another in person versus playing alone in the studio and then sending files back and forth," she says.

Lacina says the pandemic has given her a greater appreciation for music while simultaneously seeing the bigger picture.

"I think it has put it into balance," she says. "Taking some time off from constantly being on the go as professional musicians has been a great reminder of the things that are important including health, time and connection with family."

Like any other musician, touring during a pandemic has been a non-starter for The Hello Darlins. They've done some streaming gigs, some drive-in concerts and hope to mount a Canadian Christmas tour in November and December if restrictions allow. An EP release is also a possibility on the horizon while songs for a sophomore album are also in the works. Lacina is chomping at the bit to get back in front of people.

"I'm really hoping it comes back because there's nothing that compares to it," she says. "That connection that happens between an artist and an audience and the moment that is only shared when you're there. It's just something that can't be replaced.

We're impatient to get the record out but we're even more impatient to connect and play live music again and do what we're on this planet to do.

"I'm so excited about being able to have that moment again when that happens. I would be shocked if we don't burst into tears at the first shows when they happen because it will be so good. Like meeting up with an old love."

Finally, given the band name, Lacina says they've been considering covering the 1970 Conway Twitty classic "Hello Darlin'."

"We talked about doing the Conway Twitty song, we've talked about maybe incorporating it into our live show," she says with a laugh. "It would be really fun. We do quite a few reimagined covers in our live shows so it's not off the table."

Go By Feel was released June 11, 2021.
Listen to it here