Ellen Froese

Saskatoon songsmith Ellen Froese’s new single, “Solitary Song,” sums up exactly where she is right now: “It’s been a weird year—lots of life changes, maybe some ego-death.” Between an ADHD diagnosis and cutting back on some vices, her perspective—as a musician, a lover, a human being—has changed. As soon as Froese starts “Solitary Song” with a tongue-in-cheek “Everybody, get ready to rock,” you get the vibe of an artist who’s charting her path towards reckless, joyful creativity. Froese had been clinging to the sense that she should be making art in a certain way, and she was never quite doing it right—gritting her teeth and writing daily morning pages, only to skip one day and think, “fuck, I guess I’m not creative.” But at this point in Froese’s career—4 full-length albums and many international tours deep—Froese is just trying to reclaim the free-flying feeling of writing “shit-ass songs” as a 15-year-old on her family’s cattle farm. On “Solitary Song,” Froese’s finding that feeling of just making music for the joy of it—and it is delightful.