From the release of their debut single, “September,” in 2021 to the present, Montreal-based band Frownline has quickly been making strides within Montreal’s indie music scene and beyond. After all, landing on several Spotify editorial playlists, collaborating with Chemical Club’s Michael Watson, getting signed to Lauren Records, are undeniably impressive feats to accomplish for a band, let alone a rising one.
Yet, despite the meteoric fanfare and wins, Annika Devlin, founder and primary songwriter of Frownline, modestly admits that she hasn’t cracked the proverbial code, specifically when it comes to the Spotify algorithms that have propelled them to well-deserved acclaim. That said, having seen them perform to an eager full house (back in September when I shot their show in Ottawa at House of Targ), I can attest that the band truly embodies the hype and is poised to become one of the best indie rock bands in the coming years.
It's no surprise, then, that I was thrilled that Annika was able to carve out some time to chat with me about herself and her band before the year wrapped up.
Ken: How would you describe your music to those unfamiliar with your work?
Annika: Genre-wise, I would say it’s indie rock, sort of, but there’s a lot of '90s influence on stuff.
Ken: It’s great you mentioned influences cause I wanted to talk about them. I know you’re a fan of Soccer Mommy and you told me that before, but are there any other artists that have influenced your music? It could be obvious or indirect.
Annika: A very obvious one is the Breeders. They’re a '90s band. Sometimes we’ll do a cover of theirs for an encore. Their Last Splash album was an influence for sure. It's influenced my lead playing before I had the band. I'm not a very good guitar player and the guitar player for that band was just starting when she recorded stuff. Then an indirect one is Joni Mitchell. That’s not so direct [laughs].
Ken: Those are great artists. I feel a lot of guitarists are influenced by Joni Mitchell.
Annika: Yeah. She’s good. Writing-wise too. Her lyrics are insane.
Ken: Speaking about Frownline as a whole, at the beginning, Frownline was just comprised of yourself. Since you started Frownline though, you’ve brought a bassist, a lead guitarist, and a drummer on board. What do you consider Frownline to be now? Is it a project or a band?
Annika: Honestly, I don’t even know. It feels like a band now. We’re all in it and we’re all doing everything together now. We just recorded three new songs and those are the first recordings with the whole band. It’s just us, basically. It’s a lot raw sounding. Before I met the band, [Frownline] was way more produced and stuff, but since meeting them, things have changed. So, for sure, I consider it a band project now even though I do still do most of the writing and stuff by myself. Like, Juan, our bass player, will help me with the writing when I get stuck places. I wouldn’t want this to be a solo solo project. I feel that’s kind of daunting. I’m happy to have them. It’s for sure a band thing.
Ken: Which parts would you write then for the songs? I’m just curious cause you’re a multi-instrumentalist. Can you speak about that?
Annika: Every song always starts with just me writing in my bedroom on an acoustic guitar. I’ll come up with the chord progressions and then I’ll write the lyrics. As I’m going, I’m finding new progressions for different parts of the songs. Previously, I was playing all the lead guitar on everything that is out except the last song we released, “Knowing You” – that’s all me playing every single guitar. Now, with the full band, [each member] comes up with their own stuff cause everyone is so much better at coming up with things than I am [laughs].
Ken: How many instruments do you know how to play?
Annika: Guitar’s my main instrument. I spent my preteen years playing drums. I own a bass. Do I know how to play it? No. So, I think just guitar and drums.
Ken: Maybe I should have asked you this before, since you talked a bit about it just now. What’s your songwriting process like? For example, how long does it take for you to write a particular song? Do you think about the music first, then the lyrics, or vice versa? Can you talk to me about your songwriting process?
Annika: Some songs take no time to write – it’ll all happen in one go. Recently, I’ve been finding the songs have been taking me a lot longer to figure out. I’ll come up with a chord progression and then, maybe, a first verse. Then, I just sit with that for a couple weeks and I’ll just keep on picking it back up to see if I can add anything to it. So, it is kind of a long process now. But, usually, as soon as I have it figured out – the structure and everything figured out – I’ll bring it to the band and then we fully flesh it out between us all. Then, we get all the ideas. Sometimes, the structure of the songs and stuff will change a bit cause I never really think about the instrumental bits when I’m just playing in my bedroom alone.
Ken: I see.
Annika: Yeah. Like structures will usually change, so it is a long process of a start-to-finish song for sure.
Ken: We were talking about your songs being produced earlier. I noticed [Michael Watson] of Chemical Club produced most of your releases. Will they be producing your upcoming EP as well?
Annika: No. Actually, we recorded that one in Montreal because we’re all based here. When I started – when I met Michael – they were producing for me when I was still in Ottawa. This was before I met the band and all that. For the EP, we decided we wanted something more live off the floor, sort of something more to resemble our live show cause I feel like we’re finally finding what our actual sound is. Before it was just more like experimenting with different things. But, yeah, Michael was so great to work with. Unfortunately, we recorded at a studio [in Montreal] called Holy Mountain Sound with a guy named Clay.
Ken: On the EP itself, can you tell me a little more about it?
Annika: As of now, we’re just releasing separate singles basically cause we recorded these three and they sort of go together. We’re going to work towards a bigger release after, I think. So, yeah, I still don’t even know fully what the plan is, but we’re gonna see.
Ken: There’s a new song you recently finished recording. It’s a loud one that you play live. Would this be on the EP as well?
Annika: Yeah. “Days without.” I think that’s going to be the second single.
Ken: Awesome! I’m looking forward to that one. I think you played it live when I was shooting your show.
Annika: Yeah, we did. That’s collectively all of our favourite song in the set because it’s the loudest and rowdiest, but it sort of came outta nowhere, too. None of our other songs are that loud, so it’s really fun for us to play that one.
Ken: You mentioned the change in the sound [of Frownline]. What prompted that? Were you inspired by something? Did one of you suggest an idea? Why are you guys shifting into a different direction sound-wise?
Annika: Personally, I want to sound more like what we sound like live. The music I have out right now is stuff that I had written before I even met the band, so our sound has changed just from solidifying this lineup for the band. We just wanted to properly reflect that. Honestly, when I started Frownline, I was into a different sound musically – I wanted everything to be really clean. Now, I want noise and imperfections, I guess. I think that influences it a lot.
Ken: Well, I’m really looking forward to that. I’ve been a fan of your songs [laughs]. You’re one of my favourite artists from Ottawa. The other one is [Hannah Judge], Fanclubwallet.
Annika: Yeah, she rocks. She is the whole reason why I started doing music. I think if Fanclubwallet didn’t exist, I don’t think Frownline would’ve existed.
Ken: I wish we had this interview before I met [Hannah]. That’d be pretty flattering if I told her that [laughs].
Annika: I don’t know if she knows that. I only knew Michael through Fanclubwallet. I really got obsessed when she released that song, “Interstate.” I was like, “Oh my God, this is the best thing I’ve ever heard!” I just happened to post a clip of “September,” the first Frownline song, and Michael reached out to me and was like, “Hey, if you want me to produce this, I can,” and I was like “Yeah, I love Fanclubwallet. That would be epic!” So, for sure, I don’t think if Fanclubwallet was a thing, Frownline would [exist], or Frownline be such a different thing.
Ken: That’s nice! Well, it’s been an impressive run so far. Like, on Spotify, you have thousands of streams. Do you have a theory on how you cracked the code, or an idea of how to be successful as a musician in this day and age? In seeing all this success through your music and what I mentioned about Spotify, I feel like you kind of cracked the code.
Annika: I so wish I knew how to crack the code. I think it was literally just luck. [With “September”], I think it helped having Michael’s name on it. Hannah helped me out too and was posting about [“September”] and stuff. Then [“September”] just happened to get playlisted on Spotify. It just sort of snowballed all the other songs being playlisted on Spotify because I feel that once you’re on a playlist, then Spotify really starts to look at everything else you released to try and put it on a playlist. It’s just getting onto that first playlist that I think is really hard for a lot of people, but I literally just got lucky with it.
Ken: Following up on that, it’s been a few years since you released “September,” your debut single. How do you feel you have evolved since then?
Annika: God. I feel like the difference between “September” and a song like “Days without” is so drastic almost. It is the same genre, but “September,” whenever I hear it, my voice sounds different in it. My voice changing has also evolved with [the music]. I feel like my life is totally different now from when I started it – I was still living with my parents in Ottawa. I was working at a grocery store and all that, and I was just chilling during the pandemic. Now, I live in Montreal and know completely different people. Like, meeting the band is the biggest influence for change for sure cause they really shape Frownline to be what it is and what we sound like.
Ken: Okay, cool. You mentioned moving to Montreal. You’re a Montreal transplant who’s originally from Ottawa. Why did you make the move to Montreal?
Annika: I moved here for school. I was going to Concordia for electroacoustic studies. I did a year and a half and then I just didn’t know what I wanted to do with it. It was a super cool program and all that, but I was just paying so much money and I had to work. Also, I wanted to do Frownline as much as possible, so I decided I would just take some time off school. Then, I just stayed in Montreal. Now, I work full-time. I don’t think I’m going back to school.
Ken: I thought you would say something different. For example, I interviewed [Gabe Comba] recently for Music Scene Media and he was studying in English Literature at Carleton. [Robin Kenny], who I also interviewed, studied in music. It’s something very traditional, but it’s interesting to hear that you’re in the music space education-wise.
Annika: Montreal was also an attractive city to me because I speak French already. I went to French school my entire life, so it wasn’t a hard decision for me cause it’s very French here. It’s hard to work [here] if you don’t speak French, but that wasn’t even a hiccup.
Ken: You’ve played a lot of shows in Ottawa and a lot of shows in Montreal. How would you compare both in terms of music since you’re pretty attuned to the music scene in both cities?
Annika: It’s funny cause they’re so different. Like, Ottawa is such a close-knit community of bands and musicians, and everyone is so nice and the sweetest people ever. Also, everyone is such a huge fan of everyone else and everyone’s so supportive. But, here, I find there isn’t as much of a community. It’s not as much of a community-based thing here, but we get to play with so many more bands because most bands will come to Montreal, not Ottawa. I think it’s mostly that – there’s a lot more musicians coming in and out really fast. That kind of prevents a bit of a community cause in Ottawa everyone’s playing with each other all the time, so that helps grow the community. But, here, everyone’s playing with different people all the time. There is still a community here. Like we’ve got a big group of friends and all that with other bands, but it is different for sure.
Ken: Have you toured in the States before, or is it something you plan on doing?
Annika: I think we’re going to LA in April. Yeah, we’ve never played in the US. We’ve never played any shows or anything, but we’re still trying to figure it out. But, we’re playing a little festival for the record label that we’re signed to, Lauren Records. Hopefully, that’ll happen in April. That will be sick.
Ken: I got a few more questions. This one’s very simple. What are you listening to these days?
Annika: Ooh, what am I listening to these days? Wait, oh my God. I’m looking at my Spotify [laughs]. I mean, the new Soccer Mommy record came out. I feel like so much good music just came out at the end of this year. Yeah, the Soccer Mommy record. I’m obsessed right now with this girl called Lia Pappas-Kemps. She released this EP called Gleam and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. Her writing and chord progressions are insane. I listen to that all the time. There’s also my favourite album of the year, Kim Deal’s album. She’s the girl from the Breeders and her solo record is so good. I’ve been listening to that a ton.
Ken: Are there any artists you want to give a shoutout? It could be from Montreal, Ottawa, or anywhere else.
Annika: Oh, yeah. I’ll give a shoutout to literally my favourite act, this girl, Kelly Elizabeth. She is so freaking good. Her writing is so good. We’re also friends. She works at the coffee shop right by my place, so I see her all the time. She is literally my favourite person to see in Montreal. [Her] stuff is kind of like jazz-folk singer-songwriter stuff, but it’s also kind of indie a bit. Yeah, she’s so good.
Ken: I think we covered everything. Is there anything you’d like to mention to your fans before we wrap up?
Annika: There’s stuff coming. We haven’t released music in a year [laughs]. There’re things coming for 2025, so hopefully people will still be around to listen.
