Meet Meggie Lennon, The Synth Pop Songstress That Makes Perfect Make-Out Music

By: Sun Noor

After leaving her former indie pop band Abrdeen, the Montreal-based musician decided to pursue a solo career, focussing on her musical interests. With the release of her latest single, “Ton Amour, Ma Bouche,” Meggie Lennon sets a dreamy, sensual and psychedelic tone for what is yet to come from her upcoming releases. I caught up with Lennon a few days before her set due to take place this weekend at Taverne Tour in order to discuss her upcoming record, her musical influences and her love for  Mother Earth’s Plantasia by Mort Garson.

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Before we jump into your music, I just want to ask, how long have you been interested in music and where did your interest stem from?

“Since forever, I’ve had my radio show for more than ten years and I only started playing music five years ago. I was surrounded by this community of musicians and my friends at some point I decided to do this. I grabbed my guitar and started composing and started a project called Aberdeen and then left Quebec to come here and do this on my own and recorded it with Samuel Gemmeand the album is coming in the spring.”

What is your earliest musical memory?

“My first show was Elton John with my dad in Connecticut when I was 7. I just remembered costume changes and not so much of the music but it was very impressive. Then I started making little mixtapes, I’ve always had that tape recorder. I remember having Dookie from Green Day on cassette and also in CD.”

Were you always interested in radio  as well? 

“My passion for music led me to listen to a lot of radio since I didn’t have an infinite budget to buy my own stuff. When I went to Laval University I had my own show and that led me to book shows, meet more people and do interviews.”

What artists would you consider to have the greatest influence on you?

“One of the records that I remember listening to the most was Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins and also OK Computer by Radiohead, which were both huge records for me. I remember laughing, crying and loving and hating some aspects, it brought out all the different emotions.” 

Before recently pursuing this new project under your name, you played in a group called Abrdeen, how did that project come about?

“When I was with Abrdeen even as I leader I felt like it was harder to go in the path that I wanted because I was with four friends who wanted to do a rock project while I have always been into a little more pop, I’ve always attracted to the sounds of synthesizers and kind of not digging the idea of adding more synths. So when I left Quebec, that was sort of my excuse to say lets  make it clear that this is not going to be the  same project. I decided to use my own name and do my own stuff.”

Where these any records in particular that influenced you heavily when working on your new record?

 “Yes, there was this Sam Evian record called You, Forever, which I love and I also listen to a lot of Sincerely, Future Pollution by Timber Timbre. Also Khruangbin, which I listen to a lot and influenced the bass, very simple but precise and groovy.”

Do you have a particular date set in stone for when you plan on releasing the record?

“I don’t because I’m meeting two different labels but I’m hoping that I’ll get picked up by one of them. We are aiming for May but if not it’s going to be September because the Summer isn’t a good timing.”

Do you plan on releasing any other single in the mean time?

“Right now, there’s ‘Ton Amour, Ma Bouche,’ which is the only track in French on the album, we kind of wanted to release it independently because we went sure if we wanted it on the album. We’re really excited by everyone’s reaction to it the clip, its motivating me to release another single but I think we’re going to wait until we get some certainty from the label but we already have another video.”

Why do you think “Ton Amour, Ma Bouche,” wouldn’t fit well with the record?

“It definitely fits, we did that song both in French and English and we had both versions. We though it would be best to release the french one since we are in Quebec but we are aiming for more of an international audience so the rest of the album is in English. We thought we were going to keep the English version for the album and then release the first track in French.”

 

 

Would you say that you’re also aiming to incorporate more French songs onto your next project?

“Well actually there’s a new song on the way with some French. It’s definitely a path that interests me as a bilingual person but we’ll see how it goes.”

I find it compelling when people do sing in their first language.

 “My dad lives in the states so I’ve grown up in both worlds and growing up I’ve listened to more anglo bands and started writing more in English but writing ‘Ton Amour, Ma Bouche,’ in French kind of motivated me to do more in the future.”

Tell me a bit about how you came to put the music video together because it is a stunning visual.

“I actually wrote and directed the script and the main thing was that I wanted something sensual and when I met the two actors Margorie and Gabriel, they jumped into that game of being sensual together and open. It was done in Marjorie’s apartment and they really put me in a good place where I felt confident. I also really love food and cooking and I though to myself when I was cutting up a pie that was stunning that one day I was going to do a video with fruit. The whole video came along very naturally which I am pleased with the result because we had zero budget except for the fruit.”

Give us a description of what to expect from the record.

“Ive used the expression of making make-out music, its very sensual and leads towards psychedelia but its also very easy-listening, some say its kind of like dream pop, which is fine but its definitely an album that’s fun and makes you feel good, you can definitely make out to it.”

Are there any features on the record?

“No not really besides my musicians, Samuel Gemmed who is also in the band UUBBUURRUU played all the bass and the drums and recorded the album, Jules Henri who is also in Superplage plays parts of the synths and the guitars and Jean-Gabriel Lambert who’s in Anemone played the guitar on a couple of tracks. I did all the vocals and the synths.”

Is there anyone you’d like to collaborate with in the future?

“I would love to collaborate with Taylor Kirk of Timber Timbre, I have these two friends who are in this project called Boskorgi who make jazzy indie easy listening like RnB music and I would love to do vocals with them. Lucill album is going to be released soon and he invited me to do vocals on a few songs so that’s was a great collaboration. I would also love to collaborate with Helena Deland.”

What are some your your current favourite records?

“I really like Munya’s EP and Titanic Rising from Weyes Blood. One of the albums I’ve listened to the most is  Mort Garson’s Mother Earth’s Plantasia. He played one of the songs on the series High Maintenance, which is really funny and great and I was stunned when I heard it. It brings me to this place of joy and zenitude.”

 

Meggie Lennon is due to perform at Taverne Tour today at Quai des Brumes alongside Wangled Teb and Birds of Paradise. To purchase tickets, click here.

Keep up with all things Meggie Lennon here.

Header photo by Nicholas Martel.