entertainment

Daniel Péloquin-Hopfner

In the dim warm lights of the stage, one can almost see the embers dancing and the smoke curling as the duo Fire & Smoke share their stories of love unfulfilled, restless hearts, and the pull of the open road. With Claire Morrison’s rich voice and Daniel Peloquin-Hopfner’s stirring melodies, the music takes you. “Performing is the most terrifying and comfortable experience all at once,” Morrison says. “It’s where my soul and the souls of others are most visible.”

The young singer, who had her first performance at the age of three, met Peloquin-Hopfner fittingly by a campfire at Folk Fest as she was wandering through the campground, following the music. “Dan was playing and I just sat down and we started playing together,” she remembers. After the festival, Dan tracked her down through Facebook and they spent almost every day of the summer practicing together.

“I spent my first year at University of Winnipeg and I was accomplishing a lot of things, but they weren’t meaningful to me in the way I needed them to be,” says Morrison. “It was like the universe saw me struggling and said we’re going to give you a little help. I found something I had wanted to do the whole time but just wasn’t sure how.” 

The duo’s debut, a soulful folk EP, appropriately named Maiden Voyage, was released November 26 at a new Winnipeg venue, Pop Soda’s Coffeehouse and Gallery on Portage Avenue. Morrison chose the comfy venue because of the warmth and lovely, enthusiastic crowd the space draws. “I love performing at Pop Soda’s because the lights were on and the audience was so comfortable,” she says. “There’s a reason we applaud performances. Most performers need that validation. Having the house lights on at a show almost holds the audience accountable in some way. The performer can see them just as fully as they can see the artist on stage.”

Four of the five songs on the EP were penned by Morrison and, as she says, do not speak so kindly of love. “I tend to be drawn to the dark horse,” the redhead says. “I guess because I can see myself in it. I’ve tried having partners were it makes sense that we would work, people who have been more grounded. But it doesn’t last. All of my trouble is self-created.”

The singer, born under the darker sign of Scorpio on Day of the Dead, is no stranger to the kind of trouble love can bring. “I’m really good at getting myself into trouble. There’s almost a honeymoon period where you’re getting away with it that’s very exciting before the bad stuff kicks in.”

Though her adventures in love have included heartbreak, Morrison maintains an open and grounded heart by sharing her music and thoughts on how her song can create connections. “I like using second person pronouns because I want the song to be as relevant as possible, to speak to everyone. If it’s very clear that a song talks about a heterosexual or homosexual relationship by the use of gendered pronouns, this can sometimes act as a barrier for a certain portion of listeners who won’t necessarily feel your lyrics as deeply. Sometimes if a song is very specifically about one person, I’ll use a third-person gendered pronoun, but otherwise I prefer to keep it pretty ambiguous,” she says.

When asked about her own dating preferences, the singer smiles and says: “I date everyone. No one’s safe!” One song in particular on the EP, Dead Man’s Love, shows Morrison’s playful and thoughtful reveal of her more intimate feelings with her audience. “There’s a line ‘I’ve sold many men the rope to hang themselves, and a couple of ladies, too. I’ve never played a show where no one reacted to it. It’s a great time for me to share a giggle with my listeners.”

Growing up in Winnipeg’s unique music scene has definitely influenced Morrison for the better. “Winnipeg is a centre for folk and roots music,” she says. “I’ve spent a fair amount of time in other cities and it’s very warm here. I was a baby on the scene since I was 18 when Fire & Smoke was formed. I was lucky to start in a place where they were excited to have another musician. With Montreal and Vancouver, there’s not as much musician to musician support. That’s where people go to get their big break and nothing’s going to stop them. That makes for a colder scene.”

Despite her youth, Morrison already has a good handle on the business of art and uses her strong love of aesthetics and poetry through Fire & Smoke’s work. The nautical concept and name of the album came together as a package deal in her mind and the pair spent long thoughtful hours on choosing their name. “We wanted something that represented us,” she says. “We started asking each other some pretty personal questions to get to the meat of it. Dan can be pretty elusive and wanders. Besides the red hair, I can be warm but very dangerous if I’m unimpressed.”

Fire & Smoke’s EP “Maiden Voyage” is available for purchase through their website www.fireandsmokemusic.com or by e-mailing fireandsmokemusic@gmail.com.

– Katrina Caudle is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer.