Montreal Folk-Pop Group Mascara Wizard Share New Single ‘ELDERBERRY’
Montreal-based folk-pop group Mascara Wizard share their new single ‘Elderberry’ out now on all digital streaming platforms. The chill and romantic electronic-influenced folk track is the lead single from the band’s debut EP Sunbathing In The Valley Of Death set for release on April 21st.
Mascara Wizard is a project that was created during the COVID lockdown in 2020. It all began when poet/musician Simina Banu gifted the song ‘Elderberry’ to fellow musicians Iola Patalas and Michael Johancsik to play with their acoustic band, The Oops Kitchen, who recorded several demos of the track and performed it live, but it never felt quite right playing it without Simina. And so, Mascara Wizard was born. The trio then decided to give the song new life as a more “digital” collaboration and add Simina’s singing voice back to the track, which led to the creation of a full EP.
“When I wrote this song, I was really into enigmatic lyrics that could have a variety of interpretations,” says Simina. “I wrote it a long time ago but I think it was mostly led by feelings, wordplay and sounds, and then I tried to arrange them into something cohesive.”
Following a long and storied history as archenemies on an anonymous writer’s forum as teens, Simina and Iola finally became friends over a spare Andrew Bird ticket and a bucket of beer and the rest was history. The two encouraged each other’s artistic pursuits and bonded over experimental poetry and a shared love of Buck 65 until Simina moved to Montreal and they realized they could make music together on the same couch. Michael, who never had beef with anybody, joined the project as a producer to complement Simina’s poetic writing and experimental beats and Iola’s love of harmonies and wordplay.
