Canary on Soul-Infused Hip Hop and Stepping Out From Behind the Piano

Canary is a singer, songwriter and performer from Australia. For most of her life she wrote and played at the piano. Her current project, Modus Operandi, goes the other way: soul-infused hip hop, a band put together with musicians from around the world, and no piano on stage at all.

We filmed her sessions in Northern Thailand and sat down with her afterwards to talk about how the songs were written, how the band came together, and what changes when you step out from behind the instrument you have always hidden behind. You can watch the full interview here.

Where did you start, and where does the piano fit in?

I started playing piano when I was 9, learning sonatas and ragtime tunes. Then I moved into composing, mostly on piano and voice. A lot of the older stuff I wrote was very Disney, as Gabriel would call it. It was the space to express my melancholic side. I was a teenager, I fell in love for the first time, I was going through a breakup. Teenage feelings, and the piano was where they went.

As I got older I kept writing at the piano, which is beautiful, and I still play it. But I felt there was a large side of myself that doesn’t get to be expressed that way. So this project emerged.

How would you describe the project?

It’s not straight hip hop. Let’s call it soul-infused hip hop. I’ve been trying, as much as possible, to find ways for this other part of myself to express itself and have fun, so I don’t have to be the sad piano girl on stage. I wanted a different side of me to be seen, and to play with other people. And it’s been awesome.

Now I’m in the north of Thailand, meeting people from all over the world. Everyone in the band is from a different corner of the globe.

How did you decide on the band’s setup?

I spent a lot of time thinking about it. All the songs were written before, and I had another, produced version of them, but I didn’t know how they would translate live. I decided on bass, drums, a guitar and the vocal pedal I have, which stands in for a rhythm guitar or a piano.

I specifically wanted to not play piano for this project. That was an important part of learning how to express myself without hiding behind the instrument I had relied on for a very long time. As for the musicians, I just saw them on the street or messaged them and said, join my band. They said, OK, let’s do it.

What was the first rehearsal like?

A funny story. A massive electricity blackout hit the town for two or three days, because some of the huge towers came down. Our first rehearsal and our first gig were both scheduled for that weekend. We showed up at the studio hoping the power would magically be fixed, and we all sat there disappointed. We had a water bottle with a phone light under it, everything glowing in the dark, and Gabriel playing a cajón. Everyone was acoustic. It was hilarious.

From there we spent more time getting familiar with the tracks, and everyone started contributing something, a little idea here, a little detail there. Having people to collaborate with on something new for me has been really beautiful.

Do you have a favorite song?

One of the songs we recorded today: Excalibur. Ironically, it’s a worship song. A worship song to music. I come from a really religious family, and there was a lot of struggle and pain as a result. This piece is a reframing, using a lot of religious language: “This music is my cathedral and my feet will take me far.” It’s one of my favorites because it has a healing element for me.

Each verse expresses a different part of myself. The first has a threat in it: don’t walk all over me, or I might mess you up. The second is about backing myself, believing in what I’m doing. There’s a line in it about voices in my head telling me I’m the chosen one. I’m literally talking about delusions of grandeur, about being confused and skeptical of myself while believing I can do something really cool. I’m not there yet. I have a significant amount of growth ahead of me. But it’s great to perform words that leave a lot of room for me to grow into. It reinforces my own standpoint, to back myself and keep going, so I keep getting better.

The whole song moves from don’t mess with me, to I back myself, to this is an aspect of who I am that you probably don’t know about.

Everything is about making dope shit.

Did you want to record the songs and the videos?

A hundred percent doubtful. I didn’t want to. I was super resistant. We had been playing together for only about three months. I had no idea how this was going to go. Would it work with my three-part harmony vocal pedal? It might sound bad. I didn’t know, so let’s find out. As we kept going, we found we had a really nice vibe, and we were making cool things. Then Gabriel suggested we record. Okay, let’s go.

What was it like to be filmed?

It’s live, so I tried to balance it like a performance with the band: how am I going to interact with them, are we on the same page? And also to have a few moments of back and forth with the camera. I watched some of the recordings back and thought, I really wish I had moved more. At the time I wasn’t sure. Maybe it would look funny, maybe they wouldn’t catch the shot, which is completely irrelevant to think about. Watching it back, that is how I wish I had done things in the moment. It was one of the first times I had done this.

It has fed into my performance process, and it has been one of the biggest learning curves of this project. How do I perform without being stuck behind a piano? How do I perform when my hands are free? How do I make this fit the vibe of the song? I’m trying to do everything from a place of play.

What would you say to the Canary from before?

Get a longer XLR cable, so you can move more. Which I own, actually, which is funny. Use the XLR cable. Don’t be afraid to lean into different moments more. Make dope shit.

---

Filmed in Northern Thailand. The original interview is in English.