Rising Toronto singer/songwriter Lia Pappas-Kemps dives into the fiery spirit and raw emotions of her debut EP ‘Gleam,’ a bold and brash introduction that aches with the weight of life lessons learned the hard way.

for fans of Alaska Reid, Del Water Gap, Miya Folick

“Catch Release” – Lia Pappas-Kemps

“You’re a star, you consume me,” Lia Pappas-Kemps sings at the start of her debut EP. “I think you knew you could seduce me.” Electric guitars and synths burn bright alongside the 20-year-old’s voice as she spills her heavy heart and aching soul in song, the instruments around her evoking the tension and turmoil within. “Gasoline, force of habit; I always want what I can’t have.” Within seconds, the Canadian singer/songwriter has engulfed her audience in an intoxicating deluge of spellbinding, emotionally-soaked sonic fervor: Heavy overdrive coats the airwaves with electric fury while the rhythm section maintains a hypnotic beat.

Over all of this musical mayhem, the young artist rises with a fiery spirit and uncompromising light, wearing her wounds like battle scars. Lia Pappas-Kemps’ inner light shines on Gleam, a bold, brash, breathtaking, and brutally raw debut EP that aches with the weight of life lessons on love, loss, and letting go – all of which she’s had to learn the hard way.

Meet me by the flagpole
After bio I want a word with you
I know I was gonna cut you off
But I didn’t mean deep, just a flesh wound

Swan dive into the pond scum
Another night at the pool hall
Twilight, sync up our headphones
Dance down the subway platform

Nothing’s gonna stop me leaving
You know I want to believe you
When you’re sitting on the bleachers
Heart in your hands, airing the grievance
I don’t believe you
I don’t believe you

Independently released November 22, 2024, Gleam stays true to its name as a shimmering, dynamic, and unapologetic force. Achingly emotive, undeniably immersive, confessional and cathartic, 20-year-old Lia Pappas-Kemps’ debut EP roars with feverish indie rock sonics and irresistible alt-pop melodies, its songs serving as the perfect introduction to her burgeoning artistry: A tender tempest, ready to engulf listeners ears with a sound that is as soft as it is searing, as gentle as it is overwhelming.

Jarring, yet dreamy nonetheless; isn’t that what young adulthood itself feels like?

As Pappas-Kemps explains, the songs off her EP were written over the last two years, as she navigated the end of her teenage years and the transition from adolescence to young adulthood.

“I didn’t really have an aim thematically; it was sort of piecemeal,” she tells Atwood Magazine. “After a few years of song accumulation, I collaged the songs that remained close to me together, and whatever themes presented themselves weren’t necessarily intentional. Sonically, I think I just wanted to capture that shiny, tender teenage feeling in every way I could.”

“I brought some of the songs to a few different producers, Julian Psihogios, Alex Laurie and Philip Etherington, and then met Nate Ferraro and fleshed out the recordings and finished the EP with him. We recorded it in Toronto in just under two weeks!”

Pappas-Kemps’ EP builds upon the sparse, yet impactful introduction she made just a few years ago with the songs “Object at Best,” “Sad in Toronto,” and “Jinx.”

Atwood Magazine’s Luke Pettican previously praised the “wistful and profound lyricism” of her second single “Sad in Toronto,” writing, “The winning combination of gently reassuring lyricism and Pappa-Kemps’ ataractic vocal delivery makes listening to this track feel like a cathartic experience.” Three years later, the singer/songwriter proves all the more stunning, her expressive voice a beacon of visceral passion and unfiltered feeling.

“I think Gleam encapsulates the breadth of my songwriting over the last few years,” Pappas-Kemps reflects. “That part of my process is always morphing and changing too, but this feels like a strong representation of that time.”

She candidly describes the EP as yearnful, hopeful, and gleaming.

The record’s title, she explains, hails from a song that didn’t survive the test of time, “but I thought about the word constantly after that,” she says. “I found myself referencing lightning and beams of light and mirrors and refractions a lot throughout the EP, so the name felt apt.”

Highlights abound on the journey from the heavy-hitting opener “Star” (and its liberal use of guitar overdrive) to the EP’s dreamy, half-acoustic, half-electric, and all-consuming finale, “A Thousand Times Over.”

“I think the third track ‘All Mirrors’ is my favourite,” Pappas-Kemps smiles. “I wrote it the most recently, so I feel like it’s the most true to my current songwriting. It’s about becoming infatuated with someone and contemplating telling them how you feel. It’s also just really fun to play.”

Further standouts include the dramatic desire-fueled “Switchblade,” the deceptively soft and soul-stirring “Ill-Intentions,” the explosive, emotionally-charged eruption “Just the Thought,” and the boldly volatile, breathtakingly visceral “Catch Release,” whose Nolan Begley-directed music video is also premiering on Atwood Magazine.

“There are some really clear images lyrically in this song, so the locations sort of fell into place,” Pappas-Kemps says of the visual. “I had some pretty specific inspiration photos and Nolan and Spencer ran with that and came up with all of our setups. We shot for two days and had so much fun and I’m so happy with how it came out.”

While this EP is admittedly full of provocative lines and head-turning imagery, it’s the lyrics on the final track, “A Thousand Times Over,” that ultimately resonate the most for the artist – in particular the last chorus:

Let it be known I’ve buried the heavy hatchet
Sat with the collies and
threw out dreams of Manhattan
It used to pour out of me power ballad
But it wasn’t love
When you could get whatever you want
You would get whatever you want

And while there is certainly a sense of culmination, if not conclusion, in these words, Pappas-Kemps is also leaving the doors wide open – ready to tackle whatever comes next, knowing she’s throw herself headfirst into it and come out the other side better for it.

“I just hope people enjoy the music and it brings them joy,” Pappas-Kemps shares. “For me, the whole process really taught me how to vocalize my vision, which was really easy with the crew of people I was lucky enough to work with. I got so much satisfaction out of bringing these songs to life exactly how I envisioned them. That’s a really special feeling.”

Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Lia Pappas-Kemps’ Gleam EP with Atwood Magazine as she takes us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of her debut EP!

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:: stream/purchase Gleam here ::

:: connect with Lia Pappas-Kemps here ::

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Stream: ‘Gleam’ – Lia Pappas-Kemps

:: Inside Gleam ::

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Star

I wrote this song with Julian Psihogos. I had a lot of the lyrics written already and he wrote that booming chorus riff and we sat with the demo from that first session for a long time. In my mind we were going to write a chorus and flesh other stuff out, but as I kept listening to the demo, I realized that that riff spoke for itself, and the song was done.

Switchblade

“Switchblade” is a song about infatuation and the feeling of wanting to change for someone into whatever version of you they want. I wrote it when I was 17 just me and my guitar and I think you can feel those tender teenage feelings threaded through it.

All Mirrors

This song I wrote by myself, and it came really quickly. The lyrics and melody sort of just came out of a stream of consciousness and what felt good to sing. This song is about becoming infatuated with someone and contemplating telling them how you feel.

Catch Release

This song I wrote a long time ago as well. I had lots of these lyrics written and placed in other songs and I sort of cherry-picked them and collaged them together for this song. I went and made a preliminary demo of it with Philip Etherington and he wrote the riff which became such an important through-line of the song I think!

Ill-Intentions

I wrote Ill-Intentions in my dorm room in one sitting one night. These lyrics really just flew out of me and it felt really meditative to write it. It’s about yearning.

Just the Thought

I wrote this song by myself in my dorm room. It started as a ballad and I would play it like a sort of meditation, but I never felt like it was finished. Then I played it with a band and realized that it was meant to be played with way more energy, and that’s when it clicked.

A Thousand Times Over

This song is about a bunch of different things and situations. I had the verses written for a long time and rewrote the choruses eventually and that’s when it clicked. I had probably dozens of songs with lyrical bits and pieces of this song for a while, and then this one fell into place.

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:: stream/purchase Gleam here ::

:: connect with Lia Pappas-Kemps here ::

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 © Oscar Tam

Gleam

an EP by Lia Pappas-Kemps