Singer-songwriter Louise Burns has released three albums since debuting as a solo artist in 2011, including 2017’s Polaris Prize longlisted Young Mopes. But while creating her 2019 album Portraits, Burns found herself embracing her past, returning to Los Angeles where she experienced her first big break as a musician back in the early 2000s as a member of the teen pop band Lillix.

“It reminds me of some really bittersweet memories — some really happy ones and some really awful ones. This record was about embracing my past rather than trying to hide it or be self-deprecating. It’s okay for me to feel proud of having done all this weird shit when I was really young.”

Burns spent a month working on her new material alongside collaborators Damian Taylor (Arcade Fire, the Killers), Stint (Carly Rae Jepsen, Santigold) and Jasper Leak (Sia), resulting in an album containing “her most emotionally forthright songs yet.”

She visited us to perform “Cry” and “Clowns” from the new album, Portraits.