Clare Siobhan is a genre-blending East Coast artist with a voice beyond her years. With her distinctive, rich alto voice, she paints pictures of love and loss, hope and fear, stillness and change through her deeply personal and introspective lyrics. Accompanied by solo piano, a full band, or a choir of her own harmonies, Siobhan’s music is a folk-pop-soul exploration of movement, growth, and light.
Now based in Montreal, Siobhan (pronounced “shuh-VON”) hails originally from Truro, Nova Scotia, where a musical upbringing laid the foundation for her current artistic career. Singer, dancer, and multi-instrumentalist from a young age, Clare first began performing original compositions on piano in her local music festival. With the purchase of her first laptop, Clare explored production and a cappella arrangement of her own originals with nothing but GarageBand and a pair of wired earbuds. During her time at Mount Allison University, Siobhan was an integral part of the school’s “Conduct Becoming: Voices Against Cancer” album, playing as a featured artist on the compilation throughout all four years of her degree, as well as managing and co-producing the project in her last two years. Siobhan’s song from the 2018 album, “Rosemary & Thyme,” made it to the Top 100 of CBC’s Searchlight Competition for Canadian artists that year.
Since then, Clare has become an independent artist in her own right, self-producing and releasing 5 singles from 2020 to 2022. The first, “Ten Speed Bike,” was written during the early days of the pandemic, as a jazz-pop anthem for long-distance lovers separated by quarantine. This song won the Toronto Songwriting School’s Lockdown Songwriting Contest in 2020, with Juno-nominated songwriter Murray Foster describing it as “a totally unique, modern song of the moment”. The next single, “Twice A Day,” was co-produced with friend Graeme Zinck after a one-verse snippet of the song garnered tens of thousands of views on TikTok. Siobhan’s next few singles, beginning with “Write Me Over,” were a return to her acoustic roots, with playful piano accompaniments under strong, clear alto vocals that marked her first foray into a professional studio.
Now, Siobhan is embarking on her biggest project yet: the release of her debut EP, “Seek the Sun,” represents the culmination of years of work and artistic growth. Produced and mixed by Erin Costelo, the record features performances by Costelo, Christine Bougie (Bahamas), Cassie Mann (Ria Mae), Jordi Comstock (Christina Martin), Nick Maclean (Tim Baker), and Andrew Jackson (Roxy & The Underground Soul Sound). With a rich, full-band sound and an undeniable groove, Siobhan’s lyrics soar to new heights, spanning heartbreak and hope, pain and resilient joy, and promising the persistent optimism and joie de vivre that permeates all of her music.
“Seek the Sun” is a kaleidoscopic folk-pop experience for the modern age, blending genres effortlessly through the gift of masterful production and the joy of musical collaboration. With the mainstream appeal of Lizzy McAlpine paired with notes of Feist, Joni Mitchell, and Lucy Dacus, Clare Siobhan delivers her message in a voice all her own.