Fresh off their attendance at the Canadian Folk Music awards, Twin Flames, an indie group from Ottawa, Ontario, is touring from Cranbrook to Wetaskiwin with a stop in Airdrie along the way this on April 11.
The multi-award-winning, chart-topping duo, Jaaji and Chelsey June, were nominated for vocal group of the year for their Twin Flames Unplugged Live album.
“We didn't take home the award this year, but that was fine,” said Chelsey June. “There's so many talented people that were represented this year.”
The husband and wife duo has claimed numerous awards over the years, including four Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Their show is filled with storytelling, humour, and a blend of genres, languages, and instruments.
Jaaji, who hails from Nunavik and Kahnawake and is Inuk and Mohawk, sings in his mother tongue from time to time.
“There's a lot of explanation and translation involved in that, so it turns into kind of a story,” said Jaaji.
Going from a six piece band to just the two of them meant they’ve honed in on making performances full of sound.
“Between my wife playing the spirit flute, Native American flute, and traditional hand drum, and me with my acoustic guitar and harmonica that comes out from time to time and the stomp of my foot, people actually checked behind the curtains to see if we have band members playing in the back there,” Jaaji said.
Chelsey June, a settler with Algonquin, Métis, and Cree heritage, said their vocals have always been the signature piece of Twin Flames and the thing that brought them together.
“Our voices met before we did around the campfire and our harmonies kind of were instant and so I think it's what piqued both of our interest and has been piquing the interests of a lot of audiences the past nine years since we've been doing this,” Chelsey June said.
The two met when they were both cast to be on a television show for APTN. Sitting around a campfire with the crew the night before filming, Jaaji began playing a song that Chelsey June knew.
“I jumped in and started singing along and our harmony just did this instant thing,” Chelsey Juen said. “Most of the time harmonies are something that have to be worked on prior, but the fact that our voices just [harmonized] naturally together was quite intriguing.”
The two kept in touch and soon Twin Flames was born.
The duo released their first single from their new upcoming album, Hugging the Cactus, set to be released in October. The single is called "Hearts on Fire" and Airdrie may be the first to hear it live, they said.
The first half of the album was recorded at Calgary’s National Music Centre.
Twin Flames make their first ever stop at Airdrie’s Bert Church Live Theatre on April 11. Tickets can be found at tickets.airdrie.ca.
