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Once A Tree

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Once A Tree
Genres
Years active2013–present
Members
Websitewww.onceatreemusic.com

Once A Tree are a Canadian music duo consisting of married couple Jayli and Hayden Wolf. They began in folk music before moving towards a more electronic sound.

Background

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The Wolfs were both raised Jehovah's Witnesses in British Columbia, Jayli from Creston and Hayden from Vernon, and met online through mutual friends. Jayli decided to leave the religion and convinced Hayden to join her. The pair moved to Toronto together when Jayli won a songwriting contest and married in 2012.[1][2] They have said songwriting has helped them deal with difficult experiences.[3]

Career

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Once A Tree debuted with a self-titled EP and the single "Light Me Up".[4]

Their first professional EP Thousand Lives, released in 2015 under Toronto-based Foreseen Entertainment, followed the single "Howling", inspired by their childhood religion.[5] They continued working with Foreseen, going on to release their first album Phoenix in 2017. Rolling Stone named them "New Artists You Need to Know" and compared them favourably to Phantogram, Crystal Castles, and Chvrches.[6] Phoenix won Best Electronic Music Album at the 2018 Indigenous Music Awards.

For the single "Breakdown", which Hayden based on his own mental health crisis and dedicated to his late brother who took his own life earlier that year, Once A Tree partnered with Kelowna General Hospital for their Not Alone Campaign. Proceeds went towards establishing mental health facilities for youths in British Columbia.[7]

In 2018, Once A Tree were the subject of a documentary on Juno TV.[8][9] They participated in the SOCAN Kenekt Song Camp in Nicaragua.[10] "Born for This" became part of a Nissan television campaign, and "Worth" had an anti-bullying music video.[11] Once A Tree performed the anthem "We Are One" for the 2019 Canadian Premier League.[12]

The duo released their second album Fool's Paradise independently in 2020.[13] Fool's Paradise was described as more lighthearted than their previous work, which Hayden attributed to coming "to a much happier place in life".[14] The single "Rush" was filmed in Los Angeles, and the acoustic version featured Boy Pape.[15]

Jayli also acts and releases solo music, such as "Child of the Government" about her First Nations father being taken in the Sixties Scoop; Hayden is a visual artist and photographer. They co-write most of their songs, and produce most of their music videos themselves.[14]

Discography

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Albums

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Title Details
Phoenix Released: 2017

Label: Foreseen Entertainment

Fool's Paradise Released: 2020

Label: Alt Eden Inc.

EPs

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Title Details
Once A Tree Released: 2013
Thousand Lives Released: 2015

Label: Foreseen Entertainment

The Good, the Bad Released: 2021

Label: Alt Eden Inc.[16]

Singles

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  • "Light Me Up" (2014)
  • "Howling" (2015)
  • "Breakdown" (2017)
  • "Coming Down" (2017)
  • "Fine" (2017)
  • "Born for This" (2018)
  • "We Are One" (2019) for the Canadian Premier League
  • "Worth" (2019)
  • "Run" (2019)
  • "What You Say" (2019)
  • "Whatever You Do Kid" (2019)
  • "Rush" (2020)
  • "3 Day Trip" (2020)
  • "Black Dog" (2021)

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Work Result Ref
2018 Indigenous Music Awards Best Electronic Music Album Phoenix Won [17]

References

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  1. ^ Weekes, Jabbari (6 August 2015). "Once A Tree Want to Save Your Soul". Vice. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  2. ^ Levy, Joel (22 June 2018). "'Five Minutes With' Toronto electronic duo Once A Tree". Toronto Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  3. ^ Secord, Kaitlin (19 August 2020). "Once A Tree talk about new music, unconditional love and human connection". Alto. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Second EP and Canadian West Coast Tour for Once A Tree this 2014 (Interview)". Sphere Music. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  5. ^ Hampp, Andrew (21 May 2015). "Exclusive Premiere: Watch Once a Tree's Evocative 'Howling' Video". Billboard. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  6. ^ "10 New Artists You Need to Know: November 2017". Rolling Stone. 22 November 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  7. ^ 12 July 2017, Nicole. "Once a Tree's Hayden Wolf Says New Single 'Breakdown' Was 'Inspired by a Night I Didn't Feel Like I Could Keep Going'". People. Retrieved 17 August 2021.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Healy, Amber (15 November 2018). "Get to know Once a Tree, others in new JUNO TV series". A Journal of Musical Things. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  9. ^ Turner, Christopher (13 November 2018). "Exclusive: Toronto's Once a Tree kick off Rising, a new series from JUNO TV". Complex Canada. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  10. ^ Hayden & Jayli Wolf (2 August 2018). ""How I Did It": Once A Tree reflects on Kenekt". SOCAN Magazine. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  11. ^ Murphy, Sarah (29 May 2019). "Once a Tree Stand Up Against Bullying in New Song and Video "Worth"". Exclaim. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  12. ^ Bedakian, Armen (24 April 2019). "'We really are one': Once A Tree's anthem fuses music, soccer culture". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  13. ^ Reid, Ashley (20 November 2020). "New Music Review: Once a Tree offer insightful stories on new EP". Nexus. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  14. ^ a b Trudel, Nadia (20 November 2020). "Once A Tree says ignorance is bliss in Fool's Paradise". The Concordian. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  15. ^ Demeire, Marie (18 July 2020). "Once A Tree escape the "Rush" with their new single and video". Canadian Beats. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  16. ^ Robles, Jonathan (19 November 2021). "Toronto's Once A Tree embraces 'The Good, The Bad' with new EP". Variance. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  17. ^ "Past Winners". Indigenous Music Awards. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
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