Photos by Rick Clifford - Words by Lido Pimienta & Ryan B. Patrick Courtesy of Exclaim.ca
In Toronto, Lido Pimienta is home.
It took the dissolution of her marriage for the Colombian-born, 2017 Polaris Music Prize winner to realise that living in Southwestern Ontario was not where she wanted to be, both from an artistic perspective but also as a single mother.
"[It] wasn't big enough for me," Pimienta says emphatically.
The biggest room in the house, she adds, functions as a recording studio and art room. It's where she creates most of her music, including the place where the Polaris Music Prize-winning record, La Papessa, was conceived.
"My music is very melodic and simple. I'm creating it so I can perform it live. So the production part of it is not something I'm completely obsessed with," she says. To that end, her DIY approach involves using a lot of YouTube tutorials when producing. "I don't have time to sit for six hours to learn from somebody, or find a mentor. I go and learn things. I know by doing."
"I'm very aware that I am a woman and feminist and intersectional. And as adoring as my bandmates are, they are still men and they will unwittingly say shit that I don't want to hear or give me what I want," she says. "It's really a big mix of a lot of disciplines coming together in a very beautiful package."
"Me against the world, and I fucking did it. I made it."
Full article can be found on Exclaim.ca here