Never shy to confront conventions, Wrené set out to create a sound that transcended the senses. From her visceral self-expression to her laying bare the purity of exploring the terror and beauty of intimacy, the track manifested itself into a personal silhouette of everything that love brings. 

Wrené’s rebellious spirit and her direct influence from Burial’s track, also titled “Archangel,” completed the picture. Channelling the image of an angel sitting on each shoulder, the track shows that love can represent all the good in you, while also exposing all the dark. With a sultry ambient pulse, partnered with a dark-dance track beat, “ARCHANGEL” represents this angelic dichotomy.

RANGE caught up with Wrené below to talk about ‘cutting through the noise,’ and having her own angelic muse, her beautiful cat, Chewbear.

You’ve described your sound as an ‘experience,’ and “ARCHANGEL” definitely delivers. In a way, your music transcends form, where your visuals and aesthetic co-exist with your sound. When creating a song, do you have imagery in mind?

Thank you for that observation! Definitely. Sound is already a very visual experience for me in my own relationship to music – and when your medium is electronic music, you have endless articulations of sound. I like to think of sound as being a poetic language in the sense that every instrument layer is a line or a part of a “scene” or “image,” so the process of producing electronic music in a DAW, to me, is very similar to describing a picture. I’ll think things like “This arpeggiator sounds like a distant eruption of stars;” or “The vocal is the memory of your lover who never leaves your mind;” or “This kick drum is the heartbeat.” And eventually, I will have a very intricate image in my own mind of where the music lives. I’m always curious to ask people what they see when they close their eyes and listen, because it’s such a uniquely personal experience.  

You are currently located in Montréal. Was there a journey to this city, and why?

Moving here from Toronto was definitely an inspired journey, and one of deep necessity for me. I need to be surrounded by art and by beauty and by community, and these are all things that are so intertwined in the culture here. There are artists everywhere, not trying to “be” anything more than what they prefer to immerse themselves in, and many more artistic communities and collectives of people who create for survival. I felt I wanted to be aligned with that authenticity. 

What is your connection to the meaning of the word “ARCHANGEL?” 

I’m drawn to the idea of having an “angelic figure” or “muse” that represents a light through a dark or hopeless time – a sort of “north star” to project your deepest desires onto or someone who reflects back inspiration to become your ideal self, but it’s important to try to place yourself in that image as well – which is why I felt inclined to dress up in angel wings. It’s something anyone can do, and I just like the image of that word “archangel.”  

“ARCHANGEL” explores the “terror and beauty of intimacy.” What inspired you to immerse into those feelings?

I can’t help but to face these feelings, because true connection or love is what I want the most in my life, but it feels like this big fear to overcome. I think many people want to be loved, but are afraid to truly be seen or known – and like myself, have to make peace with a degree of loneliness if they don’t wish to compromise for anything less than real. But real is very rare to come across these days.  

As an artist/producer/vocalist trifecta with modelling and acting in your background, was there one that came first growing up?

I would say growing up, I was constantly daydreaming – wishing I was somewhere else and that I was somebody else. I did learn to sing first – that was my favourite pastime as a kid. 

The world feels as if it’s sitting on a very precarious edge at the moment where there is an overwhelming amount of information. How do you manage to keep yourself grounded and present? Do you have any suggestions you can share about what has worked for you?

This is very real and I wish I had more tools to cope with this myself. The only thing that I could suggest that helps me is to fully immerse myself in a creative project, and put down the phone. But even still, I am using a screen to create most of the time and it still taxes my nervous system. When I really crash and burn, I talk to the people in my life. I sit in a dark room, and I just express everything I’m trying to process – about society, about our changing world, about the ways I feel disconnected. This always helps. Spend time with good people in person and shut off the screen.

“Defying convention” is a phrase you’ve used to describe yourself, have you always been this way?

Definitely. I have a rebellious spirit, and I believe conventions should be challenged – not just for the sake of rebellion or chaos, but also to highlight ways our society can be better, or to leave space for alternative ideas. I think most people can agree that the way things are in the world or that our “conventions” are far from ideal.

You project a person confident in their skin. Are you able to share how you managed to arrive at this place in your life?

I understood and decided early on that my “personhood” is ultimately up to me to create, and that I have full autonomy over who I want to be, what my values are, and even what I look like. That responsibility excites and inspires me. Many people feel they are a byproduct of environment, genetics, or forces you can’t control – and to a degree that is true, but I believe that “self-actualisation” can be reached through creation. People always talk about “discovering” self, but I think you can also spend time “composing” self. Confidence is especially a choice, and probably one of the easiest things to embody, even when you don’t feel it. That’s what they always say anyways.   

In a few of your Reels you are accompanied by a beautiful black cat, is it safe to say that you are a cat person? 

That would be my archangel Chewbear! He is a very special cat in my life and a dear family member. I love all animals truly. I do have a special connection to cats.