Why Land Of Talk's Elizabeth Powell Rediscovered Her Love For Music

Seven years ago, Elizabeth Powell, the leader of Canadian indie-rockers Land Of Talk, retreated to rural Orillia, Ontario, the small town she grew up outside of. Powell had just put to bed the second Land Of Talk LP, 2010's Cloak And Cipher, and wanted to take some time away from Montreal to write songs for her next record. "I came back up here to get away from it all, but I ended up staying away from it all," Powell says.

"There was, really, five years where I wasn't playing music. It took me that long - and some hardships, some tragic things, some beautiful things - to realise that I did want to make another Land Of Talk record."

After six months recording, the laptop Powell was recording onto completely died. And, her band did with it. "In a very defeatist way, I just threw the baby out with the bathwater. I was like: 'I'm done with you, music!'" Powell recounts. She decided to "live how normal people live", got a job at a local bakery, Apple Annie's, put her guitar away, and didn't listen to music.

"I lost inspiration, and went looking for it," Powell offers. "There was, really, five years where I wasn't playing music. It took me that long - and some hardships, some tragic things, some beautiful things - to realise that I did want to make another Land Of Talk record."

The tragedy in question came when her father suffered a stroke on New Year's Day, 2013. "He almost died," says Powell. "He fought hard, and he had good doctors, a lot of family around. In his recovery, he listened to a lot of music. I watched him totally recover, to the point where he can walk and read - his speech is great. I attribute a lot of that to music. It helped heal him. Watching his relationship with music inspired me to go home and just write. I stole his computer - I figured 'he won't be using this for a while' - and started recording. He wasn't communicating, there was expressive aphasia, but I could share songs with him. We didn't need to struggle to share how we felt about the music."

At the same time as Powell began writing songs, she returned to listening to other people's music. "I actually became a music lover again," she says. "I fell in love with Julianna Barwick. Courtney Barnett was a revelation for me. I listened a lot to Kurt Vile. I got really inspired and excited to come back to writing. It reminded me of when I first heard PJ Harvey, The Pixies, Sebadoh, Pavement, Ween, Fugazi: all these bands that made me want to start making music, writing my own songs."

Powell would title the third Land Of Talk album Life After Youth, wearing her 'return' on its sleeve. "I grew up being a musician, being on stage. I started writing songs at 14, and came of age through my songs," she offers. "Coming back to it when I'm older, I realised... it's no different now than it was when I was in my salad days; your youth is this precious time we're taught not to waste, but, there's also life after youth."