Frazey Ford is on island time when she answers the phone – and that's quite literal.
When not on tour, the Canadian singer-songwriter bunkers down in the remote locale of Gabriola Island off the coast of British Columbia."You head straight out from Vancouver for about 20 kilometres to get here," Ford explains.
"I live mostly in Vancouver, but I like to spend the summers over here. The reception can be a little patchy, but it's beautiful out here."
Ford is enjoying the skerrick of downtime she's got before she's back out playing shows once again, making the most of the lifted restrictions and belatedly touring in support of her 2020 album 'U Kin B The Sun'.
Like many albums released that year, it was slid under closed doors and largely heard within bedrooms rather than from stages – meaning Frazey and her band are relishing the chance to finally perform many of these songs properly out on the road.
"We only got to do five dates in support of the album, just around Canada, before everything shut," Ford recalls.
"We got busy again in the fall last year, but then everything shut again. From about April this year onward, we've been going pretty hard. It's been intense, but really nice as well."
When asked about her personal highlights from touring thus far in 2022, Frazey looks to the tandem between close to home and as far away from it as possible.
"There's places like London, Edinburgh and Holland that I hadn't played in years," she says. "They were all really lovely shows, we all had a lot of fun.
"I played a festival in the middle of Canada just last weekend, too – that was a real nice standout. It had such a beautiful line-up, and tonnes of indigenous artists as well.
"Festivals can be so white, so it was a really nice change to see more acts like that across all the stages."
Ford confesses she hasn't done a lot of writing since the release of 'U Kin B The Sun'. Instead, she's turned her attention to other extracurricular hobbies outside of music.
"It's something I tend to do once I've made an album," she says. "One time I got really into pattern drafting clothing. Another time, I really got into ceramics.
"This time, I started making my own lighting. The funny thing is, now I'm deeply immersed in the touring cycle, the urge to write is coming back really strong now. It's all kind of backwards at the moment!"
Ford's extensive touring will bring her to Australia later this month, where she will play a run of headlining shows and also serve as a marquee act for the Hunter Valley's Dashville Skyline festival.
It will mark her first time back in Australia since 2017, following an abandoned plan to visit circa 2020 – something she can't quite wrap her head around.
"It's almost like the last couple of years didn't even happen," she says. "There's all these extended gaps, and these countries and people and places you haven't seen in all these years, but as soon as you're there it's like no time has passed whatsoever."
Ford will be bringing her full band along for the ride too, who she says were instrumental – literally – in the writing, recording and overall creation of 'U Kin B The Sun'.
"A lot of the core elements of each song, we'd improvise together in the studio and that's how they'd formulate," she says. "We're a very tight unit, and it's become like its own travelling family in a way."
Such a unit is second nature to Frazey, who has had her actual family out on the road with her in the past.
Although her son, who's now 19, doesn't often join mum on tour anymore, he's started following in Ford's footsteps pursuing music in his own right.
"He's a drummer, and he's getting into production as well," says Ford of her son. "He's probably got an even more diverse taste in music than I do!
"I feel like it's a big win – especially when he's bringing home vinyl you want but haven't bought yourself yet."
Frazey Ford 2022 Tour Dates
Thu 29 Sep - Northcote Social Club (Melbourne)Fri 30 Sep - Caravan Music Club (Archies Creek)
Sat 1 Oct - Dashville Skyline (Hunter Valley)
Tue 4 Oct - The Vanguard (Sydney)
Thu 6 Oct - Eltham Hotel (Eltham, NSW)
Sat 8 Oct - SolBar (Sunshine Coast)
Sun 9 Oct - Black Bear Lodge (Brisbane)
