Lido Pimienta with Ora Cogan

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got a pair of songwriters who currently call Canada home, but whose music and backgrounds come from intriguingly different places: Lido Pimienta and Ora Cogan.

Lido Pimienta is an incredibly thoughtful, thoroughly outspoken musician/artist who was born in Colombia and whose music takes inspiration from there and a dozen other places. She released her first record in 2010, but it was 2016’s experimental-leaning La Papessa that won her both the prestigious Polaris Music Prize and a bigger batch of listeners inspired by her activism and genre-jumping. The laziest comparison might be Björk, so take that for what it’s worth. Pimienta’s latest album is last year’s stirring, strange, and gorgeous La Belleza. Check out the minimal song “Mango” right here.

The music made by the other person in today’s conversation, Ora Cogan, comes from a different sonic place but I think a similar emotional one. Cogan’s new album Hard Hearted Woman takes old-school West Coast singer-songwriter vibes and adds a bit of modern indie-psych edge. I hear influences like Joni Mitchell and Sharon van Etten bubbling under, but there’s something a little darker happening in Cogan’s songs that’s hard to put a finger on but a pleasure to hear. She’s finishing up a West Coast US tour at the moment that will end back home in British Columbia, so check her out if you can, and in the meantime, check out the song “The Smoke” from Hard Hearted Woman right here.

In this lively conversation, Pimienta and Cogan talk about coffee, Canada, and Pimienta’s recent career reset. They also talk about the increasing difficulties of making art in the modern economy, something we’ve heard from other guests recently as well. But they don’t let it get them down—enjoy this chat and their positive energy.

0:00 — Intro 2:46 — Start of conversation3:29 — On coffee, productivity, fast food, and sugar6:40 — On “road snacks” and favorite foods while touring abroad8:00 — On fiddling and Irish and Scottish folk music10:04 — On safety while crossing borders and making tour travel plans10:53 — On the importance of music, creativity, and connection today14:18 — On the contrast between spirituality and the music business17:23 — On fame and realistic expectations for musicians21:36 — On Lida’s music and how her culture influenced her style26:13 — On finding connection through art, beauty, and sharing culture28:20 — On authenticity and gatekeeping in art29:43 — On the connections between wealth, commercialization, and the importance of real art and experience31:46 — On raising children in a consumerist world, and introducing them to art and culture

Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Lido Pimienta and Ora Cogan for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great chats and writing and Talkhouse.com. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

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