Local musical artist KWIAT releases debut single, Follow The Call

St. James-Assiniboia

Transcona

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This article was published 03/04/2024 (572 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ashley Bieniarz is the brain behind KWIAT (pronounced like “quiet”), a new musical persona that dives deep into unconventional sounds, melodies and lyrics, creating an avant-pop style that’s described as a combination of soulful melodies and “the heartfelt resonance of the human voice.”

On Feb. 28, Bieniarz released her debut single under the KWIAT name, Follow the Call, which will be included in her upcoming, self-titled EP. In just the first few seconds, listeners are greeted by a strong piano sound and Bieniarz’s accompanying lyrics, sung in a low, jazzy cadence and punctuated with loud, driven words.

“It’s incredibly surreal and cathartic,” she said of releasing and recording material. “I have spent many years studying the art of releasing music and learning and becoming so involved that I’ve started teaching people how to do it. But there is nothing like actually going through the process and releasing something yourself.”

Bieniarz said that, with the help of mentors, she has finally found a way to express the things about herself, both as a person and an artist, that stand out and make her different or unconventional. Her background is Polish/Métis and, while she now lives in St. James, she grew up on the east side of the city, attended Kildonan-East Collegiate and said she’ll “always be a Transcona girl at heart.”

“By embracing the idea that I might not always fit into the popular trope or the most popular thing, it’s allowed me to just embrace who I am and let myself have fun with it,” she said. “And I don’t have to think about, ‘How do I fit in this box that I never really understood in the first place?’ It’s more, ‘How do I make people interested in the box that I’m making and how do I show how I’m truly feeling?’

Bieniarz’s music is inspired by the showtunes and drama she listened to growing up. She described herself as a “very dramatic child” and she enjoys the music of artists such as Fiona Apple and Japanese Breakfast.

Bieniarz did not actually come from an inherently musical family, and wrote her first proper song in high school, as a gift for her mother.

“Her reaction was so moving,” Bieniarz said. “And I would like to think that that was the moment that really inspired me to want to write and share more music. I always had this idea of being a writer, not necessarily a songwriter, and I was playing with the idea of doing some kind of story-driven project. But that moment of seeing the music resonate with her so powerfully, I think is what really started the idea of wanting to write more music. To engage with people that way.”

Bieniarz began performing live in 2015, two years after graduating high school.

KWIAT’s upcoming EP is being produced by Juno Award winner Hawksley Workman. The full project is set to hit shelves and streaming next year, but Bieniarz will be releasing a couple more songs — including an acoustic version of Follow the Call — in the months leading up to the full release.

“I think each song will have its own theatrical, dramatic flair,” she said. “The next song that I’m working to release in the next month or so is a ballad. So it’s very dramatic. I’m calling it my ‘prima donna song.’

“I don’t usually write songs this dramatic. But it’s so fun and I see the differences between the song and Follow the Call. I think I’m curious to see how people engage with that, because when I performed it live, people loved it so much. So I’d love to see how they react to the full production.”

Follow the Call is available to stream online.

More information on Bieniarz and KWIAT is available online through Manitoba Music: www.manitobamusic.com/profiles/view,499/kwiat