LOCUS is a four-piece Vancouver-based pop band. The group began showcasing their compositions since early 2007, appearing at several local venues, including Fabric, The Cellar, Tom Lee Music Hall for Supernova.com, and UBC for the popular annual Anime Evolution. Locus has also taken the stage to lend support for important causes, such as The M.A.R.S. Project: Musicians Against Racism, and Vancouver Pride.

While Locus is relatively new to the music scene, none of its members are new to music or songwriting: Lead vocalist Kaila has written and contributed vocals for tracks by local acts XYL and Daddy Chang; twins Jason and Kelvin are classically-trained pianists; and Eric is an accomplished musician who is self-taught in several instruments.

Already with an EP CD "Silent Echo" under their belt, Locus is poised to release their first full-length album, 'Ambrosia,' in Jan or Feb 2009.

Jason Chu  Keyboard, Backing Vocal, Producer, lyricist
Kelvin Chu  Keyboard, Guitar, Backing Vocal, Producer
Eric Chan (not in pics)  Guitar, Drums, Lead Vocal, Producer
Kaila So  Vocal, Backing Vocal, lyricist

Explain the title and theme of your upcoming album?

The new album is called Ambrosia. The plant itself means "Your love will be reciprocated." We wanted to create an album as a gift to our listeners and everyone who has supported us from the beginning. As a concept album, the record deals with our personal memories, whether they may be events in our lives we want to remember and some that we try very hard not to remember. Writing about our memories was a therapeutic process; it helped us to face some of the beautiful as well as difficult moments in our lives and forced us to look at them in a different light.

What is the overall sound of Ambrosia?

The sound of Ambrosia can be described as pop, mixed with electronic elements. The album is very texture-based, and very sound-layered. The entire album is very cohesive and explores different aspects of electronic music. The lead single "Wonderland" is moody rock with a hip-hop edge, "Horizon" and "Blueprint" are dance tracks, "Secret" and "Latchkey Hearts" are ethereal piano ballads, and "Time Capsule" and "My Energy" are songs in the folk-acoustic vein. 		Describe the process of making the album. What was each member's involvement?

Before the release of our first EP Silent Echo, we began writing songs for Ambrosia. By mid-summer of 2008, we had written almost twenty songs. 11 were eventually chosen for the final tracklist. We demoed, recorded, and mixed at a recording space set up in Jason and Kelvin's home. We then gave the tracks to Adam Popowitz at Rear Window Song and Sound for mastering.

All of us wrote or co-wrote on all tracks. Kaila provided vocals, Jason and Kelvin
played keyboards, guitars, and provided beats as well as sound programming, and Eric contributed vocals, guitars, and beat programming. The album was mixed by Jason and jointly produced by Jason and Kelvin.

Are there any guest appearances on Ambrosia?

Japanese Singer-songwriter Ma[rl]ina co-wrote with us on "Lost," an up-beat acoustic rock song. Toronto-based lyricist Anita Chung, who has written for many well-known artists in Hong Kong, contributed lyrics for Eric's "Time Capsule."
 Any hopes for the band's progress in the future?

We've been very lucky to have the many opportunities we've been given: being able to release our own music, perform for various events, do a tv interview with Channel M, and even make our first music video at the Art Institute. In terms of the future, we hope to have opportunities to share our music. We hope our audiences will be able to listen to our music grow and evolve over time. Our goal is to create a mature body of work that will reach out to a larger audience.
 Links

www.myspace.com/locusj
www.locus.anniegroup.com
www.anniegroupblog.blogspot.com

Clothes  Show Attitude
Makeup  Susana Kam
Photo  Simon Chu
Date  December 2008