Carmel Mikol is a singer-songwriter from two worlds: she was raised half in the Canadian backwoods and half in the suburbs of Chicago. Solitude and rootlessness are equally present in her songwriting as a result. Her songs feel like they’re written on the interstates somewhere between these two places. 

A full-time indie recording and touring artist for almost a decade, Mikol has performed across North America and in Europe, from intimate stages to legendary festivals like Canada’s Mariposa Folk Festival and the 30A Songwriters Festival in the US. Her previous albums earned three East Coast Music Award nominations and several songwriting honours.As part of continued emotional growth for Mikol after being the victim of past abuse, “Trying Not to Hurt You,” comes from a place of accepting the full realm of life’s emotion. As she states: This song, and the whole album it’s part of, is about facing up to the painful “ands” of life: I love you AND we aren’t healthy together; I’m trying to stay with you AND I need to leave. Sometimes we just need to break our own hearts a little bit to make the hard decision.

I Used to Know, Mikol’s forthcoming fifth album, is stripped to its essentials. The microphones are close and the room is quiet. The lyrics cut to the bone and Mikol‘s voice is imperfect, wiser, more honest than ever before. Layered guitars and strings come in at the last possible moment, and only when necessary. But for a record that’s more subtle and less “produced” than any of her previous efforts, it’s somehow bigger and more universal. These songs feel like late night conversations between exes or long-time friends who can’t pretend to have secrets anymore. They’re conversations we’ve all had before… or will have as soon as we’re ready to be that vulnerable.