What: Kandle and the Krooks with Sarah Osborne
When: Sunday
Where: Lucky Bar
Tickets: $12 at Ditch Records, Lyle’s Place and ticketweb.ca
Kandle Osborne will return home to Victoria this weekend to celebrate Christmas with her family. The 24-year-old is well aware of what else awaits.
“Oh, we carol,” Osborne said Tuesday from her apartment in Montreal. “And usually it’s led by my mom, who is the master of caroling. If she wants me to learn Santa Baby, I have to.”
The Oak Bay High graduate couldn’t have timed her visit any better. Osborne had a breakout year as an artist, but she also hit some rough patches. As a result, Osborne says she is desperately in need of some home cooking.
On one hand, 2014 was the best year yet for Osborne; the singer-songwriter’s full-length debut, In Flames, arrived in March to an avalanche of adoring press. She played some key festivals upon its release and managed to make some serious headway — via sold-out shows and heavy radio play — in the often impenetrable Quebec music market.
For that, she will give a thankful toast or two over the holidays. She is also hoping to close the book on the negative.
“There was a lot of ups and downs, to be honest,” she said. “Releasing the album was amazing and I got to tour and play a lot of festivals. But we had some troubles with management and money and it felt like we took a big step back right in the middle. We basically launched the record, and I found myself very broke and without a manager, wondering: ‘Holy crap. What the hell am I going to do now?’ ”
Osborne has grown accustomed to doing things herself of late. She is without a manager, after her former one burned bridges and made questionable business decisions without her knowledge. This side of the music industry is entirely new to her. Osborne did not start singing professionally until three years ago, and at 24, she is nearer to the start of her career than the middle.
Osborne has, however, been playing guitar and writing her own material since her teens, having been exposed to the process by her father, Neil Osborne of 54-40 fame. The tools are there; she just needs a break or two. Until then, she is looking forward to her time on the Island, which begins with a long-awaited concert Sunday at Lucky Bar, her first local appearance since a triumphant set at Rifflandia this summer.
She’s also looking forward to having some time with her Victoria-based friends. “When I moved [to Montreal three years ago], I dove right into music, so I’m lacking friends my own age and friends my own gender,” she said with a laugh, a reference to her all-male backing band, the Krooks.
“It will be nice to come home and watch Sex and the City and have a cocktail and talk about boys for once instead of gear. I don’t get a lot of that.”
She has released two videos from In Flames, both of which favour stark, dramatic imagery. The clips for Demon and Not Up to Me are haunting, and provide the perfect accompaniment to the singer’s gothic noir-pop. Osborne, who studied photography, had a hand in shaping both videos, and exercised a visual-arts streak that has been apparent since her teens.
“I’m definitely super-annoying to work with in that way. But the two directors we worked with for the videos on this record were exceptional.”
Osborne’s show on Sunday falls on her mother’s birthday. In addition, the opening act, Sarah Osborne, is her cousin. With both her parents and other family members in attendance, the show will be a special one.
The bonus is that she gets to sleep in her own bed, rather than a hotel room. “My parents are amazing,” she said. “And my dog is there with them, so it’s like I’m coming home to see my kid.”