Sequoia: A soft yet powerful appreciation of storytelling

Kylie Fox is a Fredericton-based artist who has recently released an album titled Sequoia.

It is an 11-track album. It’s a perfect Sunday morning album where one doesn’t need to pay much attention. But if one chooses to listen carefully, then Fox has something thoughtful to say. Currently, she is on a tour around New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The first track in the album is a single titled “Sequoia.” The song starts off soft and the singer’s voice matches the composition. The lyrics are intense in this single with perfect pauses to emphasize the words. There isn’t really a chorus in the song, but the music picks up after every two stanzas and the rhythm changes along with the meter. That’s when Fox lays out her appreciation for life. She pulls together the things she talks about in previous stanzas and realizes that “there are only so many great nights.” 

The lead single in this album is “Confetti” which is about a presumed experience of Fox’s where she experienced a short-lived romance. It delves into the initial infatuation between two artists and highlights the creativity that accompanies it. How one person tries to bring the dynamic back to life but their “legacy is lost.” What Kylie Fox says about this track is “I was thinking about how the newness of romance can fall and simply be swept away — like confetti.” This summarizes the theme of her songs beautifully — how quickly attachment can dissolve into itself and how one can go from caring about a person to feeling apathetic about them. 

Her song “Alberta” takes a more ambiguous turn in terms of lyrics as well as in the music video, which is presumably clips from her time in Alberta. Perhaps, Alberta here refers to the cold and harsh times in her life — and how she still had people in her corner. This interpretation of the lyrics makes a tie with the opening track where Fox had also expressed her cherishing of the beautiful things in life regardless of the hardships. 

Fox’s album is evocative and soft. She treasures people in her life and it reflects greatly in her music. From her opening track “Sequoia” to “Alberta” and everything in between, she has given beautiful melodies to the world.

Edited by: Connor Fraser