After 15 years of maneuvering the obstacle course of the modern-day music industry, Vancouver’s JP Maurice has finally arrived at a place of complete control and confidence in his craft. Earnest, indie-pop beginnings have evolved into a more mature, polished sound. Sweeping melodies are punctuated by JP’s powerful vocal range expressing evocative lyrics of love, loss and overcoming hardship.   Crafted over several years, JP bares to witness his deep sensibilities as a songwriter in his latest collection of music. Pressure Makes Diamonds is the 5th studio album from JP, following his alt-country rooted, rock album Boys (2018) and the moody, pop-noir smash Girls (2017). Pressure rings true with JP’s strengths as a vocalist and takes the listener on a journey from lofty, booming notes that lift JP’s voice to the rafters, to driving melodies that hint of shoegaze rooted in pop-folk. Buoyant, soulful vibes resonate from songs like Runaway, and land strongly with razor sharp, ethereal and harmonic highs in Liquid Confidence. The album beats with anxiety, struggle, perseverance, resilience, doubt, wanderlust and loss.   JP didn’t hold back in tapping into a powerful circle of collaborators for the album – a tribute to the music community he’s built and matured alongside over his career. In April 2018 JP traveled to LA for a writing trip and it was in Ted Gowan’s (The Rentals, Tegan and Sara, Kesha) living room where the framework of some of the album’s strongest songs – like Matador - took shape. The album really came together in Spring 2019 where they worked with a host of other music creators on recording the album at Blue Light Studios in Vancouver, BC.   JP reflects “The biggest reward in this project was the time spent working on my own, learning about my limitations - getting out of my own head – and to stop being so precious about the process.” JP learned well that at a certain point you just have to trust the listener, and let the music become what it is.   “Big Change Is Coming” was the promise offered by JP Maurice when he broke free and embarked on a self-directed path as an artist and independent creative entity in 2017. It rang through then, and it definitely rings true now. It sounds today like a premonition, no one could have imagined what was coming in the year 2020 – but through it all JP Maurice has forged ahead with an album that is impossibly optimistic. After all, fortune is for the bold, life’s a bitch and indeed Pressure Makes Diamonds.

Zoey Leven is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and independent artist from Vancouver, BC. She is mainly influenced by indie pop/rock bands such as Peach Pit, Wallows, and darker sounds like Arctic Monkeys. Zoey hopes to create a voice for the LGBTQ+ community with her lyrics full of nostalgia and young love, as well as navigating life in their 20's.