A cherished figure in Canadian indie music, known for her work with both Stars and Broken Social Scene, singer/songwriter Amy Millan discusses her spiritually uplifting and eagerly awaited solo project ‘I Went to Find You’ – an enchanting album filled with themes of grief, grace, memory, and melodic beauty. Featuring what she describes as “gentle songs for a loud world,” this deeply moving record provides a refuge of tranquility and sound, encouraging listeners to dive inward not for escape, but for connection and a space to feel profoundly in a period marked by disconnection.
Stream: “Make way for waves” – Amy Millan
Hold on – we may have felt lonely, but we wish to avoid any more worries. Just pause, we could find movement, let waves come through. Like the water, I might have been feeling lonely day after day…
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“Finally after centuries, a Siren and Orpheus were able to create an album,” and from that collaboration, a remarkable world emerged – awe-inspiring and nostalgic, subtly grand and saturated in dreams.
Amy Millan's ‘I Went to Find You’ unfolds as a softly cinematic daydream – captivating in its range and strikingly deep in emotion. It shines like a forest during golden hour and resonates like a treasured memory. Crafted from elements of sadness and grace, yearning and light, the Montreal-based artist's new pieces drift through the atmosphere with a tender force and ethereal glow. This record serves as both a farewell and a new beginning, standing as Millan's crowning achievement – a luminous, reverent collection that seeks spirit, pays homage to the past, and gazes directly into the mystical.
Amy Millan has always possessed the ability to intertwine the personal and the universal – transforming individual truths into collective healing. As a co-lead vocalist for the beloved indie pop group Stars and a fixture of the renowned Broken Social Scene, she has spent over twenty years shaping the emotional fabric of Canadian indie music.
However, ‘I Went to Find You,’ her first solo album in more than fifteen years (released on May 30th via Last Gang Records), feels like a unique kind of arrival – not a transformation, but a return to one’s roots. It’s a homecoming. It reflects an artist tracing her lineage through music, discovering something sacred along the path.
The creation of ‘I Went to Find You’ began with a stroke of luck – a serendipitous meeting that felt almost fated. When Millan encountered award-winning musician and composer Jay McCarrol in 2023, an instant connection was formed: a spark of musical collaboration reminiscent of her earliest joyful memories singing with her father. “Since then, I've aimed to direct my life back to that feeling,” she confides, “though I didn’t fully grasp it until now.”
Their first experience singing together was backstage at the Dream Serenade in Toronto, and the connection was immediate. Encouraged by her longtime best friend (and Metric frontwoman) Emily Haines, Millan reached out to McCarrol for a possible collaboration. “I was hoping to find someone to assist me in creating a follow-up solo album, and Jay seemed to appear as if the muses had orchestrated it,” Millan recalls. “Finally after centuries, a Siren and Orpheus were able to produce an album together.”
Within weeks, they were writing the song that would serve as the emotional core of the album, “Make way for waves.” “His writing has such a cinematic quality,” she notes, “with so much drama in his music.” This expansive, expressive approach opened new avenues for Millan to explore different vocal styles and delve into some of her most personal songwriting to date.
“When Jay and I began collaborating, I messaged him that my vision was ‘gentle songs for a loud world,’” Millan tells Atwood Magazine. “The volume of the world has only increased since then, and it seems everyone is on edge, filled with a sense of danger. I aspired to craft a sonic space where, for thirty minutes, listeners could enter and recalibrate their nervous systems.”
Recorded during various sessions at Lost River – a studio nestled deep in the Laurentian forest – and produced by McCarrol with engineering by Jace Lasek and mixing by Peter Katis, the album is as rich and layered as it is emotionally open. Featuring contributions from longtime friends and collaborators including Evan Cranley, James Shaw, and Charles Spearin, ‘I Went to Find You’ juxtaposes dreamlike soundscapes with raw introspection. “Reflecting on all the songs I’ve ever composed, I see there are many instances where I express sadness over a lost relationship when there is, in fact, a much greater sorrow at the heart of it,” Millan observes. “This record marked the first occasion I could engage with that loss directly without veiling it in lyrics about boys
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A cherished figure in Canadian indie music through her work with both Stars and Broken Social Scene, singer/songwriter Amy Millan discusses her spiritually uplifting and long-awaited solo project ‘I Went to Find You’ – an enchanting, heartfelt album rich with themes of grief, grace, memory, and melodic beauty. Labeled by her as “gentle songs for a loud world,” this evocative record provides a refuge of tranquility and sound, encouraging listeners to turn inward not for escape, but for connection, and a chance to engage with their emotions in a time marked by disconnection.