mxdwn PREMIERE: Belle Tower Embraces Love Beyond the Binary in New Song “She Moves In Phases”

Singer-songwriter Isabella Harned releases her lo-fi indie folk under the name Belle Tower, creating delicate and gorgeously-arranged music like the song “She Moves In Phases,” which we’re premiering today. The song is from her upcoming EP tend to, which will be released on April 2 7, 2021. Belle Tower’s music is heavily influenced by her life experiences in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal and Xwilkway/Halfmoon Bay in British Columbia.

“She Moves In Phases” is a quiet, simply-arranged song that allows the lyrics to take front stage. As Harned plays a sparse finger-picked acoustic arrangement, her soft vocals tell a story about coming to understand herself better and embrace her identity. Along with the new song is a video, which is equally simple, just featuring Belle Tower playing her guitar on a laptop in an empty room overlooking an evening cityscape, with occasional artwork transposed over the picture.

“The first verse in ‘She Moves in Phases’ is about realizing my heart had the capacity to love beyond binaries, and therefore also be broken beyond binaries,” said Harned. “The rest of the song followed after processing the end of the relationship, coming into my own and embracing my queer indentity. It took a lot of patience, love and care. As I moved through additional challenges—with my mental health, and burnout—the song took on a new form as a love song to myself. The biggest lesson I have carried with me over this past year is to honour every moment, to slow down and rest. The imagery that comes to mind when listening is ethereal, a cosmic moon in its many lunar phases shining over a night sky, floating in harmony with the stars. This is visualized in both the music video by London based filmmaker, Olivia Du Vergier, and single art by Montreal based multimedia artist Erica Hart, inspired by moon diagrams from old alchemy and astrology books.”

The themes of tend to include solitude and isolation, as well as pain, love and healing. The album’s contributors include Ben Robertson (Winona Forever, Schwey) and Scott Boudreau (Mauno) with string arrangments from Audreanne Fillion (Lovelet, Crusssh).