This is her brain on music

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U of R Alum Rebecca Lascue plays hospitals, bars on eastern Canadian tour

Paul Bogdan
A&C Writer

Rebecca Lascue
The Artesian (w/ Rae Spoon)
Feb. 25
9:30 p.m.
$10 advance (at Mysteria Gallery); $12 at the door

“My day has consisted of sitting in a diner, drinking coffee, and talking with my friend,” laughed local musician Rebecca Lascue. While this may seem like a pretty easy day for most people, Lascue is nonetheless hard at work on her Excessive Wordiness Tour, which is taking her across Eastern Canada.

Despite coming from an extensive family background in music and playing since she was a child, the recent University of Regina grad is only now finding the time to pursue music now that her formal education is complete.

“Now that that’s done, I thought it’s the time of my life to take a few years and have fun and explore my passions,” Lascue said. “I’ve learned so much … university takes a lot of attention and time, and I never felt like I had the time to pursue music.

“Since I’ve been out of school … I find that music is a full-time job between practicing, booking, managing a website, and all that stuff. It takes a ton of time, but it’s nice to have the opportunity to do it, finally.”

This isn’t to say that her education was a complete impediment to her music, as she said that her studying of psychology has helped influence her songwriting.

“Psychology is so important because it’s all about people, understanding yourself and your relationships,” Lascue said. “As a musician, what I write about a lot are relationships and observations. I think having that background helps me in that way. One song I was writing while I was studying for a physiology exam, so some of that worked its way into the lyrics. Another one of my songs talks about spotlight attention in a romantic way, but it’s a psychological phenomenon that we had been studying. It was cool getting that stuff emerged into the music.”

Her interest in psychology and healthcare also led Lascue to book not only the traditional venues of clubs and bars, but hospitals as well.

“Music can be very therapeutic, and I think that if you’re lucky enough to have that gift, it’s important to use it to help others and not only because you love it and want to play shows and build your career,” Lascue said. “I had a show in Montreal a few nights ago in a rehab hospital, and it was amazing. They were such a great crowd … they really appreciate it.”

However, this isn’t something that’s new to Lascue, as she’s done “a lot of that in the city too. My mom, my sister, my brother, and I will go to nursing homes and sing. I really like doing it, and I think it’s important.”

Now that Lascue has been given the chance to indulge in her musical goals, she’s found that “once you decide you want to do it and start putting things in motion, all these other opportunities start coming up. I’ve switched my plan so many times.”

Originally on this plan was to do some recording at the start of the year,

“It can be hard in music because there’s no straight path. There are so many different ways you can choose to go,” Lascue said. “Initially, I wanted to record an EP earlier this year, but the timing wasn’t really right, and Michael [Paul], who plays with me, is still in school. It didn’t really seem like the right time, so I decided to tour and work on my live skills.”

Having said that, her hopes of recording this year are still fully intact, and she is looking to record an EP later in the year as well as doing more touring.

“I’m hoping to record the EP in September and do a big release. My goal for next year is to do a European tour,” Lascue said. “I have no idea how I’d organize that, but I had no idea how I’d organize this tour either, and it’s come together.”

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