Artist Introduction
What’s your stage name and where are you from?
Paarleh, I’m from Ottawa, ON, Canada.
What’s the story behind your stage name?
Paarleh is an anagram for my first name. It’s meant to be a play on words for “parlay” as a series of bets leading to greater winnings. To use something you have in order to get something of greater value. “Parler” is the French word for “speak”, which is my first language.
Describe your musical journey in three sentences.
I started out playing trumpet in high school, but was always into Hip Hop. I participated in the 4 elements in varying degrees since high school, and have much respect for the foundation (Breaking, Emceeing, DJing, Graffiti). Nowadays, I rap and make beats.
Fan Engagement
Share an interesting experience you had while creating your latest track.
It’s been dope to check out studios in Ottawa and Montreal. Lots of really skilled engineers out there that are happy to share tips and help you improve your craft. Shout out Flex from Uppercut Studios (Ottawa) and Merker Music (Montreal). What’s interesting is meeting other artists during that process that are there for the same reason you are, and have that same drive. It pushes me to be better.
What message do you want to convey through your music?
Depends on what the beat brings out. Generally, I’d say the message is to learn from mistakes, and keep working. I share my own experience hoping that people can relate.
Behind the Music
Tell us about a challenge you faced during production and how you overcame it.
There’s always technology related challenges. Gear dying or lost files/hardware is tough. I’d say overcoming that has been easy, just export stems and use backups, things I should’ve been doing anyways. Learning from mistakes.
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
This one’s tough, there’s lots of artists I’d like to collaborate with, but I gotta say El Michaels Affair. Ever since I heard the “Enter the 37th Chamber”, I always thought a full album with these guys would be crazy (enter Black Thought’s “Glorious Game”). Same goes for BADBADNOTGOOD.
Future Aspirations
Where do you see your music taking you in the next year?
I see myself working with more underground rappers and producers. I’m currently working on a few projects, one of which being a duo with Vektrx under the name “Hidden Crates”. The first project will be fully produced by Calcutta, who was the DJ for Flight Distance, one of Ottawa’s dopest musical exports.
What’s the next big step for you as an artist?
Working with more like-minded artists and getting play on more underground radio stations. After that, organizing a tour of neighbouring cities that have a similar or bigger underground hip hop scene, and collaborating with medium-large format events, eventually up to festivals and bigger format events. After that, doing shows overseas.
Recent Work & Contact Info
Where can we hear/watch your most recent work?
My album “The Craft” is dropping on May 1st on all DSPs, I produced all the beats on the project. Check me out on Bandcamp (@paarleh) to hear 2 singles from “The Craft” that have been released leading up to the album. I’ve got a music videos up on Youtube (@paarleh), more on the way.
What is the best way to contact you if fans want to give feedback or if other artists/producers want to collaborate?
paarleh@gmail.com
