Hugging the Cactus Album Bio 

By Kevin Young 

On Hugging the Cactus, Twin Flames expand dramatically on their contemplative rock-tinged folk style and put paid to the misconception that their music, and Indigenous music in general, inhabits a stylistic box.

Nowhere is that clearer than on their opening track and lead single, ‘Hearts on Fire’ – a song the husband and wife duo of Chelsey June and Jaaji (Yaa Yee) were commissioned to write for a documentary about violence against women - a song intended to instill hope in those who hear it and remind listeners that, however dark their lives are, they can find refuge, overcome trauma, and heal if offered love, support and the opportunity to do so.

“For me, that song came from a space of my heart being heavy. I put myself in the shoes of someone living in a difficult relationship and also reflected on the difficult relationships I have had. I think most people, like me, who lived through unimaginable circumstances have a deep knowing that there must be something better. I know I had to find the strength and the fire to get out of a situation before I lost myself completely; the wrong love can sometimes blind you of your worth,” Chelsey June says. "It’s a beautiful thing when you can use the strength and the healing you have done in your own life to advocate for others.”

That’s a thread they pick up on their second single, the blues-tinged ‘Bones,’ a haunting, brutally honest, and intensely personal track that anyone facing down challenges - large or small – can take solace and find strength in. It's a song that says, unequivocally and unapologetically, "that it’s okay to not be okay," Jaaji says. “It’s my past, where I was, who I was, who was in my life – a mantra to the self in uncertain times, and a reflection on intergenerational trauma.”

Some songs, they explain, came from dreams, notably ‘Just like a Ghost.’ “In my dream. I cut my hand with a knife, touched a photograph on the wall – a photograph from a time in my life that I’ve tried to forget about,” Chelsey June says. “Then I went through the photograph and had to relive that time in order to heal, to process it, and to go even further and write a song about it.”

As the album’s title suggests, the process of creation – the process of life – isn’t always comfortable. “Hugging the Cactus means going to the most bottomless pit of your heart, that place in which you don't want to go, and owning the darkness, allowing someone else into your darkness so that you can leave it behind and move forward,” they explain.

That comes across on every song, but with particular clarity on ‘Be Good Outside’ and album closer, ‘Get What You Get’ – songs that are somehow spare but lush, powerful but intensely intimate; a testament to the collaboration of Twin Flames, long time producer and collaborator Jake Jones, Juno and Grammy Award-winning producer John “Beetle” Bailey, and the A-list players assembled for the recording: guitarist Kevin Breit, bassist David Piltch, and drummer Davide Di Renzo.

Recorded at the National Music Centre’s Studio Bell in Calgary and Toronto’s Noble Street Studios, “Hugging the Cactus was a life-changing experience,” Jaaji says. “Working with such hugely experienced people, with no egos, just the music and what they could create, has been freeing and enlightening. We found a delicate way to allow the musicians to show their personalities and amazing skills, perfectly complementing and amplifying our songs.”

It’s always been impossible to put Twin Flames into a tidy little box, blending as they do traditional Indigenous instruments and melodies and a vast mix of influences ranging from indie and synth rock to folk-pop and 90s-era hard rock. At the core, Hugging the Cactus is as much a creative mission statement as a jumping-off point for further explorations – a set of beautiful songs that bridge the gaps between cultures, continents, and diverse musical styles.

That’s as evident on their original songs as it is on the pair of covers they’ve included on the album: ‘Savage Daughter’ (a Karen Kahan-penned track popularized by Sarah Hester Ross’ TikTok), that Twin Flames put a truly unique spin on to tell a story of female and Indigenous empowerment.

So, too, with ‘House of the Rising Sun’ – a decidedly more introspective but no less powerful take on the classic than other versions, but one that, because of that treatment, throws the intrinsic sorrow of the lyrics, the references to what seem to be unbreakable intergenerational "curses" into sharper relief.

The result is a record that will leave a lasting impression on listeners' hearts and souls. Its sound is so immediate, live, and pure that it seems as if the songs were created in the moment of performance. The songs are mournful yet celebratory, intensely personal but universal, and timeless and timely in equal measure.

“Hugging the Cactus,” Chelsey June and Jaaji conclude, “is very painful, but sometimes the hardest pain we go through, the times we can’t take another step or even breathe another day after experiencing it, is when we find our inner strength. Confronting the darkness gives one back their power—looking back years later, we both use our past experiences to better ourselves and our lives; that way, our suffering no longer holds power over us."