Mixing It Up With Twilight Therapy
Bethany Canning AKA Twilight Therapy is listened to in over 30 countries. Ahead of Mix-Up ’24, the rising star joins Holly Gasson to discuss her creative process.
Bethany Canning is one of the many students taking part in Mix-Up ’24 this year. The event is a cross-course collaboration event hosted by Coventry University where Popular Music and Songwriting students perform their original songs with the Orchestra of the Swan.
It’s the third year of the collaborative event
Journalism students report on the event live and Graphic Design students draw from the inspiration the music gives them. The blend of genres and collaborative atmosphere creates a moving environment, and it’s no surprise that this is the third year the event is being held.
This is also the second time that Bethany has been involved with the event and this year she’s performing two of her original songs ‘Run Rabbit Run’ and ‘The Grand Design’.
“Mix-Up is a great opportunity because you get different soundscapes and I love the sound it gives you, the classical influence adds so much to the songs. For The Grand Design I literally just wrote ‘chaotic noises please’ on the score and the trumpet player did exactly that, they're all professionals so you can give them the vaguest instructions and they'll do it perfectly,” she said.
“It is a lot of trust and a bit of a gamble to give those kind of instructions, especially when you’re going to be performing live. So it’s amazing when I put something vague and they come up with something that’s exactly how I’d pictured it.”
“It’s also refreshing to be able to relinquish that control, especially for me because I do so much of my music alone. But that's what you get with professionals, they’re used to listening and knowing what the song will need which is why Mix-Up is so fun,” she added.
Bethany playing her original song ‘The Grand Design’
Bethany releases music under the name Twilight Therapy and has been creating music for five years. She’s multitalented and can play guitar, bass, drums, piano and also sings, “I just started writing my own songs and then I got a basic recording set up and put the two together. Since then, I’ve put out a project every year,” the twenty-one-year-old said.
Her songs have a wide range of themes and genres, so narrowing it down for me proved difficult for Bethany, “Normally, I'd classify it as prog rock but a lot of the stuff I write is a lot more complicated than that. I've been getting into funk recently, like 80s David Bowie and St. Vincent. It’s a blend of funk, pop with some folk and psychedelic music”.
With a wide variety of styles to pull from, it’s no surprise that Bethany has been awarded due to her abilities. Last year at the MPA Awards, she received a trophy and certificate for her transferable skills in popular music.
Bethany at the awards showcase
Dr Rich Hall is one of the main organisers of the Mix-Up ’24 event. He is also Bethany’s lecturer at Coventry University where she is in the third year of her Popular Music Performance and Songwriting BA course.
“During her time at university, Bethany has really refined her vocal and guitar playing and has managed to develop a clear sound. I can very much see her making a name for herself as an artist, releasing her own music and developing a niche, but committed, following after graduating from university. Bethany is a highly accomplished and knowledgeable musician”, he said.
“It came about as an accident
but she’s definitely here to stay”
If you look at the Twilight Therapy webpage you’d notice a character named Madame pop up throughout the site. “It’s something I came up with for the music video for Cardiac Arrest. It’s now morphed into its own character, though she’s more of a live or social media presence thing,” Bethany said.
“It’s fun to play someone completely different to yourself and it gives me more confidence as well, I can just go out on stage and do whatever. It came about as an accident but she’s definitely here to stay for a while,” she added with a smile.
Madame on the Twilight Therapy site
And how long does it take the award-winning musician to create her work, “It varies, creating that final prduct that I’m happy with is always a painful process, which I feel like every musician relates to. Run Rabbit Run took about two days to write from idea to complete song but The Grand Design took me about two months.”
“So it really depends but for me it's all about what the song wants to do, you have to listen to it. If I can't figure out what to do with a song I put it away and eventually something will come up which is what I did with The Grand Design,” she added.
Bethany and other Popular Music students in Mix-Up ’24’s dress rehearsal
Bethany even gave CovFeed some insider intel about some upcoming releases, some being published as early as this month. “For my course, I have to do an EP which is what Run Rabbit Run and The Grand Design will be on. But me being me, I have way too many songs, so I'm gonna put out a proper album after it’s all been assessed. And before the end of March, not only will The Grand Design be released, it will have a music video to go with it,” she told me.
When creating the album, Bethany made it clear that the tracklist was close to her heart, “I'm a really traditional music listener, I love vinyl and I love tracks that flow into each other where you can tell things have been planned out. I enjoy compiling the songs, and some of my favourites don’t necessarily come first in the track list if they don’t lend themselves to it. For example, The Grand Design will be fourth from last in my next release,” Bethany said.
If you want to hear Bethany’s new songs accompanied by the Orchestra of the Swan, come down to the Hyper Studio in Coventry University’s Delia Derbyshire building at 4:30pm for Mix-Up ’24. If you can’t make it, keep an eye on CovFeed’s TikTok, Instagram and Twitter/X for behind the scenes snapshots and interviews with the talented musicians.
By Holly Gasson