Bells Larsen
Bells Larsen is a Canadian singer-songwriter, originally from Toronto, Ontario, and currently based in Montreal, Quebec.[1]
Background
[edit]The son of children's author Andrew Larsen,[1] Larsen attended Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, where he was a classmate of singer-songwriter Georgia Harmer.[2] His younger brother is actor Charlie Henry Larsen, known for his role in the show Overcompensating.[3]
Career
[edit]Larsen released his debut album, Good Grief, in 2022.[4] The music was largely inspired by the death of his first love.[5] At the time he identified as non-binary, but had begun to persue a gender transition by the album’s release.[6]
He followed up in 2023 with If I Was, I Am, an EP featuring the first songs recorded in his new masculine vocal register.[6] In 2024, he released a cover of Rostam Batmanglij's "Bike Dream" as a standalone single.[7]
He subsequently signed to Royal Mountain Records, which released his second full-length album Blurring Time in 2025.[8] Conceived as a more direct and personal exploration of his transition than his previous releases, Larsen recorded vocals before beginning hormone replacement therapy in 2022, and then waited for his voice to drop before resuming the recording process in 2023. He then worked with Harmer to create new vocal harmony arrangements so that the album would feature vocal duets between his pre-transition and post-transition selves.[9]
The album was to have been supported by a concert tour of both Canada and the United States;[10] however, following Donald Trump's flurry of anti-transgender executive orders, Larsen was forced to cancel the American dates on the tour rather than risk being detained at the border over issues with the gender marker on his passport.[11] The Canadian shows on his tour itinerary proceeded normally.[12]
Blurring Time was longlisted for the 2025 Polaris Music Prize.[13]
Discography
[edit]- Good Grief (2022)
- If I Was, I Am (2023)
- Blurring Time (2025)
References
[edit]- ^ a b Gavyn Green, "Q&A: Bells Larsen Zooms In". Paste, April 24, 2025.
- ^ Alisha Mughal, "Bells Larsen Embraces Self-Discovery on His Own Timeline: 'We're All in Flux'". Exclaim!, April 24, 2025.
- ^ https://bellslarsen.substack.com/p/my-new-album-is-out-now, April 25, 2025.
- ^ Kayla Higgins, "Toronto's Bells Larsen Announces Debut Album 'Good Grief,' Shares Star-Crossed Single". Exclaim!, June 7, 2022.
- ^ Kane Wilkinson, "INTERVIEW: “I’ve always been this, I’ve always been me” – Bells Larsen Turns Tragedy & Change Into Art On Latest Album ‘Good Grief’". Dusty Organ, September 30, 2022.
- ^ a b Ben Okazawa, "Bells Larsen Announces New EP 'If I Was, I Am,' Shares Lead Single". Exclaim!, May 30, 2023.
- ^ Ben Okazawa, "Listen to Bells Larsen Cover Rostam's 'Bike Dream'". Exclaim!, February 7, 2024.
- ^ Megan Lapierre, "Bells Larsen Details Sophomore Album 'Blurring Time'". Exclaim!, January 30, 2025.
- ^ "Why Bells Larsen decided to sing duets with his past self". Q, May 1, 2025.
- ^ Kinza Zafar, "Bells Larsen Books North American Tour". Exclaim!, March 12, 2025.
- ^ Alaina Demopoulos, "Trans musician Bells Larsen was forced to cancel his US tour: ‘My livelihood has been robbed’". The Guardian, April 23, 2025.
- ^ Hénia Ould-Hammou, "Montreal artist cancels U.S. tour over visa policies targeting his gender identity". CBC News Montreal, April 13, 2025.
- ^ Allie Gregory, "Polaris Music Prize Unveils 2025 Long List, Announces Song Prize". Exclaim!, June 10, 2025.
- 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters
- 21st-century Canadian male singers
- 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
- Canadian male singer-songwriters
- Canadian LGBTQ singer-songwriters
- Canadian transgender musicians
- Canadian transgender men
- Musicians from Toronto
- Musicians from Montreal
- Living people
- Royal Mountain Records artists