Your new album Linen of Words was released on April 14, bringing together your own compositions and reimagined folk ballads. It was made in collaboration with over 20 musicians spanning folk, jazz, classical, and experimental traditions. How do you feel now that the album is out in the world and could you tell us something about how the album came together?

I'm really excited that it's out, and also a little disoriented, in a good way. It took about five years from the earliest ideas to the final release, so it lived as a process for a long time.

Some songs started with archival material (letters, ballads, fragments) and others from my own writing. I worked with musicians across folk, jazz, classical, and experimental backgrounds, and each collaboration shaped the music differently.

The album became a kind of meeting place between traditions, between people, between ways of listening. I really wanted to show the world the many wild ideas I had, and most of them involved mixing different styles and traditions, so getting to work with such a large palette of personalities and sounds was a great joy. I also really love storytelling and old folk songs, so I wanted to give them a new life and to invite some of my favourite musicians who are not from those traditions to be playful with that material as well.

You have been involved in a number of projects in recent years, including Wake Robin, a folk group drawing from old-time traditions, the folk revival, early bluegrass, and their own original songwriting, and Sweet Joe Pye who perform ballads and fiddle tunes hailing from the Appalachian mountains as well as original compositions. From the outside it feels like you are driven by a pure love of traditional music and collaboration. Is that the case? Do you have any desire to reach a larger audience?

I do really love traditional songs, and I love working with other musicians; that's definitely at the centre of what I do. I think I become a better musician when I get to work with other great musicians, and I love seeing what others bring to my ideas and how they change and are strengthened through collaboration.

Of course, like most musicians, I'd love for my work to reach more people. But what matters most to me is making something that feels genuinely engaging and alive, something I'm curious about and invested in. If that connects widely, that's wonderful. But the starting point is always the work itself.

A feature of the music you make is close harmonies. Can you tell us something about what draws you to close harmonies?

I just love singing with people, in particular the folks on my album! Close harmony has this feeling of both blending and tension, you can hear the individual voices, but also something that happens between them. It's really addictive.

A lot of the early country and bluegrass music I love has that quality, and I've been lucky to work with incredible singers like Tessa Patterson and Hannah Standiford. There's something very immediate and physical about that kind of sound. I'd happily sing with others all day.

You have talked elsewhere about learning American ballads from elders in the Appalachian region. What is your connection with Appalachian culture and music? How much does celebrating/conserving/preserving Appalachian culture play into your motivation?

I'm from Morgantown, West Virginia, so that connection is both personal and cultural. Growing up, I often felt like the message was that you needed to leave to be successful, that what was local wasn't enough.

Part of what motivates me now is pushing back against that idea a bit, to say that there is a lot of richness here, and that it's worth paying attention to.

At the same time, as someone who is half-Belgian, I'm also really interested in the movement of people and stories, the way traditions are shaped by migration and exchange. So for me it's not just about preserving something unchanged, but about engaging with it, questioning it, and reimagining it in a way that still respects where it comes from.

So what's next for you? What are you recording and performing plans?

I'm interested in moving toward something a bit more stripped down next, closer to what I sound like as a solo performer. Linen of Words was a chance to explore a really expansive, collaborative sound world, which I loved.

Now I'm curious about what happens with just voice, bass and clarinet, how much space I can create with fewer elements.

I also have a number of performances coming up around Pittsburgh and Morgantown with Wake Robin, and I'm planning to develop more solo shows over the next year alongside some new recording ideas.