Queen Of Swords

Toronto’s Queen Of Swords, the magnetic mercurial healing-rock project created by Aerin Fogel, Founder/Artistic Director for Venus Fest and a spiritual counsellor, announces news of her recent signing with American indie label Get Better Records.

The gentle “Waiting To Love,” a song about unravelling our patterns so that we can move into a more loving state and comfort, is out now everywhere you listen to music. Watch the video here (created by Good Job Hi Five).

Aerin’s ability to read and advise others in her “day job” as a healing arts practitioner helps her communicate in her lyrics, which she always likes to keep hopeful.

“I think about songs as a lot like mantras,” Aerin explains. “If you write a song and then you play it live for years, you’re repeating those words over and over to yourself and others. So I consider this when songwriting. Is this something I want to be repeating? I try to use a healing framework in the way that I write as something that I want to be repeated and listened to over and over again.”

Co-produced by Carmen Elle (DIANA) and engineered by Steve Chahley (Neko Case, Nelly Furtado, Wu-Tang Clan), the song features backing vocals and synth from long-time collaborator Kritty Uranowski.

Aerin spent middle school studying dance and jazz saxophone at the prestigious Claude Watson School for the Arts. As she progressed grade-to-grade, she became more interested in music, and planned to attend the University of Toronto for jazz. But in high school, her focus began to shift: she started attending DIY shows and getting curious about the fringe music scene. “It helped me discover punk and experimental music,” she says.

Aerin did enroll at U of T, but not for music. “I took a left turn,” she says. She studied philosophy and creative writing, and outside of class started a solo project, for which she would sing and play synth at art gallery shows, and the like. Shortly after, she started playing in an 80s-tinged post-punk duo The Bitters with Ben Cook of hardcore band Fucked Up. The pair co-wrote all the songs and shared lead vocals; Aerin also played drums. Between 2009 and 2012, they released one album and two EPs for labels like Captured Tracks, Sacred Bones, and Mexican Summer.

Suffice to say, after some “difficult experiences in the music industry,” Aerin retreated and began what she calls “the other half of my life,” a thriving private practice for astrology, core pattern readings, and tarot card reading that has been her full-time work for the last decade. But time, healing, and maturity eventually brought her back to her childhood passion. In 2017, she simultaneously started Queen Of Swords, and Venus Fest, a Toronto music festival for women and gender non-conforming artists. “My intention was to help shift some of the issues in the industry,” Aerin explains.

The timing was serendipitous. #MeToo started weeks after the inaugural Venus Fest, which supported their voice as an organization and led to its rapid expansion and respect. For Queen Of Swords, described as a mix of “dark dream pop and old school rock ‘n’ roll,” Aerin wrote and played almost everything on the self-titled album, which was co-produced with Bobb Bruno (Best Coast). Live, she would play as a duo with Kritty. “It was challenging to re-enter the industry after not playing for several years, but I was proud to put something forward again,” she says.

Because of her private practice, and the growing success and importance of Venus Fest, both took up the majority of Aerin’s energy and focus for the past five years, but in 2022 she finally made some space again for Queen Of Swords. “My hope is that my music is a support and healing for others, as much as myself,” she says.

Her work is not always trauma-based, of course. She has clients who come to see her to pick a wedding date or planned C-section or other life celebration. “It’s called elections in astrology,” she says. Does Aerin use her own skills to pick the release dates for her album and singles? “Absolutely!”