Chiiild: 5 songs that changed my life

The past few years have been something of a whirlwind for alternative musician Chiiild (Yonatan Ayal). Although he's been a songwriter and producer for over a decade — his resume includes credits on tracks from Usher, Jennifer Lopez and more — it wasn't until 2020 that he pivoted from shaping the sonic stories of other artists to crafting his own, through the release of his dizzying, psychedelic debut EP, Synthetic Soul. 

There couldn't have been a more uncertain time to put out new music, as the pandemic swept the globe and slowed releases and live shows to a halt. Luckily for Chiiild, Synthetic Soul was critically acclaimed, and he continued his upward trajectory by dropping his dreamy, escapist first album, Hope for Sale, in 2021. The following year, the album landed a spot on the Polaris Music Prize long list and scored a Juno nomination for alternative album of the year. Fast-forward to March 2023, he kept his foot on the gas, and released his kaleidoscopic follow-up, Better Luck in the Next Life. 

From psychedelic pop, electro-soul, R&B and beyond, the experimental Montreal musician is known for pulling from countless genres. His artistic curiosities are especially evident on his latest album: a cocktail of ambient sounds and lush instrumentation saturate the tracks. They range from slow-burn love duets like "I Hope I Packed a Parachute" to trippy, rock-tinged bangers like "Antidote." The result is a fluid series of songs with gorgeous melodies and goosebump-inducing distortions that showcase Chiiild's impulse to not only step out of the box, but obliterate it entirely.

Now that he's fresh off of the album's release, he hit the road for a North American tour and brought his chill sounds and vibrant lyricism to venues across Canada and the U.S. "I feel like we're in stride, so it feels good," he says of the shows.

As a musical chameleon, he's continually evolving his sound and his inspirations are ever-changing."One of the things I've noticed is that whenever I'm asked to reference music, it's always something else. It's never the same," he says. "I take my music curation very seriously," he adds, with a laugh.

He broke down his colourful influences for CBC Music, diving into tracks by Björk, Bon Iver and more. 

'Hyberballad,' Bjork

"I love how in the lyrics she's talking about her quirkiness. It's such a personal lyric when she's talking about going up on a cliff and just throwing things off, and clearing her head, and all these different things. I saw a video of [the song] being performed at an opera hall. It was the perfect marriage of theatre [and] her raw voice. And [there were] these two producers of sorts that looked like they were making electronic music. It was really quirky when I first experienced it, and I was like, 'This is what I want. I want to do something like this.'

"It was such a marriage of electronic and classical music."

'Nothing's Gonna Hurt you Baby,' Cigarettes After Sex

"It's just such a mood. You know, I saw them at Primavera Sound last year. I was just completely floored. They sounded incredible. I just love the chill nature. There's not that many vocalists [like Greg Gonzalez] that are really kind of emotive and calm.

"[His vocal] restraint is just really powerful, and so I absolutely love that. And I'm super influenced by everything about that."

'8 (circle),' Bon Iver

"There are songs that I connect to and that have been impactful, you know, when I was a kid. But when I think about the music that I'm making now and kind of where my headspace is, so much of it is affected by these songs [from] about ten-ish years ago. 22, a million, is such a producer album. It's so production-forward and [that song] is the moment where all the chaos goes away and it becomes serene, and there's something really powerful about that. So that really is important for me."

'Helpless,' Friendly Fires

"When I first heard [the band's album] Pala, it was at a point where I thought I was really good at music. I think that album came out in 2012 or 2013. So it was my early, early days of still trying to figure out what's going on. And my brother gave me the album, and he was like, 'You should listen to this.' And from that I was ready to quit, I mean, I was like, 'This is just way too good.'

"That entire album, I would argue, may be a producer album because it does have a lot of moving parts. It was the first time I was exposed to found sounds on a record. One of the transitions is the iPhone [locking]. I've never experienced [anything like it.] And prior to that, everything was just instruments. And on that album, [it was] atmospheric, really energetic, pulling from African music, pulling from all kinds of stuff. 'Helpless' is, I think the last song on the album, if I'm not mistaken, and it goes into this underwater bit, which is super cinematic. It's all stuff that I feel like I pull from to this day. And then it comes back out into the last chorus, and it's crazy."

'No Woman No Cry,' Bob Marley

"I absolutely love that song. I love everything about the uniting energy that Bob Marley had and the fact that he can sing sad songs and document the times but still make you feel like you're in Tulum or something. And that's such a superpower, you know? I feel like so much that's in the world can be quite divisive, and that he was the ultimate uniter. I don't think there's anyone that has ever lived that has united the way that he has.

"You know, when we're talking about Bob, it's just Bob. So you think about what he's saying in those songs, and we're all singing. We're all here for it. And you put on any one of his records on vinyl or whatever, in your house, and it's like you change the colour of the wall. It's incredibly powerful. So I'm going to go with any song from Bob, but for the sake of picking one, I'm going with 'No Woman No Cry.' If you had to create a Voltron of sorts, [it would include] the uniting and the message and the vibe that he was able to share. It's just unparalleled."