Indie Pop from Ordinary // Colours

Toronto-based artist Justin Chee makes music under the Ordinary // Colours alias and stitches together a sound comprised of folk, shoegaze and ambient textures to create his own unique style. Lyrically, he writes to reflect on the process of understanding yourself and your relationships and connections with other in the community.

From an early age he started his musical journey by playing the piano before progressing to the guitar as a teenager. Writing and performing songs under his own name, both as a solo artist and with friends as collaborators, he explored his sonic vision for a number of years before taking a hiatus to focus on his career.

However, during the early period of the pandemic, like many others Chee found himself living in isolation and decided to channel his frustrations by picking up a number of old compositions and ideas that had sat quietly on various hard drives, phones and cassette tapes during his extended break from making music. Setting up a make-shift studio in his bedroom, he fused broken guitars, thrift shop keyboards, drum samples, MIDI instrumentation and a mix of found sounds such as cardboard boxes and kitchen pots to bring his draft compositions back to life.

Now he’s re-launched his musical endeavour under the new moniker Ordinary // Colours and brings us his debut single with “Pacific Division”. Penned as an internal monologue from someone who’s left their hometown to go to a new city to pursue their ambitions but over time gets broken down by reality of an undesirable job and struggling economic situation, “Pacific Division” offers a relatable message wrapped up in a vibrant and catchy bedroom pop sound.

With a string of releases planned for the rest of this year, Ordinary // Colours is set to drop a debut full-length album in 2023 and offers the first taste of what’s to come with his delightful first single “Pacific Division”.

Listen to Pacific Division below

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