Crissi Cochrane Reflects on New EP “Fire Sign”
Story by Jen Brignall-Strong
Photography by Syx Langemann
Crissi Cochrane is embracing the intensity of her zodiac sign. With its stormy soundscapes, vivid natural imagery and emotionally-charged lyrics, Cochrane’s latest EP Fire Sign isn’t just a new release; it’s an artistic and personal reckoning for the Windsor-based musician, exploring passion in its many forms; from romantic longing to betrayal, resilience, and maternal love.
And while Cochrane has been making music professionally for over 16 years, she admits this project is the first to frighten her, albeit in all the best ways.
“There’s a lot of passion and intensity and boldness on this record. So much so that it’s my first time ever having pre-release anxiety,” says Cochrane. “It’s been a really interesting rollercoaster, and I feel like it’s a good sign. It means I’m creating something that feels really meaningful and powerful.”
“I think if you’re not a little scared, then, you know, maybe you’re in your comfort zone still. So it felt like a good artistic experience to be making art that scares me,” she adds.
Cochrane says that although she’s not particularly knowledgeable on the zodiac, the fiercely unfiltered traits her Aries birth sign is known for are very much aligned with the album’s themes and where she is at this particular point in her life, leaning into the emotional courage of her 30s as the mother of two young girls.
“When I was younger, I felt a lot more docile and willing to go with the flow,” she shares. “But now, I feel that urgency of needing to reclaim my soul life. Being able to make this record was an important way for me to reconnect with myself as an artist and kind of bring my life more into balance.”
Fire Sign features five songs that move from wistful connection to controlled chaos, heartbreak, and ultimately devotion, closing with “Little Dove,” a moving tribute to motherhood and the enduring love that fuels every fight to grow and survive.
The album feels both deeply personal and universally resonant, which Cochrane attributes to her collaboration with local producer Adam Rideout-Arkell, whom she previously worked with on her 2014 record, Little Sway.
“It’s been amazing going back to him because we’ve created something really beautiful together, something deeply considered,” she says. “He likes to get to the heart of what the songs are really about and make sure that all of the production serves that song. And so I think this EP is my most art forward record.”
Cochrane says she and Rideout-Arkell made many intentional choices to enhance the emotional power and storytelling of the songs, evoking a visceral reaction that gets under the listener’s skin. She also points to artistic decisions she might not have otherwise made without his encouragement.
“The fact that he chose to keep parts of a take where I was breaking down singing ‘Little Dove’ adds such a dimension of authentic love and power,” she says. “It was a recording that I was trying to technically execute as perfectly as possible and he said, “No, let them hear you break a little; we want them to hear your heart. It’s so much more powerful that way.”
It felt almost serendipitous for the pair to reunite, reflects Cochrane. The two ran into each other at a wedding just as she had nearly abandoned the idea of making an EP altogether, considering a shift toward writing a book of poetry as the realities of creating music felt increasingly out of reach with the demands of everyday life.
That changed when she reconnected with Rideout-Arkell and realized, almost unbelievably, that he lived just a few blocks away from her. So close, in fact, that she had been walking past his house multiple times a day while taking her daughter to school.
With the convenient geography and complementary schedules, the two were able to devise a plan to bring Fire Sign to life.
“As soon as my husband got off work at one o’clock, I’d be out the door and at Adam’s house at 1:05. And then I’d pick up my daughter from school at 2:55. So in that little window, once a week, we made this record.”
The question of whether the project felt cathartic is woven into the very fabric of Fire Sign, though Cochrane says its emotional clarity didn’t arrive in a straight line.
Written over several years and sequenced out of chronology, the EP moves through shifting emotional terrain, something reflected in its recurring natural imagery; an artistic choice that wasn’t entirely conscious.
Cochrane says growing up in rural Nova Scotia instilled in her a deep connection to nature, one that continues to ground her today.
“Feeling at peace outside is huge to me. As a homeowner, I feel so attached to my little corner of land and I get so much peace just from stepping outside,” she explains. “Even though I’m in downtown Windsor, and there are buses and noises, I still have my tree and my plants, and there are so many lessons that it’s like a reset every time I walk outside.”
That connection seeps most vividly into the track “Black Wasp” where observing the cycles of growth, resilience, and fragility in her garden becomes a mirror for her own life; an ongoing process of tending, letting go, and learning what thrives with care and what endures despite it.
“That song is me taking a look around and seeing the symmetry between that and different aspects of my life, especially in my 30s.”
That reflection doesn’t exist in isolation, says Cochrane. It expands outward through the many artists who helped shape the record, including over a dozen collaborators that weaved together different perspectives. The result is a layered sound, with delicate string arrangements in “Am I Falling in Love” and “Little Dove” adding softness and depth, while the whisper track mix in “Her Name” conjures bittersweet, raw emotion.
“I choose people who I know are going to be able to understand what the songs are trying to say,” says Cochrane. “I could never create anything like this on my own. It comes from having so many other people that are very good at receiving what the songs are about and translating them into this medium.”
So what does Cochrane hope listeners of Fire Sign will connect with most?
“There are so many different vignettes on the record; it’s a whole journey through a spectrum of emotions that I think are quite universal, but I think what I’m ultimately trying to do with music is to give people a song that sits with them in that place where they feel alone so that they have a way of deeply feeling that feeling,” she reflects. “Giving ourselves that permission is so liberating.”
Fire Sign is streaming now on all digital platforms, but for those who prefer a physical copy, CDs are available to purchase online at crissicochrane.com or at Dr. Disc in downtown Windsor. A crowdfunding campaign for a vinyl pressing of the record is also on now at diggersfactory.com.
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Published in the Summer 2026 Edition.
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