Once A Tree are a Canadian music duo consisting of married couple Jayli and Hayden Wolf. They began in

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

before moving towards a more

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

sound.

Background

The Wolfs were both raised

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Jayli from Creston and Hayden from Vernon, and met online through mutual friends. Jayli decided to leave the religion and convinced Hayden to join her. The pair moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

together when Jayli won a songwriting contest and married in 2012. They have said songwriting has helped them deal with difficult experiences.

Career

Once A Tree debuted with a self-titled EP and the single "Light Me Up". Their first professional EP ''Thousand Lives'', released in 2015 under Toronto-based Foreseen Entertainment, followed the single "Howling", inspired by their childhood religion. They continued working with Foreseen, going on to release their first album ''Phoenix'' in 2017. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' named them "New Artists You Need to Know" and compared them favourably to

Phantogram Phantogram may refer to: *Phantogram (band) Phantogram is an American music duo from Greenwich (town), New York, Greenwich, New York (state), New York, formed in 2007 and consisting of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Sarah Barthel and Josh ...

Crystal Castles Crystal Castles was a Canadian electronic music group formed in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, by songwriter-producer Ethan Kath and singer-songwriter Alice Glass. Crystal Castles was known for their chaotic live shows and lo-fi music, lo-fi melanc ...

, and

Chvrches Chvrches (stylised CHVRCHΞS and pronounced "Churches") are a Scottish synth-pop band from Glasgow, formed in September 2011. The band consists of Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, Martin Doherty and, unofficially since 2018, Jonny Scott. Mostly deriv ...

. ''Phoenix'' won Best Electronic Music Album at the 2018

Indigenous Music Awards The Indigenous Music Awards, formerly called the Aboriginal Peoples' Choice Music Awards, is an annual Canadian music award, given out to Indigenous people who are in the music industry. The APCMA receives financial support of the Department of ...

. For the single "Breakdown", which Hayden based on his own mental health crisis and dedicated to his late brother who took his own life earlier that year, Once A Tree partnered with Kelowna General Hospital for their Not Alone Campaign. Proceeds went towards establishing mental health facilities for youths in British Columbia. In 2018, Once A Tree were the subject of a documentary on Juno TV. They participated in the

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

Kenekt Song Camp in

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. "Born for This" became part of a

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

television campaign, and "Worth" had an anti-bullying music video. Once A Tree performed the anthem "We Are One" for the 2019

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional Association football, soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of provinces and territories of ...

. The duo released their second album ''Fool's Paradise'' independently in 2020. ''Fool's Paradise'' was described as more lighthearted than their previous work, which Hayden attributed to coming "to a much happier place in life". The single "Rush" was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and the acoustic version featured Boy Pape. Jayli also acts and releases solo music, such as "Child of the Government" about her

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

father being taken in the

Sixties Scoop The Sixties Scoop (), also known as The Scoop, was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or "scoop up," Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement ...

; Hayden is a visual artist and photographer. They co-write most of their songs, and produce most of their music videos themselves.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

*"Light Me Up" (2014) *"Howling" (2015) *"Breakdown" (2017) *"Coming Down" (2017) *"Fine" (2017) *"Born for This" (2018) *"We Are One" (2019) for the

*"Worth" (2019) *"Run" (2019) *"What You Say" (2019) *"Whatever You Do Kid" (2019) *"Rush" (2020) *"3 Day Trip" (2020) *"Black Dog" (2021)

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Once a Tree Canadian electronic music groups Canadian folk music groups Canadian musical duos Former Jehovah's Witnesses Male–female musical duos Married couples Musical groups from British Columbia