And then there were three...

Okanagan rock duo Landing on the Sun is now a trio with the addition of yet another eclectic instrument - vocals - care of singer-songwriter Quinn Vienneau.

This was somewhat of a natural chord progression for the former instrumental duo, releasing a new five-song EP entitled Paralysis Particle. A full album will be released in the new year.

Veteran Okanagan musicians Billy Haner (guitars) and Eric Hutton (bass and pretty much everything else) welcome the addition of Vienneau who complements Landing on the Sun’s melodic rock stylings while adding her own dimensions to the project.

Paralysis Particle opens with the haunting ‘Monstrous’ (for which the band produced their own hypnotic video) and serves up seductive vocals wrapped around rock riffs and rhythms evoking eclectic hard-edged pop of the 80s and 90s. Vienneau is the perfect side dish to the dark and exploratory melodies carried by Haner’s expressively taunting guitar work amid Hutton’s rhythmic fury. And that’s just the start of it...

Vienneau, an Okanagan photographer, was initially hired to shoot photos for the inside cover of the Landing on the Sun debut last year.

“It all started as a joke, when I was listening to the album in the garage,” she explained of her foray into rock stardom. “I just started to fiddle around with the words and put some vocals down.”

Playing off Haner’s emotive style, Vienneau says she gets her lyrical inspiration from how the guitar makes her feel - purely based on the vibe of the instrument. Not wanting to sound cliche, she said the songs are like a color wheel, expressing a variety of emotions including love, anger, struggle, and societal observations like the disconnectedness of people and their cellphones.

“This is nothing like I’ve ever done,” said Vienneau. “I never had goals to be a singer in a band but this is really fun. If I had a bucket list, I should’ve put this on it. But then I’ll use any excuse to be creative.”

While the band gels musically, there’s a strong personality undercurrent that brings it all together. “I’ve never met two guys who talk as much as I do,” she said.

“She’s almost as weird as we are but that’s a compliment,” laughs Hutton, who uses the situation to comfortably throw musical curves at his bandmates. “Then we build ideas on top of the ideas. We toss everything back and forth and now there’s an extra layer to it.”

Still a rock band at heart, the trio doesn’t adhere to any particular rules when it comes to writing. And that bodes particularly well for Haner, who sees the addition of Vienneau as a “breath of fresh air” and an opportunity to explore new territory.

“She uses her voice in the tracks as an instrument,” says Haner. “I love it. For a veteran musician, this is a lot of fun. It’s like getting a new cellphone, or new app,” he laughed. “Working this way brings out playing that I would have never thought about playing.”

Landing on the Sun could be categorized as a progressive rock band....progressing from intricate instrumental melodies to adding a dynamic vocal component amid intelligently structured chaos. As Vienneau states in the song Monstrous, “Wanna win more gold...put on a wig on that puppet.” Exactly.