Purveyors of: Scrappy guitar, earnest lyricism, messy beauty
File next to: Sheer Mag, Japanese Breakfast, Big Thief
Appearing: Wavelength Summer Thing 2025: Downtown Edition, August 10 @ Trillium Park
Baby O’s debut EP Visions I See Clearly feels like a lightning bolt of self-actualization, raw, radiant, and deeply felt. Led by Liv Pasquarelli, the Toronto rock band taps into a visceral space where contradictions are welcome and emotional intensity drives every decision. With a sound that balances heart-on-sleeve vulnerability and blistering confidence, Baby O offers something both nostalgic and undeniably their own. As they gear up for a much-anticipated performance at this year’s Summer Thing: Downtown Edition, Wavelength’s Kyle Sikorski spoke with Pasquarelli about creative breakthroughs, community love, and the direction of their next chapter.
WL: Your 2024 album, Visions I See Clearly, feels both deeply personal and sonically bold. When you look back at the process of making this record, what does the title mean to you now and how do you feel it captures where you were creatively and emotionally at that moment?
Here’s the thing, it took me until I was 30 to feel I was worth realizing my creative visions. I’m not trying to say that’s late (some people never get there), but I spent all of my days before that thinking I should shut the fuck up and keep my head down. My dreams didn’t matter. So when I went to work on that EP, my whole heart was on fire for what felt like the first time. The title was referring to the fact that I was finally willing to look at my own dreams and follow wherever they were leading. I think Visions I See Clearly earnestly captured where I was both creatively and emotionally during that period of my life. It still feels very unguarded and almost child-like.
WL: The album’s songs often wrestle with complexity and contradiction, which seems at odds with the idea of “seeing clearly.” How do you personally navigate that tension between clarity and confusion in both your music and life?
I try my best to accept the contradictions and dualities. I give myself time to let those polarities sink into my DNA, because knowing it and feeling it are different.
WL: The tension between raw energy and polished sound on Visions I See Clearly feels really intentional. What was your guiding principle when balancing those elements in the studio?
Appreciate you saying it was intentional. I was learning a lot through the process of making Visions I See Clearly. It was my debut body of work and the first time I had ever gone into a studio to record (shout out to Aaron Goldstein at Gold Standard Recorders). What I did know at the time was what I liked and I let that guide the choices I made. So it was more of an intuition thing. But Visions I See Clearly did kick off my fascination with finding the balance between polished pop production moments and the raw energy of live off the floor rock stuff. I’m totally intentional now…
WL: Last year, we asked our audience on Instagram which artists they’d most want to see at this year’s Summer Thing and Baby O came out as one of the top requests. How does it feel to know there’s such strong anticipation from your local fans ahead of the festival?
You talk to any independent musician and they’ll tell you this is an impossible way of life. The relationship I have with my community here in Toronto is everything to me. All I want to do is to be able to share in this ultimate energy exchange of love, joy and catharsis with them. I’m humbled to have so much support from my community. Love you guys!
WL: Recently you revealed you’re working on a new EP, what new sounds or themes are you excited to explore with this project?
I’m excited to say more of the unfiltered things in my head and not worry so much about my lyrics making perfect sense or having some uplifting message. I find myself writing even more honestly these days about my feelings and ideas, which seem to circle around identity, personal power, relationships and sex. I’m experimenting with different sonic references all the time and trying new things in my arrangements to see what resonates and feels most like me.
WL: I also saw you’re a big fan of Geese and Cameron Winter. Have they influenced your music or songwriting on this upcoming EP at all? And how do you balance drawing inspiration from your contemporaries while keeping your own unique voice?
Cameron Winter has been a huge influence as of late. He inspired a song I just wrote called “Loose.” You’ll hear it at the show on August 10th. I don’t worry much about losing my voice. I’m the sum of a very specific set of life experiences and sounds I’ve absorbed over the years. And I let all that inspiration touch. Because of that, I think what I create is just my own.
WL: If Baby O had to create a soundtrack for a night out in Toronto, what three songs would you pick (whether your own or from other local artists)?
For a summer night out — specifically — we gotta go with “Shattered Love” from Toronto’s hottest duo Absolute Treat. Then “Mirror” by BAMBII, a new favourite. And I’ll end off with “Middle of the Night” by the no longer active band Teenage Kicks. I used to go see these guys play all over Toronto when I was in my early 20s and I remember thinking I wished I could write rock songs like them.
Don’t miss Baby O at Summer Thing: Downtown Edition on August 10th at Trillium Park:
955 Lake Shore Blvd W.
Saturday & Sunday, August 9 – 10, 2025
FREE + ALL AGES
5-11PM
RSVP via DICE and get entered into a draw to win a Wavelength picnic pack: http://bit.ly/WLST25