Eric Folino on Bowie and Making Music
Eric Folino is a young singer-songwriter based in Toronto, and though I first came across his music through a Bowie cover, he’s very much his own artist. The first song I heard was his version of “Quicksand,” which caught my attention for both its musical restraint and interpretive insight. “Hunky Dory is definitely my favorite Bowie album,” he told me, “and “Changes” is my favorite song… But I didn’t want to cover it—I love it too much. I wouldn’t be able to do it justice.” Instead, he turned to “Quicksand,” a song that resonated deeply. “It became a bit of a mantra for me,” he said. “‘Don’t believe in yourself. Don’t deceive with belief.’ It’s almost paradoxical, right? But Bowie wasn’t saying ‘don’t have confidence.’ He was saying don’t be limited by your own idea of self.”
Eric’s Bowie-inspired original, “Faded Stardust,” emerged from a period of self-reflection. “I felt like I was trying to be David Bowie rather than be inspired by David Bowie,” he said. “That song was about finding a way to take what inspired me and use it to say something that was still me.”
His debut album Hours for the Taking reflects that spirit—spanning songs written in high school to more recent material, it’s a collection rooted in personal growth. Eric sees it as a kind of snapshot of becoming. “Some of the songs are very internal,” he explained. “But as I’ve grown, I’m starting to look more outward—to the world around me. That’s where I think the next album is headed.”
We talked about the streaming economy and the algorithm-driven logic behind releasing music slowly, track by track. But we also talked about what can’t be digitized: performance. “You can’t really make somebody feel something deep in a 15-second Instagram reel,” he said. “That’s why live shows matter.” Eric works at his stagecraft deliberately— “Two years ago, I was practicing my facial expressions in the mirror,” he laughed—but his performances have a natural intensity that speaks for itself.
And although Bowie fans tend to sort themselves into eras, Eric has the benefit—and challenge—of discovering Bowie’s work all at once. He’s made a point of listening to Bowie’s work in order, treating each album as part of a larger arc rather than cherry-picking eras. That kind of attention to context feels in keeping with Eric’s thoughtful approach to music—measured, intentional, and grounded in curiosity.
I’m intrigued by Eric both because I like his music and because he’s coming into his own as an artist in the years since Bowie’s passing. Many of the artists I have the privilege of interviewing either worked with Bowie, or were inspired not just by Bowie’s music, but by the experience of coexisting on the planet with Bowie. While Eric isn’t that young, he’s offering a glimpse at how the musicians of tomorrow work with what Bowie left us, untainted by nostalgia or tribal attachment to the Bowie of a particular phase. Eric Folino is the future…