HALIFAX -- Dropping your debut studio album at 17-years-old is daunting enough. Doing it in the middle of a lockdown is even tougher– just ask Isabella Samson of Louisdale, N.S.   

"The fact that I just can't see anyone, you know, a lot of the time promoting your album, promoting your music, a lot of personality goes into it," says Samson.

"It's really hard. There's no studios open."

Morgan Toney of Waycobah First Nation, N.S. is also releasing his first record. Then, there's Bay St. Lawrence's Jesse Cox.     

Before the latest lockdown, the three up-and-coming musicians each recorded their debut albums at 'Barn Bhreagh' studios, in producer Keith Mullins's Baddeck backyard.

In taking the plunge together, they have formed a bond.

"We have a wonderful, I like to call it, 'family' of musicians that have all come together," says Toney. “We've all gotten pretty close through it all. We're all like best friends now."

But once the record is released, the musicians won’t be able to have in-person gigs or go on tour to promote it.

So all three records are being made available on a social media streaming site called 'Bandcamp.'

"They take 10 per cent of the artists' sales, whereas other social media streaming platform sites - I don't want to say any names - but the artists don't make any money off those," Mullins says.

The three will also be performing together in a live stream on May 22nd at 7 p.m.

"It's amazing to see how far music can travel.  So I want to see where it can go," says Toney.

"The authenticity," says Samson. "That album is 150 per cent fully what I imagined it would be and more."

So while the way the record is being released is different, there's nothing 'virtual' about the music itself, or the passion of those who've made it.