By Will McGuirk
One can die of exposure in this country. So let’s not push too much, just loosely with one finger, glide out on the ice and let it free flow. The edges are Wendigo eyes so stay close to the middle. The ice is weaker so be light above the darkening darkness. There’s the crack in everything where the night seeps in.
Spanned Canyons provide this soundscape to that screamscape on their new release 'The Only Perfect Way for This to End', an even more ancient take on the Black Grass, Doom Folk, which seems to consistently well up from the ground either side of the Oak Ridge Moraine. This ‘Perfect Way’ is one which immediately brings to mind Colin Stetson creeping up on Timber Timbre, but really its from the minds of Pete Nickerson (electronica) and Gary Gahan (sax).
Gary Gahan, from Barnudio Facebook
“Gary and I met in an online appreciation group for Electrical audio/Steve Albini,” says Nickerson in a Facebook messenger exchange. “There is a splinter group from the main “PRF” (I think it jokingly is an acronym for Pure Rock Forum?) splinter group that is a monthly tribute to a different artist every month. The group is mostly American contributors, but there started to be more Canadians. Gary and I started collaborating on cover songs through that, and eventually just started hanging out in person once we realized we lived close to each other.”
Spanned Canyons began with Nickerson’s desire to record an album in his home studio, (Brooklyn, Ontario) he calls Barnudio, noodling on gear to test the limits of the technology. When Gahan came by they parsed his baritone sax through an Echo Orbit tape delay. “Everything just clicked into place and made sense,” Nickerson says.
The duo have about a dozen recordings including this new release streaming on Bandcamp. 'The Only Perfect Way for This to End' is also available on coagulated blood red coloured vinyl in a limited edition of 100. Also available on vinyl is their self titled debut.
Spanned Canyons have played live, (a seriously transformational show at the Wunderlit #17 Nov 23 2024 at World’s Collide in Oshawa) and have more shows in mind. Friday Apr 10 at the Tranzac in Toronto for one.
“This album started during rehearsals for shows we had lined up. We would start each rehearsal with an open improvisational “jam”, and record everything just to a phone. At some point, we figured readings of horror fiction would mesh well together with the creepy scores we made,” says Nickerson.
He was right.The voice-overs send 'The Only Perfect Way for This to End' eerily off kilter. Go sit in an ice hut with this on your headphones. I double dare you.