Absolutely Free, photo by Darren Rigo
By Will McGuirk
“It’s about being lost in your own thoughts when everything feels as though it’s coming apart around you. It isn’t the start or end of something, but it’s the in-between that can feel like an oblivion.” - Will Whitwham, The Wilderness Of Manitoba
By Will McGuirk
“The lockdown has given me time to reflect as well as a shared experience with others in terms of dealing with grief and the uncertainties of life. Things have happened globally and locally, to people I know and care about, and also to strangers that I may never meet. The necessity of this project seems to have grown daily within the year that we've been working on it. This makes me proud to have captured the feelings and thoughts of my family and friends and excited to share these expressions and observations with the world. This is my favourite body of work thus far.” - KTheChosen
“I’ve always doubted myself, and I still do, but this album makes me think, ‘Hey, you’re doing all right, kid. You just need to keep going.’” - Billy Strings
“It just seemed like everyone was looking for answers but there weren’t any, people seemed angry at the wrong things, and there was just a lot of hate and not a lot of peace and love. . . I realized that there is nothing I could say to make anyone feel better or much I could do. I felt that all we can really do, is slow down our pace of life, listen to each other, be there for each other, try to enjoy the small things, and do the small things to be kind to each other.” - Tennyson King
Lowell, photo by Mariah Hamilton
By Will McGuirk
“Caroline is both a nostalgic take on my childhood, while at the same time a cynical view on how wasted my youth was in the hands of my teenage self (an insecure, closet bi, miserable kid trying to fit in- all while pissing off my parents” - Lowell
"It tells the story of a woman who has been completely unseen and unappreciated by her partner for many years. In my imagination, she believes in her own worth and finds the strength to leave, but in reality, I’m not sure she ever will." - Emma Cook
“It’s about learning that someone you still have feelings for is suddenly in the same town as you for the night, and the inevitable thoughts and chain of events that might set into motion.” - Donovan Woods
“I guess it’s a very mature version of myself who wrote this, hah. It’s about accepting and coming to terms with the fact that a relationship has come to its end. It’s about moving on, letting go, and feeling okay about it." - Geoffroy
“You don’t really need to compete with yourself, you just need to challenge yourself.” - Jeffrey Innes, Yukon Blonde
![Jr. Gone Wild - Press Photo [2021].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/557903b5e4b0daf0f9cbfe1b/1632361504061-M69PH2URBW9X3D85VK39/Jr.+Gone+Wild+-+Press+Photo+%5B2021%5D.jpg)
By Will McGuirk
It will be forever my fave album, the ‘Less Art, More Pop’ from Alberta’s Jr. Gone Wild. Among the first albums I bought after arriving in Oshawa from Dublin in 1984. It was an introduction to a style known then as Cow-Punk now as Alt-country, or even Americana. Such a great record, go listen now, it still stands up. There were more albums over a decade or so and then break-up and then a reunion in 2013 where I saw them at the Red Dog in the Peterpatch.
And now there’s another album, after 25 years, original members Mike McDonald (guitars/vocals), Steve Loree (lead guitar) and Dave “Dove” Brown (bass) have reunited with McDonald’s nephew Quinton Herbert on drums for ‘Still Have the Jacket’ a title which speaks to that attachment we have to fave physical objects, t-shirts, jackets, records - its a source of pride, yip still have it, sentiment as a currency. Anyway on to the new album, the band have released a couple of tracks, “Girl in the Crowd’ and they cover Chilliwack, and they cover “Fly At Night”, which is a fave song of mine, so thats weird, but thats music, but only now do I know Bill Hendersen of Chilliwack produced the ‘Less Art, More Pop’ so it all wraps around itself like that fave jacket you still have.
Its out on Nov 12 2021 on weewerk/Stony Plain. I’m getting it, and hopefully I will be selling it at a record store four doors down from the record store where I bought Jr. Gone Wild back when I would wear that jacket.
Tania Joy, photo by Tracy Walker
By Will McGuirk
There’s the music industry cliche of the flaming meteor, but then there’s reality; a long slow burn, a process of hearing your own voice, listening for it, getting comfortable with it and then the speaking out, the singing out. Sometimes a song, an album is just exhaling after holding your breath for such a long, long, long time.
That’s Tania Joy, and her debut album, ‘I Will Stand’, produced by Hill Kourkoutis; Its an exhalation, a singular, individual, personal, yes joyous, exhalation, owning one’s own self, one’s own life and breathing out, being, voicing.
From the first song, “Who I Am”, on, with its brief electric guitar, POW!, power is amplified, and one wonders how did this take so long?
But it does, we know it does, and throughout the album there is song after song of voicing, and the enabling of the voices of others, and within the songs the hearing of voices absorbed; those of soul, folk, roots, gospel, blues, sweeping orchestral strings, the whole lifelong gathering is then exhaled.
“Planks and Mariettas”, an intersection in Uxbridge, ON., Joy’s hometown, calls out the small minds in small towns within the big picture of Black Lives Matter. Absorption, exhalation.
“Crosswalks and blindspots, your whisperings/ Your slurs and your curse words written in the streets”
And on the title track, absorption, exhalation.
“I will stand in the light and let go of the wrong and the right/ I will take a deep breath and I will take the next step in my life”
Its out today, “I Will Stand’. There’s a party at the Second Wedge Brewery in Uxbridge, on Friday Sep 17, today. Don’t even try, people were probably standing in line since Wednesday.
But if you get the chance to see Tania Joy live, do it, it will matter, it will make you different, she has that power, and that she has only recently, late in life, come to that knowledge, means there’s a whole lifetime of experience to draw from and a maturity to process it all through. Its good to keep in mind it can be worth the wait. For Tania Joy, and thus for us, it certainly has been.
Ouri, photo by Kane Ocean
By Will McGuirk
“. . . i came to realize that there was an anger-sized hole missing in our songs. there were stories that i was restricting myself from writing because i wanted them to be perfectly processed, with happy endings to tie everything together. but sometimes the unprocessed, unhindered emotion is what the song needs.” - Josh Taylor, half•alive
"Between fragmented souvenirs and sonic explorations, Frame Of A Fauna navigates mutable identity, magnetism and initiating a sense of belonging in an eclectic sound. Mixing classical, field recordings, and electronic and future trip-hop, this album provides a soundtrack to reflect your own shapes and space in this lifetime." - Ouri
“It’s about seeking out joy, and trying to escape pain in ways that backfire, within reference to the hamster wheel of late stage capitalism; consumerism, addiction, neoliberalism, the reduction of identity to social media posturing, etc ad infinitum. It’s about trying to escape something that seemingly has no escape, in spite of its glaring foolishness and lack, and the desperation which it brings to a person's humanity. In the studio we went for a 1970’s wrecking crew polished country vibe speckled with synth exploration a la Stereolab and Broadcast. Once again Julie’s vocals are the cherry on top. When I sent the final album to Jim Bryson (who’s one heck of a producer in his own right), He simply replied ‘you have Julie Doiron on it, you’ve already won the war’.” - Matthew Swann, Astral Swans
By Will McGuirk
"This song is about stepping out of the silence and coming together to use our voices for change. There is power in numbers and in song and in carrying each other.” - Andrea Ramolo
“In ‘On the Beach’ we float through the ‘wild motion’ of this new frontier, affirming that we can ‘separate the water from the waves’ before looking up one last time “as the constellations drift apart and lose their shape” to say that we ‘would do it all again’” - Jasper Sloan Yip
“Many people have experienced the challenges of staying together despite being apart, and this is my own story of feeling that pull and hoping that a relationship would survive.” - Riley McCluskey, Conditioner
“Endless thanks to director Linda Mai Green and her fantastic team for giving me the opportunity to physically do what I have been trying to figuratively get at for so long: destroy artifice and defense and false altars, tear away shame and guilt strip by strip, and to be light and free enough to join my life and love, already in progress.” - Thao
Clever Hopes, photo by Kyle Gatehouse
By Will McGuirk
“‘Remaining Light’ expresses the frustration felt towards invincible and corrupt institutions that uphold structural inequities, including police brutality and manufactured poverty experienced primarily by racialized communities. Written during a heat wave in the summer of 2016, the song dishearteningly remains as relevant as ever today.” - Absolutely Free
“‘Sparrow’ is my little ode to freedom. It was the perfect ‘escape’ when I was held ‘prisoner’ in my basement, as I wrote it in my home studio while I was in quarantine.” - Chin Injeti
“The song touches on the blinding love that you feel when you’ve found the ‘one.’ It’s like nothing else matters because they are all you see, want, and care about. Almost as if, they have this divine control over you.” - Lexxicon
The Halluci Nation
By Will McGuirk
“We never thought that a song could translate our sound into words like this so well, from beat to voice to instrument. We are in such awe of these incredible artists we are proud to call our family, and the opportunity to all come together on this track”. - The Halluci Nation
“While much of this song talks about the things that I feel I’m on my way to achieving, some of which being those nice-to-have material things - for me, these things are symbolic of something more abstract - a lifestyle that I couldn't fathom prior.” - Haviah Mighty
“I tried to give a moment to every instrument, like solos or bring outs. For example, I did things like giving the Second Violin some moments on their own too. Usually they are there to support and accompany the First Violin, but when the Second Violin player came to look at the music, she thought there was a mistake. She was the only violin playing. I’d have to tell her ‘It’s not a mistake, it’s your time to shine. There’s often been this idea in classical music that one instrument is the chief, the king of all the instruments, and the others are in the background merely supporting.” - Jean-Michel Blais
Samantha Fish
By Will McGuirk
“Through confronting my deepest, heaviest truths through these songs I am able to see the world in a new way. 'Here's To The Future’ was that song for me, but also a toast and a prayer to the better and brighter days ahead.” - Sam Weber
“When I began to imagine this album, I knew I didn’t want it to be small in any way. Neither did I want it to be known forever as the album that was born out of the pandemic. I was convinced that it definitely was the moment to aim at creating something very special, unique and vibrant, fuelled by the very deep emotions that this time has brought out of all of us.” - Alex Cuba
“If you need cheering up, this may not be the best place to start. Unless, of course, the sound of the world consuming itself from the inside out and spitting in the face of humanity is your idea of a good time” - Mastiff
Megan Nash and the Best of Intentions
By Will McGuirk
“My brother and I grew up watching Wes Anderson movies. They were a huge part of our childhood and adolescence, and I feel like they've seeped into our DNA at this point — the colours, the outfits, the humour.” - Charlotte Cornfield
“I was feeling inspired by studies into the potential healing properties of psilocybin mushrooms in psychotherapy. I signed up to a flagship programme in the Netherlands as I wanted to explore consciousness in a safe way.” - Hayden Thorpe
“I listen to this album now and it’s emotional. I could sit there and tweak it forever, but there’s a point where it’s like building a house of cards. Yeah, I could add an extra tower on top, but it might collapse. I’ve always doubted myself, and I still do, but this album makes me think, ‘Hey, you’re doing all right, kid. You just need to keep going.’” - Billy Strings
Fleece
Ekelle
By Will McGuirk
“‘When You Were Mine’ is a song I wrote about an ex-partner that ended up being with a man after we broke up. It’s a song about accepting their love, but wishing the same for myself. I wrote it with the backdrop of Brixton because that is where their love unfolded and where I spent a lot of my childhood. We recorded a brass section (it was my first time recording brass and excited was an understatement); we wanted it to sound messy so Japanese whiskey was involved and listening to lots of Ebo Taylor.” - Joy Crookes
“My social media feeds are crammed with dire and insistent warnings from scientists, experts and activists, and newsreels showing floods, fires, hurricanes and other horrific, climate related catastrophes. All of this chatter and imagery were swirling around in my head at the time of writing this song.” - Jon Stancer
“We wanted to reflect how our society can sometimes be shrouded in mystery and symbolism, money being the driving force behind the illusion.” - Alex Crow, Talleen
Sierra Ferrell
By Will McGuirk
"I started writing these songs so I could vent out my frustrations but at some point, it turned therapeutic for me to be honest with myself about some difficult experiences," - Jane Mathew
“It all just comes back to trying to practice what you preach, failing, and trying again, and the record reflects that. There is a lot of brutal honesty in this album: anger, sadness, the highs and insecurities of new love, and the realization that although we think we can control our lives, ultimately that is an illusion.” - Kate Wakefield, Lung
