By Will McGuirk
There were some great bands floating around the D-Rawk in 2021; Crown Lands, Dizzy, Lindsay Schoolcraft, Tania Joy, Hollowsage. The OMAs spotlighted even more but flying under the radar is Spirit Josh, a band I am quite excited about and the excitement runs in the family so to speak.
I wrote this review on the band’s self-titled debut album back in the times. . .
On God? . . . Lo-fi saloon blues, fragile freak folk, and cautious country tremblings, shambolic ramblings even - its for everyone, its for fans of Kurt Vile, Kalle Mattson, The Band, Chad Vangaalen, John Prine, its a new collection from Spirit Josh, a TO trio from the shades of Shwarock City, its a dog-leg, a left turn, a lantern layered with paint, brushed with loons and cut-up conversations, snatches of plots hatching, and maybe even in there in the back of it, underneath the roots of it something of Daniel, Fred and Julie. And above it all the high spirits of Matt Jonn, Sam and Alex.
Cullen McGuirk co-produced this short documentary on the band and I asked him the story behind it all.
Slowcity.ca: Why did you choose Spirit Josh?
Cullen McGuirk: “The creation of Spirit Josh (The Documentary) came from an assignment I was given in college. The assignment was to create a short documentary, 4-6 minutes in length. In my first idea, I was going to choose my brother, Aidan's, band, ‘Mary & Adelaide’. Due to the connection I already had, the story behind it, and the convenience of it being my brother's band so getting rights to music or interviewing him would not be any trouble. My brainstorming led me to desiring a documentary on a band but I later chose to focus upon Aidan’s friends’ band, ‘Spirit Josh.’ Matt Jonn Lewis, Sam Szigeit, and Alex Nunes are a trio of wonderful and creative artists. The story behind the band and the sound really resonated with me and I landed on choosing them as my creative subject since they had an impressive and unique style that aligned with how I wanted my movie to look.”
SC: How did the music inspire the visuals?
CM: “Their entire style impacted the visuals since they had a grounded and consistent style. The film/vintage look, the coziness, the pastel colors, 4:3 ratio, and overall attention to detail and reminiscing on the past. One part that really speaks to this question is in our intro where we tied the timing of the xylophone to the real life capture of it being played. We establish its existence by using the notes as sonic transitions and then use the actual timing to transition to the real instrument itself. When working with the ‘Spirit Josh’ guys and their home footage, we discovered how much we loved their style and how it would completely revert and change the entire film's style. The true goal was to embrace the coziness that I feel when I listen to the debut album, due to its soft sounds, lo-fi production, stacked harmonious vocals that harken to folk artists of the past but flow with the new age.”