Kate Boothman is Bowie-like in how she approaches her art, ready to try on personalities suggested by the music, actively peeling away the layers life adds as one ages to get to the core of herself as an artist and person.
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Gentle Sparrow aka Rob Teehan
Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Gentle Sparrow, Abigail Lapell, River Tiber with Justin Nozuka, The Goddamsels, Myriam Gendron, Naomi Kavka, David Picco, and Ouri
“But despite everything, there's also spring, the light of May, life continuing to beat on. We have to find the strength within ourselves to sing lullabies through the storms.” - Myriam Gendron
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Status/Non Status, photo by Colin Medley
Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Ryan Wayne, Status/ Non Status, Kristi Lane Sinclair, The Matinee, Elliott Brood, Sasha Cay, Bella White, and Black Pumas
“‘Surely Travel’ is a heartfelt and nostalgic visual trip that serves this song and the feelings we leave behind in transit, the emotional baggage we carry along with us, and the hope and optimism we seek to find with every new destination we reach.” - Adam Sturgeon, Status/Non Status
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Matt Holtby
alt image: Katie Cruel
Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Matt Holtby, Katie Cruel, Art Bergman, Allison Russell, Alana Springsteen, Andrew Bird, Nubya Garcia, and Haviah Mighty
“This guitar represents the lingering presence of something (in my case, someone) who’s gone but also very much not. Every time I think I’ve written my way past the hurt, I’m reminded that I have a long way to go” - Alana Springsteen
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Sarah Burton, photo by Jen Squires
Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Georgia Harmer, Cots, Sarah Burton, Jess Kallen, Marthe Halvorsen, Down With Space, and Hot Chip
By Will McGuirk
Broken Social Scene, photo by Richmond Lam
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Mad Ones, Broken Social Scene, Sarah Hiltz, Tennyson King, Scott Hardware, Sam Weber, AHI, Particle Kid, and Misfire
By Will McGuirk
"It's a poem for time and distance and whether or not peace and prosperity are possible amidst chaos. It is a meditation on our proximity to circumstances and our enduring love for those who contribute something powerful in our lives.“ - Andrew Devillers, Mad Ones
“Life isn’t easy in the music industry or with any dream you want to achieve. It’s full of ups and downs, people who don’t believe in you, but we need to acknowledge this, step out of our comfort zone and keep at it.” - Tennyson King
"My mom lived near this lake for a while, and whenever I’d go to visit her, I’d want to walk along the shore and have a moment. She’d always tell me before heading out to watch out for the water snakes.” - Scott Hardware
“This track is about quitting everything you’re passionate about and trying something else - and the process of returning to that first thing with a new perspective and taking stock of all your changes.” - Sam Weber
‘Fractured’ unearths the feelings of uncertainty and dread we were faced with in 2020. Inspired by the current state of the world, it delves into the madness that is the pandemic. The song poses the question, ‘What’s left of who we are?,’ as we are left with humanity divided and fractured. - James Nicademus, Misfire
Ouri, photo by Kane Ocean
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Myles Goodwyn, Frank Turner, half • alive, Ouri, The Velveteers, Wine Lips, Jeremy Voltz, and Astral Swans with Julie Doiron
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
Ouri, photo by Hamza Abouelouafaa
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Brittaney Delsarté, Middle Kids, GA-20, The Record Company, Real Sickies, Dave Monks and Shad, Little Trips, and Ouri
By Will McGuirk
"Despite the superficial and existential hazards, you can always find solace if you accept to dive into the present, in your own flesh, and let your brain disconnect with the help of gorgeous melodies.” - Ouri
Charlotte Cornfield, photo by Angela Lewis
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Charlotte Cornfield, Cots, summersets, KeAloha, Halluci Nation, Bigmcenroe, Mauvey, Hayden Thorpe, and Babyshades
By Will McGuirk
“I wanted to express the joy of seeing people, of those little interactions that happen throughout the day that I missed so much in the last year and a half. When I wrote this song I was spending so much time walking alone through my neighbourhood, and I wanted the video to take place on the same streetscape but be the antidote to that solitude. To me the city is so much about the people in it.” - Charlotte Cornfield
“Human bodies are like celestial ones; just as a planet’s course is carved out in relation to others, our course - where we go and what we do - is compelled by forces of attraction.” - Steph Yates, Cots
“So much of our existence is an inconceivable wonder yet we’re so distracted that we rarely register the immenseness of the moment. Right there, beside us all along, is the wonder of everything.” - Hayden Thorpe
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Dana Sipos, Charlie Houston, Ariel Posen, Belle Tower, Conrad Bigknife, K.Flay, Tim Kile, Daysormay, Lipstick Jodi, and Shane Ghostkeeper
By Will McGuirk
“are you afraid? Are you ready? Do you have any sense of what's to come?”
Loss, its nibbling around the edges, biting, stalking, looming, this global so local, this so many down to just one, one life lived in one time, each one begats one, each one regrets one, each one meets one, and each one repeats. . . until silence.
***
“My grandmother, a grand storyteller her whole life, lost the ability to speak due to a severe stroke and has been living between the earthly and astral plane for some time. In this song I am coming to terms with this impending transition, loss. I am also asking my grandmother all the questions that I can't ask her in real life - are you afraid? Are you ready? Do you have any sense of what's to come? I am peeking into the future while keeping one eye on the past of my grandmother's storied life and reflecting on the profound impact her life has had on mine.” - Dana Sipos
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Steve Wilson, Marie-Clo, Lydia Hol, Timid The Brave, Andrew Gabbard, Belle Tower, DYLYN, The Luka State, and Sean Watson Graham,
By Will McGuirk
So much to unpack in Steve Wilson’s new video, but you may have to sign up for a course on McLuhan to fully get it - however the artist express the next now in this now so here we are now, you ask to be entertained but entertain this - how many do you know and ask yourself why you know. The Wilson track is from the new album, ‘The Future Bites” so there’s a clue.
“‘SELF’ is about our new age of narcissism and self-obsession, one in which a human race that used to look out with curiosity at the world and the stars now spends much of its time gazing at a little screen to see themselves reflected back in the mirror of social media. In that sense everyone now can take part in the notion of celebrity, and has the potential to share their life with an invisible mass of people they will never meet. The video take things further by exploring the idea that anyone can now project a version or ‘self’ that has no bearing on reality, and by using only well known faces the deception is made transparent.” - Steven Wilson
“Hall & Oates meet Joan Didion in a big box parking lot." - Lydia Hol
“I think we all can agree 2020 was a real drag. But here we are in 2021. “Wake up, Brother/Sister/Change the world” Let’s put on our shoes and kick the fu**ing door open to tomorrow. Happy NY!” - Andrew Gabbard