“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
Read MoreGentle Sparrow aka Rob Teehan
Ruby Singh And The Future Ancestors
Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Charlie Houston, Shintaro Sakamoto, Léonie Gray, Ruby Singh And The Future Ancestors, Ouri, Sunglaciers, and Show Me The Body
By Will McGuirk
“When I’m sad, anxious, nervous, or confused my posture gets worse, and I clench my jaw. I hold so much of my emotion in my neck and jaw.” - Charlie Houston
“When I wrote "Easy", I was thinking about a situation in which I was during a couple of years, trying to please someone without any guidance from the other side, not knowing if I was doing the right thing.” - Léonie Gray
“The pressures we feel from the outside mutate into something we perceive to be coming from within, endlessly pursuing things we don't need, or even want, while trudging through existence. But it works the other way too - misinterpreting the outside world to fit our egoistic desires.” -Evan Resnik
Adam Baldwin, photo by Griffin O’Toole
Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Adam Baldwin, Julian Taylor, Ouri, Ariel Posen, Living Hour, Jerry Sereda, Song Sparrow Research, and Ruby Singh and the Future Ancestors
By Will McGuirk
“It's my love letter to all of us who defy convention, whether by choice or necessity. It's my plea to everyone to follow your heart. You never know what other underdog you'll inspire to be heroic.” - Adam Baldwin
OMBIIGIZI, photo by Rima Sater
Slowcity.ca Open Mic: OMBIIGIZI, Jenny Berkel, Ava Kay, Ouri, Allegories, The Davenports, Miles Francis, and Pike vs The Automaton
By Will McGuirk
“We each have our own story to tell, but putting our circle together in honour of our ancestors helps us weave a future.” - OMBIIGIZI
“For me, Go is about our struggle to let go of what we love, the familiar, to fulfill a dream we're driven towards, a passion that consumes us, or to let go of a love that causes us strife, heartbreaking as it is;" Reem Morsi, video director.
"This is essentially a 'what you don't know won't hurt you' story. Every relationship strikes its own balance of logic and emotion. Sometimes, being open with your partner about something like having a drink with an old friend, when there's no logical reason for your partner to feel threatened, should be harmless. But, no great mystery, sometimes logic doesn't count for shit in relationships.” - Scott Klass, The Davenports
” It’s totally about depression and leading a hard life.” - Matt Pike
Megan Nash, photo by Gina Brass
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Tears for Fears, Ouri, Sunglaciers, daysormay, Megan Nash, Opengo, faride, Louie Short, and Houndmouth
By Will McGuirk
“Before everything went so right with this album, everything first had to go wrong, it took years, but something happens when we put our heads together. We’ve got this balance, this push-me-pull-you thing – and it works really well.” - Roland Orzabal, Tears for Fears
“‘Just Existing’ has been a long time coming. Some of these songs have been around for 2+ years, while the others are brand new. It's been a crazy process of stitching it all together, we've never approached an album like this before, it feels new.” - daysormay
“It’s probably the most vulnerable I’ve been with my lyrics so far. Not sure how it will feel to have it out in the world but I was honest with myself when I wrote it in the Fall of 2019 - heartbroken but hopeful, nervous but willing.” - Megan Nash
"My grandmother had an uncommon perception of people's needs. It wasn’t a surprise to my mother when I started having premonitions and intuitions as a child. This song felt feminine and powerful and I wanted to capture the matriarchal wisdom of many ways of knowing." - farideh
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