By Will McGuirk
If there is no filter between thought and action, between heart and art - and like meeting a neighbour and asking how you getting thru? the artist responds with a song.
Pantayo, photo by Sarah Bo
PUP, photo by Jess Baumung
Jaunt, photo by Sylvain Chaussée
Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Jaunt, Braids, Midnight Vesta, Forces, Scott Goodwin, Harrow Fair, Nation of Language and the Lovely Eggs
By Will McGuirk
Its become quickly about those who are making art for art’s sake. The infrastructure around delivering music live was breaking, it may be broken forever now. But like the murmuring of starlings the fragments may coalesce into “something familiar” and it may be the artists themselves who figure this out, the makers not the managers. Dig in. think, wash your hands.
“The song is an optimistic ballad about what it means to be present. We hope it can spark a bit of joy and encouragement for those who listen in these strange times that we are collectively experiencing. In a way, the song feels mysteriously prescient for the moment. Hope everyone is staying safe, connecting with their loved ones, and keeping their head up.” - Jaunt
“‘Snow Angel’ was written in the immediate wake of the 2016 US election, as our collective conscience took a sharp inhale. It’s a diary entry of sorts – a snapshot of the mind grappling with our era’s endless barrage of content and destruction, continents away and close to home. *This* moment, with our world in the midst of a pandemic, is admittedly a new context. But I can’t help but sense the song speaks to feelings many of us are experiencing – uncertainty, angst and a desperate desire to make sense of it all. - Braids
“The only way for time to be wasted on lost love is to refuse to examine it and learn something about yourself. “I’ll Have Another” is a coming of age story, showing the growth that comes from owning your mistakes.” - Midnight Vesta
"‘September Again’ is about struggling with the feeling that with each passing year you're only becoming a worse version of yourself—less capable of wonder or grand ambition, less sure of your footing in your own life. I used to just pick up a book like 'Crime and Punishment' or a detailed history of the Italian campaign in WWII. Those kinds of artistic/academic adventures now feel so much more daunting for some reason. There is a grit that is required to relentlessly pursue these things like I used to, and I can feel that part of me slipping. I tell myself it's simply because I've picked a lane in life and I only have so much time, but there is always the nagging suspicion that I have, in reality, deteriorated in some meaningful way. The song comes out of this war within myself where one part of me is desperately wanting to get back there, while another part is only looking to what lies ahead in the life I’ve made for myself.” - Ian Devaney
