Music

I had been meaning to return to making music for a while. I just did not expect it would be in the summer of 2020, of all years. The slowing down of what we considered to be our normal lives turned out to be a welcome chance for introspection and reflection. As I started playing with new ideas in the form of semi-improvised sketches, I realized that most of my inspiration had to do with the new environment in which I had found myself for the past few years. I had never lived in such vast, open spaces,and the wondrous abundance of natural beauty radically transformed the way I thought about music. This new-found inspiration felt like something buried had been suddenly unearthed. In a way, it felt like the spring thaw after a long Saskatchewan winter.

The music came, surprisingly enough, quickly. As the world around us started shutting down, living in the prairies became more and more like a welcome refuge. As strange as it may be, being so close to nature, taking the time to observe its endless variations, felt comforting and safe. The tracks in this album reflect this period of introspection, from the slow unfurling of “Seed” to the cracks and shifts of “Thaw”.

The album is also centred around the idea of change and decay, as both “Coping” and “Waxwings” feature a prominent sense of dissolve throughout their transitions. The closer, “Waves” further elaborates on this through the erosion of its initial musical theme.

Thaw is an album of transition. It is an album of long winters ending, and a promise for hopeful renewal. In this unlikeliest of seasons, it is more than I could wish for.

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As I was finishing the last edits for the “Thaw” LP, I played with a slower, more pared down version of the title track. Both complement each other in a self-contained kind of way, and the more I listened to them, the more I felt that they could be their own, intimate thing. “Green” is an older track that predates the “Thaw” recording sessions, and seemed right at home as a link between the two arcs of the same movement. I hope you feel the same way about them.