Terry Gomes is a composer/guitarist from Ottawa, Canada who’s been involved with music his entire life, both as a musician, singer-songwriter and composer of instrumental music, and as a teacher of rock and classical guitar. (He also taught elementary school for 26 years.) He studied classical guitar/composition at the University of Ottawa, where he graduated with honors. Over the years, he’s played in several rock bands and as one half of a flute/classical guitar duo. After writing songs for others, he began recording his own music in 2006, releasing three albums featuring songs in the singer-songwriter/pop/folk-rock genres. He eventually transitioned toward mostly guitar-based instrumental music.
Of Guyanese heritage, he’s long been drawn to Caribbean tropical influences and began releasing a series of Caribbean-influenced works, starting with his 2014 EP Sand in My Shoes, which he followed a year later with his EP Blue.Green.Aquamarine, then The Tropical Dream in 2018, a delightful concept album detailing a tropical vacation written while he recovered from a back injury. In 2019, Terry released an instrumental single “Rumjaro 360”, in which he combined elements of rumba, jazz and rock, and in 2022, he released two beautiful piano-based singles, “Elegy” and the jazzy “Steen’s Reverie”. The following year he released “Dark Riders“, a six and a half minute long instrumental track inspired by composers like Stravinsky, music scores of early TV westerns, and 60s surf instrumentals, accompanied by a clever and quirky animated video. (You can read my review here.) Last year, he released “Eeza Gomes”, a fun mambo pop song written in memory of his late, beloved Guyanese aunt, along with a whimsical video. The song’s title “Eeza Gomes” is a colloquial Guyanese (creolese) way of saying, “He’s a Gomes.”
Now Terry’s back with a wonderful new instrumental single “A Recurring Thought“, accompanied by a tender and heartwarming video. Composed and arranged by Terry, and recorded and mixed by Steve Foley, the song is the first single from his forthcoming album Some Chunes, scheduled for release on April 8th. For the recording of the track, Terry played the rhythm and classical guitar parts, and Arien Villegas played congas.
Describing it as “a poignant song of longing in which a repeated musical phrase (leitmotif) represents a recurring thought“, Terry elaborates on his inspiration behind the song and accompanying video: “‘A Recurring Thought’ began as a simple musical exercise using a leitmotiv (a repeating musical figure representing a person, situation, place, emotion…In the case of the music, it represents a thought that someone can’t escape from. The video has three elements; the sad musician, a gold sand dollar necklace and a remote tropical island. What exactly happened, what he’s remembering, and how these other two elements relate to him, is ultimately up to the listener.“
“A Recurring Thought” is a really lovely and tranquil instrumental piece, the perfect antidote for these quite troubling times. So sit back, put on your headphones, and let those warm guitar notes and gentle congas envelop and sooth you.
Hailing from the Fraser River Valley, east of the cosmopolitan city of Vancouver in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, is Western Jaguar, the music project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jeffrey Trainor. Skillfully blending indie rock, dream pop and shoegaze, he writes songs exploring common themes of life, love, emotional well-being and loss, expressed through poetic, relatable lyrics which he delivers with pleasing low-key vocals. I’ve been following him for nearly six years, and have featured him and his music three times on this blog, most recently in July 2023 when I reviewed his beautiful album Oblivion. Two of his songs, “Disappear” (2019) and “Darling” (2023) have reached #1 on my Top 30 chart.
Trainor formed Western Jaguar in 2012, and since 2013 has released two EPs and four albums as both a solo artist and a band made up of an evolving lineup of musicians. His most recent album, released March 1st, was Ranges: 2013-2023, a sort of greatest hits album containing ten tracks Trainor describes as “a quintessential crash course of the first ten years of Western Jaguar.” Now he’s back with a terrific new single “Repossess“, which will be included on his forthcoming album Vacationland. For the recording of the track, he sang vocals and played guitars, bass, synths and percussion, and fellow musician Ted Kim played drums. Trainor produced and mixed the track, while Ryan Niklas handled mastering.
About “Repossess”, Trainor says it’s “about growing up and the struggles that go along with the pressures of being an adult. It reflects on losing the joys and carefree nature of adolescence, while also bemoaning the constant weight, and pressure adulthood provides. In the end, we all want someone to walk along side us in this life; someone to help “repossess” the joy we once had and lost.”
Musically, the song serves up the signature mellow shoegaze vibes we’ve come to love and expect from Western Jaguar. His intricate guitar work is lovely, with a colorful mix of shimmery strummed notes and edgier riffs layered over a gentle, pulsating bassline and accompanied by Kim’s spirited drums that nicely complement the other instruments without overpowering them. As always, Trainor’s earnest vocals exude a heartfelt vulnerability that’s quite endearing as he laments “Feeling like a jerk in a tropical shell. I can’t keep throwing back pill after pill. I’m swimming to a future, but drowning in my past. I just want to prove that I can make it last.”
Today I’m pleased to present Canadian singer-songwriter Danté Ravenhearst and her enchanting debut single “Asphalt“. Born and raised in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario and currently based in Toronto, Danté is also a scientist and conservationist. Her pleasing style of alternative folk draws from classic country, traditional folk, Americana, soft rock and jazz elements, which she delivers with thoughtful, compelling lyrics and warm, comforting vocals.
Photo by Sam Keravica
Recorded in November 2023, “Asphalt” was a labour of love and friendship between Ravenhearst and a group of close Toronto and Hamilton-based session musicians who helped bring her beautiful song to life. For the recording of the song, Ravenhurst played acoustic guitar and sang vocals, Ben McWebb played organ, Kurt Van Bendegem played lead guitar, bass and sang backing vocals, and Jonathan Horvath played drums. The track was produced by Matt Fasullo, who also sang backing vocals, and engineered by David Worthen.
The song is a stunning feast for the senses, with vibrant twangy guitar notes, throbbing bass and shimmery percussion layered over a somber organ riff, all coming together in glorious alchemy to create a mesmerizing backdrop for Ravenhearst’s captivating vocals. As the song progresses, the music builds to a soaring cinematic crescendo while her vocals overflow with passion, leaving me covered in goosebumps.
Ravenhearst shared her thoughts about her inspiration for writing the song: “I am really entranced by the correlation of loss between our emotional and physical spaces and the mourning that comes with that. ‘Asphalt’ is about searching for a connection that existed in a world that physically no longer exists. Its question “Where are you? Where are you?” hauntingly chanted to the listener, is only asked and never answered.“
Terry Gomes is a composer/guitarist from Ottawa, Canada who’s been involved with music his entire life, both as a musician, singer-songwriter and composer of instrumental music, and as a teacher of rock and classical guitar. (He also taught elementary school for 26 years.) He studied classical guitar/composition at the University of Ottawa, where he graduated with honors. Over the years, he’s played in several rock bands and as one half of a flute/classical guitar duo. After writing songs for others, he began recording his own music in 2006, releasing three albums featuring songs in the singer-songwriter/pop/folk-rock genres. He later transitioned toward mostly guitar-based instrumental music, beginning with the release of his album Shh., which featured a more jazz-oriented, easy-listening style. In 2015, he released his Caribbean-influenced EP Blue.Green.Aquamarine, which he followed with The Tropical Dream in 2018, a delightful concept album detailing a tropical vacation written while he recovered from a back injury.
In 2019, Terry released an instrumental single “Rumjaro 360”, in which he combined elements of rumba, jazz and rock, and in 2022, he released two beautiful piano-based singles, “Elegy” and the jazzy “Steen’s Reverie”. Now he returns with “Dark Riders“, a rather unorthodox rock guitar soundtrack he wrote several years ago, accompanied by a quirky animated video. For the recording of the track, Terry played all guitars, bass and organ, and Jeff Asselin played drums and percussion. Mixing was done by Steve Foley at Audio Valley Studios in Ottawa, and mastering by Jason Fee at Conduction Mastering.
“Dark Riders” is a six and a half minute long instrumental track with progressive elements, though Terry’s twangy guitars lend a strong Western vibe to the proceedings. I love his guitar work, and the spooky organ adds some great texture to the track. About the video, Terry says “Encompassing a surreal “dark ride” with Old West imagery, it follows an individual’s unexpected and unusual journey. I think of this project as a cross between David Lynch and Scooby Doo–somewhat creepy and surreal and yet, sort of, fun.” The fun and clever video was made with mostly black and white animation images created by Andres Olmos.
I seem to be focused on Canadian artists lately, as there are many who are making some great music that I also happen to be fond of. My latest is JEEN (Jeen O’Brien), a creative, talented and hard-working singer-songwriter and musician from Toronto, Canada. She creates a melodic brand of alternative pop-rock that’s alternately pleasing and edgy, delivered with her distinctive vocal style that reminds me at different times of singers Meg Myers. K. Flay and Lana Del Rey.
The prolific artist has quite an impressive resume; over the past nine years, she’s released an astonishing six albums and scores of singles, one of which, “On and On”, I reviewed last year. Her songs have been used in commercials for such companies as Google, Panasonic, Estée Lauder, Kraft, BlackBerry, KIA, Rogers, MasterCard and Molson, as well as various movies and television programs, including Cook Off, Republic of Doyle, Instant Star, Ruby Gloom, Degrassi, Killjoys, Hockey Wives, Workin’ Moms, MTV Catfish, and MTV Are You the One.
On July 7th, she dropped her latest single “Just Shadows“, which she says she wrote after “thinking how the darker parts of everything can snuff out some of the best people’s light. It’s about trying to get out from under it so we don’t just become casualties of our shittiest days.” The song is the first single from her forthcoming seventh album Gold Control, which she’d began working on last year after the release of her previous album Tracer, in October 2022. Unfortunately, due to what she calls a ‘massive computer failure’, she lost all the demos for Gold Control, sending her back to the proverbial drawing board. “My long time co-producerIan Blurtonsuggested we just go in and jam the songs a bunch top to bottom and re-demo them before we started tracking for real. We had never done it that way for the previous albums; always just worked off my home demos as opposed to rehashing the songs prior with the full band. Anyway, it was super fun to go a little deeper on these songs at that early stage, and I think the whole LP is better for it.”
For the recording of “Just Shadows”, JEEN sang vocals and played rhythm guitar, Ian Blurton played lead guitar, Ben O’Brien played bass, and Stephan Szczesniak played drums. The song gets right down to business with an opening burst of grungy guitars, humming bass and powerful thumping drumbeats, ultimately exploding into a full-blown rocker in the choruses with raging riffs and thunderous drums. It’s one of the hardest-rocking songs JEEN’s put out yet, and I love it. She has a somewhat mumbled drawl-like singing style that’s quite appealing to my ears, backed by her own soaring harmonies as she passionately urges someone in deep emotional pain to not allow their sadness to take over: “He looks so sad he looks so sad, yeah he looks so sad to me. You look so sad you look so sad, you look so sad to me. It’s just shadows just shadows just shadows.”
Still focused on Canada (having just written about two artists from the Vancouver area), today I turn my attention to Toronto, the home of singer-songwriter and guitarist Alex Southey. The talented musician has released a lot of music over the past four and a half years, including three albums, three EPs and numerous singles. His sound can generally be described as alternative indie folk, sprinkled with elements of rock, pop and shoegaze. But like all creative artists, he’s not afraid to experiment with his music by exploring different genres and styles outside his comfort zone, and as a result, each of his albums and EPs sound quite different from one another. His thoughtful and intelligent lyrics about life, love and socio-cultural issues of the day are delivered with his beautiful distinctive vocals.
Photo of Alex by Steven Medeiros
I’ve been following Alex since the beginning of 2021, and have previously written about him three times on this blog, most recently this past January when I reviewed his superb EP CommonFantasies. One of the tracks from the EP, “Soften”, spent three months on my Weekly Top 30, peaking at #5. Now he’s back with another terrific single “Never Listen“, his first release of 2023.
For its recording, Alex played acoustic and electric guitars and sang vocals, assisted by fellow musicians Christina Dare on bass & backing vocals, Gab Lavoie on Korg synths, and Craig McCann on drums & percussion. All three also played on four of the tracks on Common Fantasies, and support Alex for live shows. The track was produced, mixed and mastered by Alex Gamble.
Alex’s wonderful strummed acoustic guitars have a rather mysterious quality as they guide the song forward, accompanied by Christina’s subtle bass line, Craig’s measured drumbeats and Gab’s delicate spacey synths. Alex’s beautiful chiming electric guitar that appears later in the song adds an enchanting layer of color and texture to the proceedings, creating a vibrant, arresting backdrop for his bewitching vocals that alternate from smooth heartfelt croon to ethereal falsetto. His and Christina’s harmonies in the choruses are simply stunning, nicely complemented by the aforementioned chiming guitar notes.
The lyrics speak to those who refuse to acknowledge or accept the warning signs all around us, using as examples our over-consumption of natural resources, the consequences of our continued burning of fossil fuels on our environment and climate, and repeated injuries resulting from violent sports like football:
Heating everything I'm about to eat
Plants and animals - and motor oil
Learn to love the A
Learn to love the B
The part that slips between
Is gasolineYou just never listen
You just never listen
We can spend our time
Outside evening-walking
With smiles to hide behind
The never talkingSome come on so strong
It's the only way they know how to do it
It's all they really want
Nothin' much to it
You just never listen
You just never listen
After the CTE scan said
"You're never listening
You're never listening at all."During the drive home
Close your eyes
Somebody's mother said it's fine
Somebody's brother died that summerYou just never listen
You just never listen
You just never listen
You just never listen
Alex will be performing “Never Listen”, along with several of his songs, tomorrow night (Friday, July 14) at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. Details below:
In late May, I featured the poignant song “Better Daze” by Canadian alt-rock act Western Jaguar, the music project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jeffrey Trainor, on one of my Fresh New Tracks posts. Though I generally prefer to not write about an artist or band again so soon, I like his new album Oblivion so much that I just have to share it with my readers. Besides, I know the album means a lot to him, marking a return to making music after a two-year hiatus during which he’d all but given up on it, so it means a lot to me too.
Hailing from the picturesque Fraser River Valley of British Columbia east of Vancouver, Western Jaguar was born in 2012 when Trainor turned to music to get him out of a low point in his life. With the help of an evolving lineup of musicians, he released three stellar EPs and several singles between 2013 and 2019, including the excellent “Disappear”, which went to #1 on my Weekly Top 30 in 2019. Despite his prior accomplishments, when the pandemic hit in early 2020, bringing things to a halt for just about every musician and band, the social isolation allowed him to reflect on how unhappy he’d become as a musician. He says he’d become fixated on “likes, a following, positive feedback…and making music other people liked.” By the end of 2020, he decided he didn’t want to make music anymore, essentially walking away from Western Jaguar, which he conveniently blamed on the pandemic.
Thankfully, after a long break he came to realize that, just like in 2012, music could once again lift him out of his slump. He decided to restart Western Jaguar as essentially a solo act and went to work resurrecting a few previously-written songs and writing and recording new ones for what would become his latest album Oblivion, which he released on July 7th. For the recording of the album, Trainor sang vocals and played most instruments, though his former Western Jaguar bandmates Davis MacKenzie Zand played bass and AJ Buckley played electric guitar and drums, and sang backing vocals on two tracks, and musician KC Roces played electric guitar on “Daydreaming”. Trainor produced and mixed two of the tracks, with the rest produced and mixed by Zand, and mastering was done by Jordan Koop.
The album opens appropriately with “Start Again“, a lovely 57-second-long instrumental piece with guitar and gentle synths that serves as an intro to the bittersweet song “Milwaukee“. The instrumentals gradually build with the addition of beautiful jangly guitars, organ, swirling synths and spirited drums, turning the song into an arresting anthem by the final chorus. Most of the songs on Oblivion deal with aspects of love and loss, and “Milwaukee” touches on both, as expressed in the lyrics “Now my patience is strained, and my love has gone away. There’s nothing left of me, and I’m out on the streets of Milwaukee.“
Continuing on a similar theme, “Matador” speaks to regrets over allowing a love to slip through his fingers, and willing to do anything to get her back: “I loved her with all of me, you better believe that I had hoped to one day get down on my knee. But I was dumb and she left me, you better believe that I would do anything.I’d bury my heart in the depths of hell. Drive my car at the speed of sound. Get bucked off a bronco’s back just to have a chance at bringing you back.”
Like “Matador”, “Doomsday” was actually recorded pre-pandemic by the previous Western Jaguar lineup that included Davis MacKenzie Zand on bass and AJ Buckley on guitar and drums. Originally slated for release in June 2020, the song features fantastic watery guitar work by Buckley, while he and Zand keep the rhythm on solid footing with their masterful drumming and thumping bassline. The lyrics are directed to a lover who’s abandoned the relationship, despite the singer’s attempts at redemption, which Trainor sings with heartfelt conviction: “You packed it up and left while I was trying to make amends. This is something I won’t forget, though I still don’t comprehend.“
“Better Daze“ is a melancholy but pleasing song about going through hard times after a tragedy and trying to get back to better days. Musically, the song has an upbeat dream pop feel, with a breezy melody, beautiful chiming guitars and snappy drums that contrast with the darker subject matter. Trainor’s clear, pleasing vocals have a hint of sadness as he sings the lyrics telling a story about a woman named Suzie, whose fiance Harold died suddenly after a fall in the shower just before they were due to be married. Suzie falls into a deep depression, and with the best of intentions, her father insists she take medication to help improve her mood. Unfortunately, the drugs only make her feel worse: “Suzie’s felt worse since the medicine. Her lungs are burning and she can’t breath in. Her father insists on the vice, it’s the only way for a normal life. But a normal life was lost last June when Harold fell in the bathroom. She hasn’t taken them for 6 weeks. If only it was that easy. Her father asks if she’s feeling well. She gives him a smile though she feels like hell. She wants him to think that she’s okay, even though she’s thinking of better daze.”
On the beautiful and bittersweet “Daydreaming“, Trainor laments of a love that wasn’t meant to be, due to his partner’s emotional struggles and inability to commit to the relationship: “There was a time for us to move into oblivion. But you were daydreaming, just lost in your mind, leaving me behind.” The gorgeous shimmery guitars are played by KC Roces.
Though most of the songs on Oblivion deal with loss, Trainor is in fact a happily-married man, which he celebrates on the sweet love song “Darling“. Calling it the poppiest song he’s ever written, it’s definitely the most upbeat track on the album, with a bouncy melody, sunny guitar lines, plucky bass, cheerful xylophone and exuberant hand claps. The charming lyrics express the love he feels for his wife: “I’ve been waiting all my life for you, my lovely darling. I’ve been waiting all my life I’d say, it’s worth it darling. And I know you don’t prescribe to lovesick lullabies.”
Trainor turns philosophical on “Just Racing“, contemplating the rapid passage of time and the attendant challenges of making sense of the never-ending barrage of information and changes thrown at us: “It’s all moving way too fast. It’s not too much to ask, just slow it down so I can breathe. Help me take apart my enemies. /So won’t you pick me up and take me home. I’m only 25 but I feel so old. Caught up again in the cracks of my brain, racing to the end like a bullet train.” Musically, the song has a languid, introspective feel, featuring just his strummed acoustic guitar, backed by a lovely organ synth.
Similar to the opening track “Starting Again”, Oblivion closes with a simple but stunning atmospheric instrumental composition “Phases“. Consisting of a delicate piano movement accompanied by airy synths, the track nicely brings this outstanding album full circle. Trainor’s a talented, earnest and thoughtful guy, and I’m happy he resurrected Western Jaguar and gifted us with these deeply moving songs. It’s a triumphant return, and I hope we’ll continue to hear more from him in the future.
Many singer-songwriters tend to write from their own personal experiences, and oftentimes, some of the best and most compelling songs are born of pain and trauma. Such is the case with Canadian artist dwi and his new album Zoo Life. About the album, he states “This is the first time in my life where the story of the songs came first before the music. Some of the songs break my heart, and I’m not just poetically saying that. I went to very uncomfortable, dark and painful places to find these themes. And now a year later, I realize that I’ve learned so much about myself and why I’ve done the things I have, and why I have prevented myself from healing. You can survive trauma. But you always have to live with it. So you might as well turn it into art.”
Based in the suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia, dwi is the music project of singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Dwight Abell, who’s also the longtime bassist for Canadian alternative/power pop band The Zolas. He’s an immensely creative, talented and imaginative guy, with a totally original sound and an endearingly quirky vocal style that make his music so uniquely distinctive. I think he’s one of the brightest stars today in the Canadian music scene, or anywhere really, and I’ve grown quite fond of him.
In October 2021, dwi released his brilliant debut album Mild Fantasy Violence (which I reviewed). Written during the Covid lockdowns, the album explored feelings of disconnect from the everyday normalities of relationships and society, touching on such topics as childhood, friendships, addiction, politics and environmentalism. One of the album’s tracks, “Good Friend”, spent four months on my Weekly Top 30 chart, going all the way to #1 and ending up ranking #16 on my Top 100 Best Songs of 2022 list. He followed in August 2022 with a marvelous single “Party4One“, accompanied by a delightfully zany video. That song also went to #1 on my Top 30 chart, and ranks #24 on my Top 100 Best Songs of 2022.
Since then, he’s dropped a number of singles, several of which, including “Party4One”, are featured on Zoo Life, which dropped today. Many of the songs address Dwight’s childhood experiences in foster care, which he equates with being “taken away to a zoo”. He explains “I actually did research about my time in foster care for this album and requested all the documentation of it (900 pages) from the ministry. I discovered that I was abused in one of the homes I was in, and there were photos taken of me. That’s where the album cover came from. I’ve also realized that I’ll probably go back to the old way of conceptualizing songs, because this process emotionally wiped me out. But I’m glad I touched on it as much as I did.”
For the recording of Zoo Life, dwi sang all vocals and played all instruments, except for drums, which were played by his childhood friend and fellow Zolas band member Cody Hiles. The album was produced by Ryan Worsley, and released via the label Light Organ Records.
The album opens with the title track “ZooLife“, on which dwi addresses the lingering trauma from his foster care experiences: “Standing on the edge of my life. On a perfect Friday night. I don’t know if I can take this. Zoo life, zoo life I’m breathin‘”. Fueled by an emphatic beat overlain with wobbly psychedelic synths, a deep bass groove and stabbing guitar notes, the song has a melodic but rather ominous vibe, ending with a lovely instrumental fade-out. The song’s video, showing scenes of dwi lying backwards on a stairway in front of a church and singing on what appears to be a city street, conveys a strong claustrophobic feel.
“Get Me” opens with a blast of drum fills and bass, then settles down somewhat in the melancholy verses, Cody Hiles’ aggressive drums still dominant throughout. I really like the melodic piano-driven interlude in the bridge before everything ramps back up to a dramatic crescendo as dwi remembers past traumas he’s long tried to suppress: “Pool of blood on the bathroom floor. Wait, who is that on the bathroom floor? From the other side, wake up. On the other hand, shake it off. Don’t look at that void, it’ll crush you.”
The wonderfully wacky “Party4One“ is the one moment of levity on the album. In dwi’s own words, the song is “about falling in love with yourself during an intense state of cabin fever. Love yourself, make out with yourself, and for the love of gawd, scare yourself. The weirdos are in charge now!” It’s a riotous blast from start to finish, and dwi’s quirky vocals are relentlessly endearing as he sings “Hey reflection, I really like you. Don’t want your friends. Hey man, I think it’s pretty funny given who I am. Nothing can stop me, I’m living in a single player game. You can’t stop me, it’s a party for one.“ The hilarious video shows dwi dressed in goth-punk black leather and a plaid skirt, with his hair styled to feature two devil-like horns. He enters an old house and proceeds to indulge in all sorts of childish antics, including playing video games with a giant stuffed teddy bear, overdosing on bowlfuls of Froot Loops, covering his face with lipstick in front of a bathroom mirror, and engaging in S&M pretend with the aforementioned teddy bear.
On the darkly beautiful and cinematic “Fear Of Forever” – which would make a terrific James Bond movie theme – dwi passionately laments of his lingering bitterness and feelings of abandonment to those who hurt him: “Don’t ever trust a god who leaves you all alone / And don’t ever send a boy to do a man’s job / I’ve got the fear of forever“. The song includes sweet vocals from what I’m guessing are one of his little son’s. And on “Phony“, with its glorious Britpop-inspired soundscapes and soaring choruses, he sings the poignant lyrics that seem to be about how we try to hide our pain and aching need for love and acceptance by being other than who we really are: “I never wanted purpose. I only wanted you. And all good things must end here.”
One of my favorite songs on Zoo Life is “Overrated“, as I can’t get enough of its powerful, foot-stomping groove, gnarly bass, spacey synths and dwi’s wonderfully-crazed vocals as he ticks off a number of popular things in culture (VR, licorice, Top Gun, 69, as well as passion, anger and temper) he feels are overrated. A lifelong lover of video games, dwi’s shown as a kind of gaming character in the surreal video.
“Marker“, recorded with his band The Zolas, has a bit of a Psychedelic Furs feel to my ears. The lyrics seem to speak of coping mechanisms children of trauma engage in to survive: “I imagine you as a child tempted to steal a marker. You’ll get caught red-handed when you get creative.” Here’s a live performance of the song by dwi and The Zolas:
“Uncle Uncle” touches on dwi’s ongoing PTSD from witnessing his young son getting hit by a car (thankfully he survived and is doing well): “Take me to a shrink and change my medication / Hypnotize me till I turn blue / I hear a car crash in my mind, kids crying all the time / There is a demon in my mind, throwing parties all the time. I say ‘I’m cool, I’m cool’. But there’s one problem, it never quits.” In addition to the great lyrics, I love the song’s driving beat and that wonderful jangly guitar riff between the verses.
“Day By Day” is a jaunty punkish tune with more of those terrific head-bopping rhythms, psychedelic synths and exuberant jangly guitars. As the title suggests, the lyrics speak to the ongoing work required to keep one’s sanity and deal with adult problems on a daily basis. “Where’s the spark that I had as a kid back in the day. All those dreams sure felt like they would stay. Now it seems that simple stuff ‘s getting in, in my way. Guess I’ll have to take it day by day.“
dwi taps into his inner beast on the bombastic tour de force “Hypocrite?!“, unleashing a torrent of jagged buzzsaw riffs bathed in feedback and fearsome impassioned screams, nicely accompanied by Cody’s explosive drums. The furious instrumentals gradually fade and are replaced with lovely contemplative piano keys and dwi’s haunting vocals for the final minute of the song.
The heart-wrenching and powerful album closer “Holes In My Story” deals with dwi’s coming to terms with having been abandoned by his birth parents and the abuse that followed as a foster child: “I guess I’m staying at someone else’s house again; wait out the storm. / The strangest part I don’t recall you leaving me at all./ I guess I’m putting on a brave face again. These masks are worn. I’m sitting in a cage with my family. What did we do wrong? The hardest part, I don’t recall you needing me at all. Well that was fun, and thank you for creating me, but it’s time to go. / Don’t you dare go feed those animals; they’ll never get trained.Holes in my story, holes in my story. I shine a light on it, but still feel misplaced.”
By song’s end, I’m left emotionally drained and nearly in tears, not only from the lyrical content, but also from dwi’s truly breathtaking creativity, talent and musicianship. Despite it’s dark, often disturbing subject matter, Zoo Life is a magnificent and gorgeous work nevertheless. He’s outdone himself yet again with this album, and I remain a loyal and devoted fan.
Canadian singer-songwriter Alex Southey is a thoughtful and talented artist who makes some really outstanding music. Originally from Vancouver and currently based in Toronto, the busy artist has released a lot of music over the past four years, including three albums, three EPs and numerous singles. His style can generally be described as alternative indie folk, but it’s much more than that, as his sound is varied and eclectic, drawing from rock, folk, singer-songwriter and shoegaze elements. Like all creative artists, he’s not afraid to explore and experiment with his music, and as a result, each of his albums and EPs sound quite different from one another. I’ve featured him twice on this blog, most recently in September 2021, when I reviewed his exquisite EP My Nights On the Island. Last month (December 2022), Alex returned with a new EP Common Fantasies, containing six wonderful tracks.
Alex recorded the EP with the help of fellow musicians Christina Dare on bass & backing vocals, Gab Lavoie on Korg synth & piano, and Craig McCann on drums & percussion, all of whom played on four of the tracks (they also support him for live shows). Production, mixing and mastering were handled by Alex Gamble.
Before I discuss the songs, I’ll share what Alex wrote about his evolving creative process for the EP: “There were a lot of iterations of this EP in my mind at different times. There’s a version where it’s a full album; another where it’s a double album! There’s a version where it’s just three songs. There’s also an option where – why put it out at all? (A classic part of the process, I realise over and over and over). This is the version I went with. I felt like by placing together two delicate acoustic songs along with four bigger, grander songs there’d be this push and pull of inertia. All my big ideas would have remained totally abstract if it wasn’t for Alex Gamble, Christina Dare, Gab Lavoie, and Craig McCann, who were able to come in and help shape these blue prints into songs with real personality. This happened all the way from practices to live shows to rehearsals for the studio, to the studio, to the mix after the studio.“
Photo by Ryan Brough of Zeebrah Media
Common Fantasies opens with “Come and See“, a mostly instrumental track that starts off with a pleasant little acoustic guitar riff accompanied by soothing synths, before bursting into a riotous cinematic soundscape of explosive percussion and dramatic synths. Alex croons “Come and see“, then his vocals soar to an impassioned falsetto with the music, leaving us breathlessly anticipating what comes next! He answers with the electrifying title track “Common Fantasies“, a glorious mélange of blazing gnarly guitars, driving rhythms and smashing drums. Alex and company really let loose here, making this one of the hardest rocking songs I’ve heard by him. I’m not quite sure about the song’s meaning, but the lyrics seem to address the conflict between self-preservation and giving oneself over completely to another in a romantic situation: “I’m caught in the in-between. Loving you and loving me. I’m right where the lightning strikes, like my anger might. And these are high highs. Sucker. And common fantasies.”
“Soften” is simply stunning, with a lush synth-driven melody overlain with marvelous jangly and chiming guitars, dreamy piano keys and snappy drums. But as beautiful as the music is, it’s Alex’s plaintive vocals that really resonate with me. I love his singing voice, which goes from an emotive croon to airy falsetto, all the while raising the hairs on the back of my neck. Christina’s backing vocals are wonderful too, adding tremendous emotional heft to the song. The lyrics seem to urge us to be kinder to the earth and, by extension, ourselves: “Soften the earth so we can grow up here. Caught in the surf. Caught it in just the right way. And if you believe, they’ll teach you to serve. Teach you the right way to pray.“
The languid and gentle “Twist It” is the first of two mostly acoustic tracks on which Alex played all the instruments – guitar, Roland Juno-60 analog synthesizer and piano. He describes it as “kind of a mini cliff hanger song in a way. At the end you feel an instinct to lean forward and there is nothing to catch you.” The lyrics start off with Alex taking a rather defiant stance “I don’t like to wait. Won’t learn your name. But I can always listen“, but by the end of the song, he’s come around to a more amenable approach: “We’re cool. It won’t hurt to wait. And it won’t hurt to listen. So seal your fate and come on and twist it.”
“Open Season” is another terrific hard-driving rocker that starts off with a bit of a Foo Fighters vibe (at least to my ears), but once those sweeping synths kick in, the song transitions to more of a new wave feel, only to be shattered by a blistering guitar solo at the end. And yet again, the lyrics are somewhat ambiguous to me, but my take is that they speak to issues of honesty and trust in a romantic relationship: “You don’t lie the way I do. In the blink of an eye. Let’s share clothes and attitudes, and swap our half lines.”
The EP closes with “You Want It Brighter“, a poignant track consisting of just Alex’s pleasing acoustic guitar work and melancholy vocals. He states that he “wrote the majority of ‘You Want It Brighter’ (which is a for-no-good-reason play on ‘You Want It Darker’, a late Leonard Cohen thing) maybe two or three years ago at an ex-partner’s place.” The bittersweet lyrics speak of a relationship that’s over, with the protagonist coming to terms with having to be the one who leaves his home and son behind: “I will wait. I will sit awhile and watch as the sun sets on my son. And I admit it’ll take a while to live in – and out – of this place./ And you’ll stay. And I’ll go ‘Cause you asked for this.”
To sum up, Common Fantasies is another superb effort by Alex, and I think it’s one of my personal favorites of all his releases. He’s an outstanding songwriter and musician, with a distinctive vocal style that effortlessly flows from comforting croon to emotion-packed rawness to soaring falsetto, all of which are on fine display. He and his fellow musician collaborators have much to be proud of here.
Those of you living in, or planning to visit, Ontario in February can catch Alex at one of these upcoming shows:
One of the most fascinating artists I’ve come across over the past year is dwi, the music project of Canadian singer-songwriter Dwight Abell. He’s also bassist for Canadian alternative/power pop band The Zolas, who recently completed a tour of Canada and the U.S. Though he’s a devoted husband and father of two young boys living in the suburbs of Vancouver, he lets his creativity and imagination run totally wild with his zany alter ago, making outstanding music that’s innovative, quirky and fun. Last October, dwi released his brilliant debut album Mild Fantasy Violence, which I happily reviewed. One of the album’s tracks, “Good Friend”, spent four months on my Weekly Top 30, going all the way to #1 this past January.
Now he’s back with a marvelous new single “Party4One“, accompanied by a delightfully wacky video. He says the song is “about falling in love with yourself during an intense state of cabin fever. Love yourself, make out with yourself, and for the love of gawd, scare yourself. The weirdos are in charge now!” The song’s a blast from start to finish, with an infectious bouncy groove, highlighted by a chugging bass line, a lively mix of jangly and crunchy guitars, crisp, thumping drumbeats, and swirling psychedelic synths. dwi’s quirky vocals are relentlessly endearing as he sings “Hey reflection, I really like you. Don’t want your friends. Hey man, I think it’s pretty funny given who I am. Nothing can stop me, I’m living in a single player game. You can’t stop me, it’s a party for one.“
The hilarious video was directed and produced by Canadian musician and film director Andrew Huculiak, and filmed in a house on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish), and Tsleil-Waututh nations. It stars dwi as an eccentric guy dressed in goth-punk black leather and a plaid skirt, with his hair featuring two tufts molded into devil horns. He enters an old house and proceeds to indulge in all sorts of childish antics, including playing video games with a giant stuffed teddy bear, overdosing on bowlfuls of Froot Loops, covering his face with lipstick in front of a bathroom mirror, and engaging in S&M pretend with the teddy bear. Haven’t we all wanted to run amok and do weird shit by ourselves at one time or another? I love it, and I love him!
ECLECTIC MUSIC LOVER 