Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Ghost, Weather Station, Jordan Klassen, Miloe, Pup, Anyway Gang, Alex Izenberg, and Jacob Henley

Will McGuirk March 3, 2022

By Will McGuirk

“I wanted the video to capture the feeling of surrender the song has; a feeling of surrendering to emotion at the expense of everything else, within a world that is not necessarily conducive to that softness. I wanted the video to be overtly emotional and sensual, and so I turned to the stereotypical signifiers of these things; beaches, sunsets, the colour red, a sort of operatic performance of emotion. I think the video is an evocation of the feeling of being in love; obsessed with someone or something regardless of your surroundings, where you are, what is happening. Reaching towards softness and touch, even from within aloneness.” - The Weather Station

“Ash Wednesday” is really “a song about redemption and hope, and I love how Wayne contrasted that with a horroresque video,” - Jordan Klassen

“I’m getting closer to making the unconscious conscious with this song and the others. It is difficult to just write when you are constantly bombarded with what is right or wrong, I’ve started looking within more so than before.” - Alex Izenberg

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Haviah Mighty, David Strickland, Le Couleur, Grace Gillespie, the OBGMs, Alex Izenberg, Mike Block, Bros Landreth, Owen Barney, Chris Grey,

Will McGuirk July 8, 2020

By Will McGuirk

The vocabulary around electronic media is drawn from water - waves, streams, surfing, navigating, and the fuel for electronic media growth has been music. Music is as ubiquitous and necessary as water. Music is utility.

“Thirteen speaks factually and candidly, to the painful journey of Black people in North America. And it speaks to how that journey has morphed into continued racial prejudice, using the media and using the law. To get rid of white supremacy is to identify it at its root. I hope when people watch Thirteen, they feel moved to do their part in reversing white supremacy. I hope we can begin to see one another as equal – a dream I've always hoped could one day be a reality. And I hope people realize that it's going to take WORK! Who is willing to work, to make change?” - Haviah Mighty

“Much of my time is spent trying to reassure myself through rationalizing and acceptance, heard in the song’s verses, coupled with outbursts of inward frustration that I express in the choruses. I think it’s a pattern we have all been through throughout lockdown. We are trying with all our hearts to make the most of this gift of time and be ‘grateful for the day’ but then realizing that we are sipping coffee and trying to create (or just get on with work) while ambulances are filing past.” - Grace Gillespie

Mike Block · Expression of Concern (feat. KINAN ADNAWI)

“As dancers, we express ourselves through movement. We tried to capture what it was like for us in that moment and empathize with those who were going through the same thing. It’s easy to forget we don’t fight this by ourselves, and this video is our way of reaching out to say we are there with you.” - Liam Caines, Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Slow Leaves, Scott Hardware, Alex Izenberg, Ada Lea, Kadeema, Lukas Nelson & the Promise of the Real, and 100 Mile House

Will McGuirk April 1, 2020

By Will McGuirk

Say you survive, most will, so say you’re a lucky one, say we get back to something resembling what we had, say you are talking to your grandchildren about this time, what will you say you did? You have time now, for all the projects, for all the records, for all the lessons, to learn a language, to birdwatch, to stargaze, to knit, too cook, to slow down and look at your neighbourhood and your neighbour, say you don’t die, then what? Did you help or hinder, grow or standstill like time.

“This song is a defence of my fears, conceits, and contradictions. Some of us were born with broken hearts and find comfort in slipping into sentimentality as though into an old pair of slippers. The video intends to be as transparent as the song.” - Grant Davidson