Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Butcher Brown & Michael Millions, Valerie June, Jenny Berkel, Colyn Cameron, Triptides, Matoma and ARIZONA, Datura4, and Bruno Capinan

By Will McGuirk

"I was thinking about cycles when I wrote this. Life, death and all points in between. About how things change and how things seem to just stay the same. The only thing I want to stay the same is my family, so that what I wrote about. I recorded it straight thru too, no cutting up the vocals because Butcher Brown cut they demos straight through, that was the only way to do it. This whole collaboration has been a gem and I’m excited to share this music." - Michael Millions

“The songs themselves are a study of proximity, bringing big fears into small spaces. They’re intimate examinations of a world that often overwhelms." - Jenny Berkel

“That all tech progress is fruitful, but maybe not always ready. And that maybe it's just my own occasional aversion to this kind of societal focus that is awry, but not necessarily having the right view. It’s inspired by that and All Algorithmic realities.” - Colyn Cameron

“This song, along with the hopes of raising autism awareness, carries a special notion in general that we should remember to cherish and protect the ones we love in our lives. Sometimes we can be all they have, or vice versa.” - “A R I Z O N A

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Sasami, Anyway Gang, Jordan Klassen, Sam Weber, The Brothers Comatose + AJ Lee, Triptides, and Francine Honey,

By Will McGuirk

“With all the ridiculous cacophony of information we currently swim in, it is no wonder that we've seen a resurgence of conspiratorial thinking, Most of us see this every day: online, from the mouths of relatives, maybe even in our own brains. I wrote ‘Niko’ as a bit of a tongue in cheek ode to finding out that someone that you know and love is buying in. Pleading my case that the earth is in fact round.” - Jordan Klassen

“despite anyone’s attempt to control a narrative or manipulate our perception of how things are, the truth and what is real always comes out,” - Sam Weber.

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with KTheChosen, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Ariel Posen, Billy Strings, Natalie Hemby, Triptides, Ryan Bourne, Tennyson King, Bad Skin, and Star Goes Nova

By Will McGuirk

“The lockdown has given me time to reflect as well as a shared experience with others in terms of dealing with grief and the uncertainties of life. Things have happened globally and locally, to people I know and care about, and also to strangers that I may never meet. The necessity of this project seems to have grown daily within the year that we've been working on it. This makes me proud to have captured the feelings and thoughts of my family and friends and excited to share these expressions and observations with the world. This is my favourite body of work thus far.” - KTheChosen

“I’ve always doubted myself, and I still do, but this album makes me think, ‘Hey, you’re doing all right, kid. You just need to keep going.’” - Billy Strings

“It just seemed like everyone was looking for answers but there weren’t any, people seemed angry at the wrong things, and there was just a lot of hate and not a lot of peace and love. . . I realized that there is nothing I could say to make anyone feel better or much I could do. I felt that all we can really do, is slow down our pace of life, listen to each other, be there for each other, try to enjoy the small things, and do the small things to be kind to each other.” - Tennyson King

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Art Bergmann, Daniel Lanois, Chad VanGaalen, Tony Joe White, Jitensha, and spotlight on Triptides

By Will McGuirk

“Since the advent of social media, and with cameras everywhere, everybody now knows about police killings, the plague and climate catastrophe, and who these purveyors of this nightmare are. Who needs sci-fi anymore when we're living in the best Philip K. Dick novel ever?” - Art Bergman

“Our goal was to be a force for good with these songs. We wanted to remind people not to let the world steal their joy, to remind them that even during a global pandemic, it’s our responsibility to protect our spirits and find ways to keep on dancing, keep on singing, keep on teaching, keep on loving.” - Daniel Lanois

“I’ve been meditating on the nature of resilience, endurance, and grace more deeply since becoming a mother. I was trying to bridge the divide and embrace shame and my inner divinity equally with this piece…” - Allison Russell

“Go out into nature instead of watching the video” - Chad VanGaalen

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with The Weather Station, Scott MacKay, TV Priest, Kandle & Kendel, Rhye, POSTDATA, Virgil Abloh, Devan, Triptides, The Neighbourhood Watch, and The Barettas

By Will McGuirk

I wonder how they do it, hang on until years from now another discovers the work, lying there in a bin, or back of a library or in a box in a storage locker, or perhaps on an old hard drive in the back of a drawer, and then Eureka! Shared gleefully at the discovery - Christopher Columbus like one would imagine… Its a marvellous place I am in where I get the gems, they sail across my stream, they are intimate to me, but one can only do what one can and I can only urge you to listen and marvel. The Weather Station, there with Sarah Harmer and Kathleen Edwards in my canon. . . if you need some door propped open. Open, you will not be disappointed, there has never been any disappointment from the Weather Station, there has only been song after song, soul after soul edifying moment, album after album of change-ups and growth and journey and a hand held out to journey along and no disappointments only soul after soul edifying moments evermore.

“Trying to capture something of the slipping feeling I think we all feel, the feeling of dread, even in beautiful moments, even when you’re a little drunk on a sea cliff watching the sun go down while seabirds fly around you; that slipping feeling is still there, that feeling of dread, of knowing that everything you see is in peril,” says Lindeman. “I feel like I spend half my life working on trying to stay positive. My whole generation does.”

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Once upon a time there was a man named Handsome Ned who stepped onto the stage of the Cameron House and I wasn’t there. However records had been invented. I imagine Ned would have been happy to have Scott MacKay open for him or even open for. Or perhaps one could hear in Scott MacKay Orville Peck if he didn’t go for Baroque.

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“Press Gang” is about the shifting role in the dissemination of information and ideas, and how the prevailing narrative that the “Death of Print Media” has contributed to a “post-truth” world.

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“We wanted to be somewhere else for a spell and it was granted by whiskey, reverb and 6 beautiful, dark tunes from the early 70s. We boarded his silver spaceship looking for respite from the pandemic…”

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Artist, architect, engineer, creative director, artistic director, industrial designer, fashion designer, musician, DJ, and philanthropist, Virgil Abloh, can very much be described as a multi-hyphenate man. For Abloh, who is also the Chief Creative Director and founder of Off-White™️ and Men’s Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton, music has always run deep.

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“Writing songs for me is a way to uncover my underlying feelings about something –putting elusive emotions into tangible sentences, and coming to terms with them. My only guideline for writing these songs was to try to be as honest with myself as possible, and follow my instincts without all the self-inflicted barriers that I usually let get in the way.” – Devan

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