Megan Nash, photo by Aaron Sinclair
By Will McGuirk
The art of persuasion is nothing about art. The art is not there to persuade but to present; not to persuade but to reveal; not to persuade but to be. The artist is there to make for us and for us to make what we will out of it; the artist is to propose with no purpose. So we present. . . and you make what you will of it.
Tami Nelson, photo by Si Moore
By Will McGuirk
Could be me, could be Tuesday, but it seems the ladies have got the blues, - we do this by inviting everyone who wants to to get up on stage, and sometimes its a flow and sometimes its all going in every direction, this evening its all these so fab female voices but there’s a sadness to the sassiness but heck the blues ain’t nothing to get down about.
I've been a big Daniel Romano fan since I first heard this song. It was so nice to hear a modern country song that was reminiscent of the old stuff. The songwriting is so good, I was excited to strip it down so the lyrics really shine. Recorded in front of one mic at the New Scotland Yard.” – Mo Kenney
“we were musing on the idea that the majority of beings live behind the scene lives with no perceived power or glory, often unaware of the power they actually hold, individually and collectively - especially as ‘we’. The ingenuity required to survive is more amazing than the trivial exploits of the ‘powerful’. The real power waits and it's beautiful when it shows itself. ‘We’re the dirt that starts the pearl’.” - Rob Baker
Bernice, photo by Colin Medley
By Will McGuirk
There’s too much, are you feeling it? is it all just zoom and gloom? thinking hold your nose, go underwater far from the maddening crowd, I will slip this into the stream silently a message in a bottle and see where the currents take it, hello its me you.
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““A small metal bowl floats away into the lake and sinks – but below the waves she sits on her cool bottom, her shape shifting self not full of water but of the water, edges dissolving as her identity reforms, grows, reforms, grows, reforms, like the fascia of a body reinventing itself with each twist and bend. A sign, a cross, a road, a potato – who are you?” - Robin Dann, Bernice
“The song is an ode to logic and intuition and being able to learn from the past”. – The Besnard Lakes
“This song is the feeling of being made to choose where there's no choice at all, but taking a vicious grip on hope in spite of everything going on in our lives.” - Monowhales
"‘White Dress’ is about the juxtapositions that occur during marriage. . . how you bounce from a grandiose day with a gorgeous dress to absolute boredom and exercises with self-control. The question of spending the rest of your life with somebody versus standing with the sun shining in your hair, bright and beautiful.” - Bret Rodysill aka the Record Summer
“The song was written in the summer of 2020 and is inspired by the power of collective consciousness working together to overcome the pandemics our society faces; COVID and systemic racial injustices against black and brown people.” - PhotoSynthesizers
Austra
By Will McGuirk
It can be mobility, but it can also be stability. One can find pleasure in place, in staying in place, one doesn’t lose face by not visiting place after place, one can still be face to face with the same face in the same place and find pleasure. For once it may be where you are and not where you are going that has priority. Be Here Now maybe.
HOWEVER. . . when one has to move one can do so with this brilliant track from Austra in the earbuds. Or better blasting from the car stereo of the Uber driver as you step determinedly into the back seat. Breaking up is hard to do they sing but easier with this track at your back.
“how we hurt people when we’re not taking care of ourselves. I was spiraling, anyone with a bit of care for me saw that and tried to say something but I was walling myself off to any real advice. Making an echo chamber of ‘you’re not doing anything wrong’. Nobody grows in an echo chamber.” - Liza Anne
“It's about a woman who loses everything in a game of cards narrated by the dealer who cheats her while taking advantage of her inability to stop playing. At the end of the song, the dealer nearly shows his humanity, turning away to hide the guilt of his actions. The video attempts to tap into the emotions the dealer attempts to hide - guilt, regret and consequent turmoil. - Paul Kasner
“This is a song about truly selfless love, and letting that person know what the kingdom they have created looks like. Purple beaches and violet skies, heavy storms but none of it matters. The palace is safe, and I’m happy to be in it.” - Patrick Krief
By Will McGuirk
When we can’t quite put our finger on it the artist can, the artist can articulate what we are feeling, the artist seems to be able to express just what it is we are hovering around. We are hovering now, unsure, cautious, courageous but nervous about this future we were not expecting.
“Of one thing we can be certain, as to visions of the future, it will be, as it has always been, the emancipatory, freedom-giving, loving and best fulfilling version of the future having been anticipated already and suggested by artists.” - President Michael D. Higgins via Hot Press
“ “Paper Thin” is about restarting and that strength that we find in ourselves during our hardest moments. Through catharsis and release, we are able to heal and a new sense of self emerges.” - Peter Katz
“It’s about exploration, nostalgia, searching for something greater and deeper than anything you’ve known.” - Ben Kunder
“I wrote "Paranoia" as an examination of mental health, looking at a bout of anxiety and depression.” - Paul Kasner, Venus Furs
“Our vocalist, Tim, began the process of creating “Underground” during a period of anxiety and insomnia while dealing with personal loss.” - Shred Kelly
“It’s about the transition of growing up and finding someone to create your own family with – leaving home, finding love, and the evolution of that happening all over again.” - The Lagoons
“It’s about saying goodbye to the world we lived in before Twitter, smartphones and Reddit. The times when we used to show up to each-others houses unannounced and it wasn’t weird. Now, however, in the context of COVID-19, the song sounds like it’s about saying goodbye to the world we lived in before the virus.” - Matt Rogers, Fleece
100% of the proceeds from this single from Jun 10 thru July 10 will go towards the Black Youth Helpline, Native Women’s Association of Canada and Black Coalition For AIDS Prevention.