Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Justin Rutledge, Bella White, Duke & Goldie, Andrina Turenne, Begonia, quinnie, and Logan Staats

By Will McGuirk

“Most songs are trouble, they really do a number on me, but this one was kind. Songs rarely arrive this gently, although I wish they did.” - Justin Rutledge

“. . . bringing it to life by turning a valley into a peak felt deeply cathartic. It’s a heartbreaker that I hope will at least get you moving.” - Bella White

“I love going out and losing myself, but I’ve also learned as I’ve grown that I can’t do it all the time and sometimes my anxiety takes over and I just shut down. So basically I wrote this being like…’I can’t be the only one, right?’.” - Begonia

“I think the video is a perfect visual depiction of that chapter of my life and the feeling of being in that hotel room alone writing the song.” - Logan Staats

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Ben Caplan and Terra Spencer, Brava Kilo and Annie Sumi, Alok, Sigala, and Ellie Goulding, Barbra Lica, and Abigail Lapell

By Will McGuirk

"All too often, talking about your feelings is like sharing YouTube videos: everyone's smiling and nodding and waiting for their turn to take over, The lyrics to this song are the words I'd love to hear more in hard times, and the words I endeavour to practise myself. Empathy is too rare and extremely beautiful." - Barbra Lica

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Crystal Shawanda, Mimi O'Bonsawin, The Beaches, PUP, Bells Larsen, Living Hour, Geneviève Racette, and the Secret Beach

By Will McGuirk

“It’s about watching someone grieve and being in awe of their ability to keep going, despite being in a lot of pain.” - Bells Larsen

“a track about “getting stuck with yourself, forever, like an assigned middle name, or DNA. Some of it’s already built in, but mostly you’ll be walking around as you, doing dishes, meeting people, untangling what it means, being busy being busy.” - Sam Sarty, Living Hour

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Gigs This Week: Tania Joy, Jim Bryson at Muskoka Music Festival

By Will McGuirk

Ok, being a bit of a homer here but apart from Tania and Jim this is a swell line-up and although Whitehorse had to cancel having Terra Lightfoot step in IMHO is a win win, plus AHI has been added. AND I, The Mountain are here too. :)

Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Jerry Leger, Georgia Harmer, Abigail Lapell, Deanna Petcoff, Sam Jr., Ghostkeeper, Niall Mutter, Allegories, and JIMBO

By Will McGuirk

“There's no smoke and mirrors in what I do and that can be rewarding for both the creator and the listener. Are we not all just trying to survive in some way?" - Jerry Leger

“I wrote it during a long period of emotional manipulation that made me question my own reality. I had enough sad songs and I just wanted to rock out.” - Georgia Harmer

“Make it sound like you're driving a stolen car at night after you've robbed a bank and you pull over to a bar at the side of the road for a drink to contemplate your next move. While you've been sipping your drink you've been also locking eyes with someone across the room. On your way out the door you stop by their table and after a few words you both make a run for it!’” - Sam Jr.

“It’s about yearning to return to that powerful spot: that piece of land where I have played in wonderment with the Creator as it engaged as Mother Earth and Grandmother Sun; that place in time when spirituality was simple, concise and magical…and I felt safe, inspired, and grateful." - Ghostkeeper

“I found myself having one foot caught in the past and the other in the future. I wrote this song from a place of acceptance, being ok with the duality of the two, and finding peace somewhere in between." - Niall Mutter

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Tears for Fears, Ouri, Sunglaciers, daysormay, Megan Nash, Opengo, faride, Louie Short, and Houndmouth

By Will McGuirk

“Before everything went so right with this album, everything first had to go wrong, it took years, but something happens when we put our heads together. We’ve got this balance, this push-me-pull-you thing – and it works really well.” - Roland Orzabal, Tears for Fears

“‘Just Existing’ has been a long time coming. Some of these songs have been around for 2+ years, while the others are brand new. It's been a crazy process of stitching it all together, we've never approached an album like this before, it feels new.” - daysormay

“It’s probably the most vulnerable I’ve been with my lyrics so far. Not sure how it will feel to have it out in the world but I was honest with myself when I wrote it in the Fall of 2019 - heartbroken but hopeful, nervous but willing.” - Megan Nash

"My grandmother had an uncommon perception of people's needs. It wasn’t a surprise to my mother when I started having premonitions and intuitions as a child. This song felt feminine and powerful and I wanted to capture the matriarchal wisdom of many ways of knowing." - farideh

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Opeongo · maybe maybellene

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Absolutely Free, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, The Wilderness Of Manitoba, Caroline Marie Brooks, Oliver James Brooks, and Sultans of String

By Will McGuirk

“It’s about being lost in your own thoughts when everything feels as though it’s coming apart around you. It isn’t the start or end of something, but it’s the in-between that can feel like an oblivion.” - Will Whitwham, The Wilderness Of Manitoba

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Chastity, Andrea Ramolo, Jasper Sloan Yip, Ellyn Woods, Chris de Burgh, Bazooka Joe 204, Conditioner, Mauvey, and Thao and the Get Down

By Will McGuirk

"This song is about stepping out of the silence and coming together to use our voices for change. There is power in numbers and in song and in carrying each other.” - Andrea Ramolo

“In ‘On the Beach’ we float through the ‘wild motion’ of this new frontier, affirming that we can ‘separate the water from the waves’ before looking up one last time “as the constellations drift apart and lose their shape” to say that we ‘would do it all again’” - Jasper Sloan Yip

“Many people have experienced the challenges of staying together despite being apart, and this is my own story of feeling that pull and hoping that a relationship would survive.” - Riley McCluskey, Conditioner

“Endless thanks to director Linda Mai Green and her fantastic team for giving me the opportunity to physically do what I have been trying to figuratively get at for so long: destroy artifice and defense and false altars, tear away shame and guilt strip by strip, and to be light and free enough to join my life and love, already in progress.” - Thao

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Charlotte Cornfield, Megan Nash and the Best of Intentions, Hayden Thorpe, Waxfeet, Emi Jeen, Katie Tupper, Gov't Mule, Billy Strings, and Tirzah,

By Will McGuirk

“My brother and I grew up watching Wes Anderson movies. They were a huge part of our childhood and adolescence, and I feel like they've seeped into our DNA at this point — the colours, the outfits, the humour.” - Charlotte Cornfield

“I was feeling inspired by studies into the potential healing properties of psilocybin mushrooms in psychotherapy. I signed up to a flagship programme in the Netherlands as I wanted to explore consciousness in a safe way.” - Hayden Thorpe

“I listen to this album now and it’s emotional. I could sit there and tweak it forever, but there’s a point where it’s like building a house of cards. Yeah, I could add an extra tower on top, but it might collapse. 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

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Nadjiwan, Jonathan Roy, Titus Bank, The Gertrudes, Lung, NOV3L, and the Brothers Comatose

By Will McGuirk

“Humans have always questioned and wondered about both our purpose and origins in the universe. There are numerous stories in Indigenous cultures of the ‘star people’ visiting us throughout history with the purpose of teaching us a greater understanding of not only the universe, but ourselves. In short, we ultimately come from the stars.” - Marc Meriläinen, Nadjiwan

"The feeling of emptiness, confusion and not knowing what road to take really takes a toll on you. Everything seems to be falling apart around you and the walls that kept you safe are crumbling down.” - Jonathan Roy

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