2010 reviewed

29Dec10

it’s again time, after some wonderful holiday and family visiting to write my year in review blog. i often find it rewarding looking back upon the past year to remind myself what i have survived and accomplished, and experiencing some closure and moving forward into a new year. 2010 was one of my busiest years in terms of musical activity and travel and admittedly at times left me feeling like a storm spinning out of control. fortunately small breaks between projects helped to get my feet planted back on the ground and keep my relative sanity in check.

recording/producing/session’ing

at the beginning of this year i was doing very little playing live. i maintained my weekly appearance with ron leary at the local on roncesvalles here in toronto. and other than a short trip to the u.k. with sarah harmer i was at home for the first quarter of the year.

that left me lots of time to work on the production of my longtime friend ron leary‘s sophomore album dependant arising. we began in january with adam warner laying down the drum foundation. then throughout the rest of the winter we invited many of ron’s staple live musicians and friends up in the home studio, capping it off with a choir singalong and an impromptu wrap party. the recording has a darker tone than ron’s debut, but is heartfelt and true and results in a perfect winter album. it was released to the public in september.

in the spring i got down to work once again with the amazingly multi-talented christine bougie on the recording of her second solo release aloha supreme! (we also worked together the year before on this is awesome, her duo recording with keyboardist dafydd hughes). in april we recorded the majority of the instruments on the four instrumental band tunes at the rogue then continued to record with horns, woodwinds, strings, more guitars, etc. back here. it resulted in a beautifully understated piece of instrumental work from a consistently inspiring musician. it was officially released with a live performance at the tranzac in november.

at the beginning of june, between completing one major tour and beginning another i spent a few days playing guitar on the first half of sarah slean‘s forthcoming bouncy and poppy release land and sea. the second half of the double album consists of voice, piano and orchestra. the band sessions were energetically conducted by joel plaskett with sarah and her regular live band playing in the live room. gordie johnson (big sugar) mixed the band recordings and it is scheduled to be released sometime in 2011.

and just in the nick of time, days before the year end i have managed to put the finishing touches on the mixes for the forthcoming followup to my dragon e.p. once again this is a collection of instrumental surf, rock and psychadelic-influenced compositions. as opposed to the first release, this one features much more band members’ adam warner and wes neal on drums and upright bass talents respectively. this is also a heavier and perhaps darker presentation than the last containing more retro-futuristic sounds and approach. it was also primarily recorded live with extra sounds and instruments recorded by me at home afterwards. it will be released in one way or another in early 2011. it has yet to be named.

other releases

sarah harmer‘s album oh little fire was released internationally in june. i played guitar on about half of the record that was co-produced between sarah and gavin brown.

this year also saw the release of royal wood‘s the waiting, with a few of the mixes being completed upstairs in the den in february. the album that was produced by myself and royal (with the exception of a few tunes by heavyweight pierre marchand) garnered rave reviews all over the country from press and fans alike and made itunes’ best of 2010 list.

matthew barber’s true believer, produced by my good friend howie beck was released in february. i contributed guitar to a few tunes as well as joining with afie j. (bahamas) and feist on some gang vocals on i think you’re gonna feel my love.

though actually recorded in 2009, the run with the kittens ep myth in the sky was released in 2010. the majority of the recording was done in one overnight session at canterbury and overdubbed and mixed back at home in the following weeks. a more serious venture for the kittens.

i quietly and digitally released my own ambient mega project of the past couple years the bear lake. the recording and fiddling became a bit of an obsession and i decided it needed to be completed and made available on the internet to make its completion official. it’s a moody and involved recording that fans of the poppier side may not gravitate towards, but i have heard from some that it is their favourite recording of mine.

touring

i spent a fair amount of 2010 on airplanes and tour-buses. in may, as a preview to the release of royal wood’s the waiting, the two of us travelled coast to coast across canada supporting david gray in consistently large venues. it was a great opportunity to promote the record as well as to meet some great folks.

halifax metro centre

when june came around oh little fire was released and i joined sarah harmer and the band for some extensive touring, bouncing around to summer festivals around canada and some dates in the u.k. and u.s. in the fall departed with the bus and travelled all over north america playing clubs and theatres. though there were a lot of new and beautiful places we saw, a true highlight for me was having the opportunity to play canada’s legendary massey hall for the first time.

2011

i don’t feel i’ve left many loose ends moving into the new year and feel a sense of readiness to embrace fresh opportunities. so far in the year ahead i plan to start and complete another recording project, this one to be back to writing and singing crafted songs – something i’ve stepped away from for a few years while endeavouring upon other sonic explorations. i’ll also be working on some production early in the year with field assembly, a project of my good friend from my hometown of windsor, ontario adam fox. in january i’ll cross canada once again with sarah harmer. and more royal wood live dates should be announced shortly.

it was an honour this year to get to work with some inspiring people and musicians: ron leary, adrian lawryshyn, christine bougie, dafydd hughes, julia hambleton, andrew downing, bryden baird, wes neal, kelly “mr. chill” hoppe, ray whimsey, chris coole, kate maki, miranda mulholland,  royal wood, steve zsirai, adam warner, pascal shefteshy, sarah harmer, julie fader, paul mathew, kieran adams, sarah slean, mark mariash, chris banks, joel plaskett, jeremy darby, james paul, nathan handy, ryan fields, dave gardner, ian macdonald, evan thompson.

accidental overdose of black and mustard

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Filed under: looking back, playing live / touring, recording / producing   |  2 Comments
Tags: christine bougie, field assembly, joel plaskett, recording, ron leary, royal wood, run with the kittens, sarah harmer, sarah slean, the bear lake