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In music, there may be no more challenging feat than to expand a sound while also drawing closer to the essence of that sound.
On their seventh studio album, City of Sirens, Skydiggers make it sound easy.
For a decidedly guitar-centric group, City of Sirens marks the first time the band has built so much of a record around keyboards. This change is thanks to the addition of Michael Johnston, whose piano and organ integrates rich new textures into Skydiggers’ style.
Yet as novel as those new touches may be – a Memphis-soul feel on “All In My Time,” spiky Wurlitzer electric piano flourishes on the droll “Everybody Wants,” and the haunting spare piano arrangement on “Laura Love” -- the glorious melodies and harmonies of Skydiggers’ signature sound are tattooed onto “Hello Beautiful Life,” “One Last Chance,” and the title track.
The new album sees the core line-up of Andy Maize (vocals), Josh Finlayson (guitars, keyboards, vocals), and Ron Macey (bass) augmented by Johnston on keyboards and vocals, and drummer Noel Webb.
“I’ve gradually begun writing more songs on piano in the last couple of years. Working with Michael means we could create a bigger sound without it turning into a wall of sound,” says Finlayson. Adds Maize, “The voicings of the chords are quite different with piano. It evokes different sounds. Playing with Michael and Noel has been a real treat for me.”
The 12-song cycle pivots around our pressurized modern life, in which things are constantly moving faster and getting louder.
“At a certain point, there are a lot of stresses we all face, in our relationships with family, with loved ones. These songs tend to reflect those different struggles,” says Maize.
Songwriting for City of Sirens literally spans the band’s career: “When You Walk By” was the first song the group wrote and dates back to 1988, while “All In My Time” – a collaboration between Finlayson, Maize and original drummer Wayne Stokes – actually predates the group.
Two other tracks, “Where’s My Baby, Tonight?” and “Honest Day’s Work,” were included on 2007’s Dark Hollow, a side-project by Finlayson and Maize, made in collaboration with Cowboy Junkies’ Michael Timmins. Other songs developed out of extensive pre-production sessions in the basement studio of Finlayson’s home in Toronto’s West End.
The bulk of the album’s recording took place over 10 days at The Tragically Hip’s Bathouse Studio near Kingston, with most of the tracks being put down live.
Maize says the opening track, “Hello Beautiful Life,” captures the tone of the record as a whole. “The verses could be taken as a little bleak, but the chorus is uplifting."
"Over the course of these songs, the sun breaks through the clouds. That’s the duality of life reflected on City of Sirens.”
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