ROYAL CANOE SHARES “SOMERSAULT” VIDEO
SOMETHING GOT LOST BETWEEN HERE AND THE ORBIT DUE SEPTEMBER 16
The official video for Royal Canoeβs “Somersault” premiered this week. Directed by Nathan Boey and choreographed by Kaja Irwin, the song is from the Winnipeg sextetβs highly anticipated new album Something Got Lost Between Here and the Orbit, out September 16 via Nevado Music.
Royal Canoe’s Matt Peters talks about the video with NPR. “When you’re creating something, the end result is pretty much all anyone else sees or hears. But running invisibly underneath the finished product are all of the hours you spent in your bedroom struggling to find the right melody, or the planning that went into executing an idea correctly.” Peters also remarked: “This behind-the-scenes work and even the abandoned ideas that never go anywhere have their own value, especially to the artist, and they often bring as much to the story as the polished result.”
Almost three years have passed since the release of Royal Canoeβs sophomore album Today We’re Believers (2013). Those years were full. The band played 200 shows, which included tours with the likes of Alt J and Bombay Bicycle Club, and stops at major festivals like Bonaroo, Iceland Airwaves, and Osheaga. The hard work paid off: Today We’re Believers received widespread critical acclaim, was nominated for a JUNO Award for Alternative Album of the Year and won Best Independent Album at Western Canadian Music Awards.
After two years of writing and recording between tours, Something Got Lost Between Here and the Orbit surfaced with a unique and intensified voice. It was co-produced and mixed by Ben Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, Deerhunter), who concentrated their sound-crafting attention on two fundamental elements: drums and vocals. Royal Canoe has always had an intensively rhythmic heart and that is more the case than ever. Their lyrics grow organically out of an addictive percussive flow and the unique topography of each track. Reinforcing their vocal and percussive core allowed them to be more adventurous with experimentation; more determined in their ongoing pursuit of the elusive musicality that can be found in collisions between digital and analogue worlds. In addition to their their usual buffet of synthesizers, effects pedals and homemade samples, late nights lead to to rabbit-holes of attaching contact mics to water bottles to play them like percussion instruments and convoluting synths through beluga whale field recordings.
In addition to a renewed sonic focus, Something Got Lost brings an emotional clarity. But itβs a particular kind of clarity: one you experience when whatβs most clear is that youβre really unsure about whatβs happening with your life or, unsure about what happened to the life you once took for granted, while you were off experiencing stuff, being busy, accomplishing things. Life, and especially the life of musicians, tends to be shaped by an ebb and flow of leaving and returning, cycling between an extroverted, transient mode of being and one of introversion and staying put. Within the broader cycles, even our most important relationships can shift, morph and drift, no matter how much we try to hold them steady.
Royal Canoe is currently finishing up a North American tour with Plants And Animals and performances in support of Something Got Lost Between Here and the Orbit will be announced soon. All dates are listed below.
Something Got Lost Between Here And The Orbit Tracklist
1. Somersault
2. Walk out on the Water
3. Living a Lie
4. Checkmate
5. Love You Like That
6. I Am Collapsing So Slowly
7. Holidays
8. Out of the Beehive
9. Bicycle
10. How Long Is Your Life?
11. BB Gun
Tour Dates
June 23 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill *
June 24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater *
August 20 – Invermere, BC @ Invermere MusicFest
August 21 – Rock Creek, BC @ Ponderosa Festival
* supporting Plants & Animals
BandΒ Links
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: HUNTING – WHATEVER YOU NEED
SPILL NEW MUSIC: THE WOODEN SKY – “SWIMMING IN STRANGE WATERS”
SPILL NEW MUSIC: CLOSE TALKER RELEASE FIRST SINGLE “OKAY HOLLYWOOD” FROM UPCOMING NEVADO RECORDS RELEASE ‘LENS’
SPILL LIVE REVIEW: ROYAL CANOE @ LEE’S PALACE, TORONTO
