HOPE FOR THE FUTURE: THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
A CONVERSATION WITH BLAIR PACKHAM (THE JITTERS)
“Music, for me, is a mystery. If you take the idea of a guitar and reduce it, you’ve got this box of wood. It’s shaped in a particular way, but it’s still a box, a hollow thing. Then you’ve got these metal wires stretched across it, and when they are vibrating at a certain frequency, and in resonance with each other, it can make you cry! How does that happen? It can invoke your childhood. It can make you wistful about a long-lost love. Whatever! It can make these feelings arise. How does that happen? To me, if there’s evidence of something going that I have no idea what it is, that is it right there: the music.”
The beauty, the wonder, and the magic of music is something that seems to drive singer-songwriter Blair Packham. Readers might know Packham from the ’80s and ’90s from The Jitters, or from his work scoring music for film and television. The Toronto-based artist has also had lengthy stints as a radio host, a college-level songwriting educator, as well as being an independent recording artist. However you know him, Blair Packham is keeping the music, and the magic, alive. Wearing his ‘recording artist’ hat these days, Packham has plans to release singles throughout the spring and summer, and is poised to release his fourth solo album, The Impossible Dream, this fall.
Much has changed since Packham first entered in the game. While he is excited about releasing new music, it is a different kind of excitement than when The Jitters released their eponymous debut album in 1987. “With The Jitters thing, there was the novelty of hearing your stuff on the radio, and knowing that people had discovered it and were excited to meet you, and stuff like that. At this stage of my life, that’s not really happening… It doesn’t feel the same, it feels sort of all new. Part of me is sort of confused as to exactly how to do it, because it’s just so different. Before, you would go to a pressing facility with your mastered music and your artwork, and a week or 10 days later, you’d have a thousand copies. Or if it were a record label, you’d let them take care of all of that stuff, and the next thing you know, your record is in the stores.”
Navigating the indie record business was not Packham’s only consideration with this project. Working remotely with his core band (bassist Jim Neilson and drummer/vocalist Andy Humphrey), created some obstacles. And then, the band broke up. Says Packham of that time, “The band broke up for creative control differences, I guess. That put a snag into finishing, because I wanted to make sure that they were okay with me using the tracks that they had done. I had new songs that I wanted to record, so I had other players play on those songs. It didn’t get bogged down. It just was, at times, like pulling teeth. So, it took longer than it should have.”
Advance spins of a few of the album’s tracks indicate a shift to a warmer, acoustic-based sound for Packham. The contributions of sweet strings from violinist Natalie Wong, and tasteful, spot-on kit drumming and hand percussion from Mark Mariash certainly suggest a more acoustic/pop feel. The sound is in contrast to Packham’s power pop-oriented last outing, 2017’s Unpopular Pop. Of his stylistic shift, the artist notes, “I’ve been accompanying myself solo or in small groups – a duo or a trio – for the last 15 years, really. Aside from playing with The Jitters occasionally. Up until the pandemic, we were playing once a year. So, other than that, I was playing my acoustic guitar, and I just thought, I really should have a recording that reflects that.”
“I have four other songs that are mixed, and not yet mastered, and they are very much in that same vein. There’s no electric bass, it’s all upright bass. The drum kit is not necessarily brushes, but it’s not being hit very hard. It’s an open sort of sound. The main guitar is always an acoustic guitar. These were sort of rules that I set for myself, and then I allowed myself to have one or two other guitars, if need be.”
Fans of Packham’s live solo shows, particularly of his weekly residency at Toronto’s Sauce on the Danforth lounge, will be familiar with some of his new tracks. Songs such has “Land We Knew By Heart” and “Early Bird” have been setlist staples for a few years. Less familiar perhaps, is his song “For Joanne”, a loving tribute to the artist’s late partner, who tragically died by suicide. Presented as an uplifting gospel song, “For Joanne” is pure Packham. Employing a clever songwriter’s twist in its opening line, he proceeds to create a piece that is at once laid-back and upbeat, as well as being sweet and meaningful. Packham points out that, “The song is very heartfelt. I did write some sad songs, but I just felt like, in the wake of somebody’s suicide, you could go really, really, really dark. And I just didn’t want to. I felt that, even though it is a sad song, it’s an attempt to be uplifting, and an attempt to move forward, and make sense of what that was, what her death was. So, I feel like that song is… I don’t know. I feel like it’s a bit of a breakthrough for me, in some ways.”
For an artist such as Blair Packham, the fact of the wonder and power of music is never far away. When questioned about it, he had this to say: “Can music still change the world? I’d say yes, but with a certain caveat. It’s a different world that we’re in now, and there are a lot things that have taken peoples’ attention away from music. I think a great song can. …I always have hope for the future, but I’m probably foolish that way.”
Artist Links
Photo Credits: Miriana Mitrovich
SPILL FEATURE: POURING HIS HEART INTO UNPOPULAR POP MUSIC – A CONVERSATION WITH BLAIR PACKHAM
