If You Were A Stranger
was my attempt at writing a genuine love song for my partner (with a splash of humour), and I think it features some great understated playing from Jim Bryson, Christine Bougie, and Peter Von Althen, one of our favourites.
Move Back Home
is about the housing crisis in Canada, and specifically how our generation (millennials) have had to settle for a life that looks markedly different from the ones our parents led. The characters in the song are a composite of so many of our friends in their early 30s who are moving back to our hometown, after living in larger cities, because “moving back home” is their only real option of ever owning a home or starting a family. I’ve made peace that I will probably never own a home, what was an option for previous generations is not one for me, but I wanted to put that reality into a song where the characters are ‘settling’ and ‘settling down’, both for each other and in the larger context of their lives.
small town story
“The story in question follows one couple from the moment they meet as teenagers through various tribulations, including a breakup when one them receives an “acceptance letter” for a college in another town. “afterthought” concludes the first half of the album, flipping perspective between the two characters after their breakup and when one gets into a car crash. The first single, “afterall” brings the characters full circle after years apart and hints at their reconciliation. Closing track “small town story” is the final letter written to the one character who has passed away, a song for a final-credit sequence.
small town story was recorded in short bursts of a song a day, spread over a three-year period, with producer Jim Bryson (Kathleen Edwards, Weakerthans, Tragically Hip), who is one of only a handful of players on the record. After years of Zoom, “I wanted it to sound like people playing together in a room,” says Mattson. Simplicity was the goal, as was starting anew.
As one season sets, another begins.”
by Michael Barclay