April 16 Lake Roads release their debut singles, “January Thaw” and “Funny Papers.”
The Ontario-based band show off their range with not one but two new singles.
Taken from the It's a Wonderful Life line, "I'll see you in the funny papers!" is "Funny Papers," a touching ode to friends and family. Lyricist and vocalist Nic Schulze took inspiration from the classic film and his uncle, a former radio DJ whose call sign was "Charlie Brown." “These words are in me, I have to get them out," he recalls saying to himself as the song came together.
Co-songwriter Shawn Cantin aimed to counterbalance the longing of the lyrics with the more whimsical nature of newspaper comic sections, and used a ukulele to achieve the sound. "I also tried to pull in elements of the demo to keep it authentic to Nic’s vision, so the synth line is lifted from the melody of the vocal hook that Nic had at the end of the original demo.”
"January Thaw" is a tender, melodic song penned by Maranda Cook and Mike Lance, and explores the changing of seasons as a way to express a warm hopefulness. "It's about waiting for the arrival of spring, or a new start," Cook explains. “I wanted environmental sounds interwoven throughout, and so we used a portable recorder to get the sounds of a creek and ice thawing.”
“I tend to gravitate toward minor key folk songs, and that’s what this was," Lance adds. "It just stayed in my head, and after inhabiting it for awhile, I just started imagining things. I added a bit more drive to it, and appropriate instrumentals. The part toward the end, where the song goes from this E minor melancholic feel, to this section that’s a G major, so it’s got that progression that mirrors going from a cold winter to a warm spring.”
The songs are available on these platforms:
Spotify, Apple Music - Lake Roads
Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/user-836349584
Bandcamp - lakeroads.bandcamp.com
For over a decade, the members of Lake Roads have been fast friends and frequent collaborators in a myriad of musical projects across Ontario in Toronto, Midland, Pembroke and North Bay. Although life and geographic distance were obstacles, the five members' interests and enthusiasm brought this incarnation together in 2019, their schedules and appetites for creativity once again aligning. With an EP of songs, Besides, under their belt in 2019, they were already in the habit of writing and recording remotely from their individual home studios when COVID-19 hit. This established project quickly turned into a creative lifeline for its five members, and gave them the time and freedom they needed to dig in. “The lockdown played a really big part in us finding the focus to work on the material,” explains Shawn Cantin.
There was also a clarity in focus brought by Nic Schulze’s journey with sobriety, and the sense of urgency Maranda Cook felt to produce an album of songs she could share with family and loved ones something to show for the musical craft she’s honed since she was 13.
Having played in folk, alt-country, indie rock and experimental outfits previously, those disparate sounds and styles have all found their way comfortably within Lake Roads’ wheelhouse. Embellishing the collaborative nature of their work for their new album Radiomancy pushed and challenged the group creatively, but having the foundation of working friendships and artistic partnerships means the result feels both mature and complex for a debut.
Lake Roads is:
Maranda Cook (lyrics, vocal, guitar)
Nic Schulze (lyrics, vocal, guitar, bass, mix)
Shawn Cantin (vocal, guitar, bass, synth, mix)
Mike Lance (vocal, guitar, percussion, mix)
Pat Piper (drums)
Recorded between Midland, North Bay and Pembroke, and mastered by Collen Middleton, album art by James Schmitz. Radiomancy is the sound of a band opening itself up to chance and experimentation. Whereas debut EP Besides (Bandcamp, Spotify) was written predominantly by husband and wife duo Nic Schulze and Maranda Cook, and driven instrumentally to be supportive of the singer/songwriter origins of the material, Radiomancy finds the rest of the band wielding a greater influence over the direction the songs would take. Lake Roads shook things up further still by pairing off into smaller songwriting units, using the bed percussion tracks laid down by member Pat Piper to build and inform how the songs took shape.
Mike Lance’s alt-country influences temper Maranda Cook’s folk lineage with texture and drive, as on the dusty “Let Down” or in the stripped acoustic contemplation of “Articles.” Meanwhile Shawn Cantin and Nic Schulze deliver dubby and danceable moods, as in the mysterious “Come True,” or elsewhere magnify Schulze’s expansive poetics with a dreamy, nocturnal soundscape on “My Friend.”
For all of the stylistic departures and differences this newfound songwriting practice created, there are also many moments of overlap, as on “January Thaw,” where Cook’s lyrics and Lance’s strummed guitar meet an icy chill of a chopped-and-screwed guitar line, or on album climax “Starfish” where the band’s sound coalesces and all four primary songwriters sing over auroras of guitar, keys and an insistent drum beat.
The multitude of styles and influences explored throughout the record’s eleven tracks seems all the more apt considering the title: radiomancy a kind of prophetic process wherein the radio becomes your own personal seer, a divining rod at the push of the seek button or spin of the radio dial. “You find meaning where you look for meaning,” Nic Schulze explains. The title came to the group early on in writing the album, and imbued the already substantial songs with even more meaning and connection.
Thematically, that idea of finding meaning is also a throughline, as the songs explore relationships, feelings of longing and nostalgia, hope, and seeking a balance between nature and technology.
Radiomancy is out on May 21, 2021 on Spotify, Apple Music,
https://soundcloud.com/user-836349584 lakeroads.bandcamp.com
1. Radiomancy
2. Funny Papers
3. Chase Smoke
4. Let Down
5. Articles
6. Missing History
7. Come True
8. January Thaw
9. Starfish
10. My Friend
11. Save Mars
Instagram.com/lakeroads
Facebook.com/lakeroads
Twitter.com/lakeroadsmusic
Lakeroads.bandcamp.com
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Bryon Tosoff
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5/2/2021 11:35:33 AM
Welcome Guys glad you have brought your project here to indiemusicpeople where the true indie spirit shines bright and light the way to future opportunities.. Coolness, good vibe Mike, rocking trip of a listen!
bryon
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