Changing Colours

On the 7 year anniversary of the Changing Colours album

We’ve made albums in different places (Memphis, Saskatoon, Nashville, Toronto, a cabin in the woods…) and in different ways (live of the floor, overdubbed to infinity). We’ve worked quickly (Paradise Alone in 5 days) and in the case of Changing Colours we’ve worked not so quickly.

Made in Toronto over the course of many months, it was a labour of love and an homage to some of those sprawling, ambitiously overgrown records that we loved. The kind where an artist was gifted seemingly unlimited time in the studio to pursue their most indulgent ambitions. We dabbled with our biggest palette of sounds yet, fuelled in part by Jim Bowskill’s multi-instrumentalist chops. He and Shamus played many a fine solo and all 5 of us sang a whole lot of multi-tracked vocals.

The result was a record that was somehow both excessive and concise: 17 tracks, yet it clocked in at just under 50 minutes. It spawned some of our live staples like Nobody and I’ve Got a Hole Where My Heart Should Be and it was the last time we did a medley (perhaps it’s time we brought that back?).

We recorded a song in Jim's Living room…

We recorded live versions in Ewan's back yard….

We even made an infomercial complete with a 1-800 number for it…

We’ve made leaner and meaner records, we’ve made easier and quicker records and we’ve made more “successful” records, but I think Changing Colours is undoubtedly one of our best.