BC SONGWRITER JORDAN KLASSEN ANNOUNCES NATIONWIDE TOUR DATES WITH NORTHCOTE BEGINNING JUNE 1
NEW ALBUM, JAVELIN, OUT NOW VIA NEVADO RECORDS
WATCH AND SHARE THE NEW VIDEO FOR “NO SALESMAN” HERE
“Klassen executes it deftly and full heartedly enough here to give listeners chills” Exclaim!
“a clear step above from what a lot of his peers are capable of creating” Ride The Tempo
“lodges in your memory long after you’ve stopped listening, a lingering reminder of the fine record” Quick Before It Melts
“Javelin is emotional yet hopeful, nostalgic yet forward-looking” Confront Magazine
“intense, spiritual songwriting” Grayowl Point
“extremely well-executed and an intriguing, engaging listen” The Manitoban
B.C. songwriter Jordan Klassen has had a busy couple of months to start off 2016. He spent much of January and February on the road in the UK and Europe and is currently finishing up the last leg of his North American tour dates with a few more stops in Western Canada. Beginning in June, he’ll pack his bags and head out again across Canada with Northcote. Full tour dates can found below.
Out on Nevado Records, the ten songs on his latest record, Javelin, are among the most confidently and imaginatively arranged Jordan Klassen has ever recorded. They engage the past, reassess recollections and impressions, turn failures not into successes but lessons for the future.
On the recommendation of James Vincent McMorrow Klassen recorded Javelin at Sonic Ranch studio in Tornillo, just outside El Paso in Texas. He produced the album himself and plays almost all the instruments. The songs on Javelin spring from hard experiences—namely, from Klassen’s struggle with depression and his mother’s diagnosis with breast cancer, now thankfully in remission. Despite the fears and despairs that motivated these songs, there is always a kernel of hope illuminating the music from the inside.
Sonically, Javelin is a mixing of ambient and rhythmic elements, from the ebullient African percussion of“St. Fraser” to the heavily reverbed vocals of closer “Smoking Too Long”. Klassen found inspiration—a patron saint, of sorts—in an unlikely figure. “The record is a nod to the ‘90s New Age music that I grew up with,” he says with a slight chuckle. “My mom was really into Enya, and I wanted to explore some of those sounds in a very modern way. I wanted to really embrace ethereality.” It’s not hard to hear echoes of “Orinoco Flow” or “Caribbean Blue” in the soft-focus thrum of “Miles”, even the delicate overlay of instruments on “We Got Married”, even the whispered valedictory of “Smoking Too Long”.
The follow up to 2013’s acclaimed Repentance, the album sees Klassen depart from the eloquently spare folk of its predecessor, adding ambient and rhythmic elements to vivid Technicolor arrangements in what is his most vibrant and vital album to date.
WATCH AND SHARE “BABY MOSES” (OFFICIAL VIDEO) HERE
JORDAN KLASSEN ON TOUR
Apr 18 - Canmore, AB - Communitea Cafe^
Apr 19 - Rossland, BC - Flying Steamshovel
Apr 21 - Kelowna, BC - The Habitat^
Apr 26 - Victoria, BC - Lucky Bar^
Apr 27 - Vancouver, BC - Imperial^
Jun 1 - Edmonton, AB -Brixx %
Jun 2 - Calgary, AB - Commonwealth Stage %
Jun 3 - Medicine Hat, AB - The Silver Buckle %
Jun 4 - Saskatoon, SK - The Capitol Music Club %
Jun 5 - Winnipeg, MB - The Park Theatre %
Jun 7 - Ottawa, ON - House of Targ %
Jun 8 - The Mansion – Kingston, ON
Jun 9 - St Catharines, ON - Detour Music Hall %
Jun 10 - Toronto, ON - The Horseshoe Tavern %
Jun 11 - London, ON - Rum Runners %
Jun 15 - Quebec City, QC - La Source de la Martiniere %
Jun 16 - Moncton, NB - Tide & Boar %
Jun 17 - Halifax, NS - The Seahorse Tavern %
Jun 18 - Fredericton, NB - The Capital %
Jun 19 - Montreal, QC - Le Divan Orange %
Jun 22 - Regina, SK - The Exchange %
^ With Megan Bonnell
% With Northcote
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