AWARD-WINNING DARTMOUTH-BASED MUSICIAN AND SONGWRITER TO RELEASE NO TELLING WHEN (PRECISELY NINETEEN EIGHTY-FIVE) ON JUNE 24 VIA SONIC RECORDS
LISTEN AND SHARE ALBUM TRACK “BATTLESCAR” HERE
TOUR DATES COMMENCE JUNE 16
“authenticity in song. …victory anthems for the nine-to-five weekday warriors” CBC Music
PRE-ORDER NO TELLING WHEN (PRECISELY NINETEEN EIGHTY-FIVE) VIA iTUNES
PRE-ORDER NO TELLING WHEN (PRECISELY NINETEEN EIGHTY-FIVE) CD / VINYL
PHOTO CREDIT: JEFF COOKE
Last week The Strombo Show premiered the latest track from Adam Baldwin’s upcoming record, No Telling When (Precisely Nineteen Eighty-Five). “Battlescar” is about “a toxic relationship doomed not to last, but so wrought with passion that it doesn't seem to end,” claims Baldwin. “These are the sort of affairs that are easy to look back on and recall the ecstasy, but the comedown is almost always forgotten until it’s been revisited.
Adam Baldwin is perhaps best known as a member of Matt Mays’ band, however the Dartmouth based musician has already been awarded Nova Scotia Music Week’s Male Artist Recording Of The Year on the back of his 2013 solo EP. Set for release on June 24via Sonic Records, No Telling When (Precisely Nineteen Eighty-Five) is produced by Liam O’Neil (The Stills, Metric) and features the talents of Josh Trager (Sam Roberts Band), Brian Murphy (Alvvays), and Leah Fay (July Talk).
During Baldwin’s time recording the album in Toronto, the country’s political turmoil was coupled with the Blue Jays dramatic playoff run. “Toronto was alive... indeed, Canada was alive,” says Baldwin. “I walked down Dundas and Ossington every day to the studio and passed hundreds of election signs. You could feel the hope and you could feel the fear. It was on everyone's tongue. If folks weren't talking about the election, they were talking about baseball. The Toronto Blue Jays, an entity that falls just below rock and roll in terms of my devotion, had ended a playoff drought that almost precedes my memory. The Jays' run into the American League Championship Series was the perfect foil for the very stressful federal election.”
The title track and first song “No Telling When (Precisely Nineteen Eighty-Five)” describes events in New York City in 1985, the year before Adam was born, and suggests how, thirty years on, not a lot in our culture has really changed. A particular unnamed real-estate developer, reality TV star, and politician personifies this idea. “Anytime” and “Sparrow Song”, both featuring back up vocals from Leah Fay, loosely form a two act play and the centre piece of the album. In “Anytime” Adam sings about young love and all the hopes and fears that come with that, while “Sparrow Song” describes those fears when they become reality.
“Rehtaeh” is about the systemic failures that led to the death of Rehtaeh Parsons in 2013 and is, as Adam puts it, “maybe the most important song I'll ever write.” The album closes with “Living Proof”, a song about the Canadian Dream, and how as Adam points out, “the dream is elusive because it isn't made available to everyone. It can't be attained by just anyone.”
Beginning June 16 Baldwin and his band will hit the road in support of No Telling When (Precisely Nineteen Eighty-Five), making stops in Ottawa, Kingston, London and more including Toronto’s NXNE Festival and The TD Jazz Festival in Halifax opening for Metric. All tour dates are listed below.
LISTEN AND SHARE “DAYLIGHT” HERE
ADAM BALDWIN TOUR DATES
June 16 - Ottawa, ON @ Mavericks
June 17 - Kingston, ON @ The Mansion
June 18 - Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace (NXNE)
June 19 - London, ON @ Rum Runners
June 23 - Halifax, NS @ Seahorse Tavern
June 25 - Wentworth, NS @ Wentworth Recreation Centre
July 2 - Charlottetown, PE @ Fishbones
July 13 - Halifax, NS @ TD Jazz Festival (w/Metric)
