WATCH AND SHARE “MR. X” HERE
FIGURE WALKING’S NEW LP, VERTICAL / HORIZONTAL, OUT SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 VIA DISINTEGRATION RECORDS
“Drawing on dub-oriented grooves and flashes of serrated post-punk guitar stutters, there’s an exchange of wiry and rhythmic, which works to console the tension of political and social commentary, deliberately setting the tone for you to get up and move.”- Beatroute Magazine
PHOTO CREDIT : Matt Williams // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Winnipeg’s Figure Walking are sharing another new track from their upcoming album, Vertical/Horizontal, out September 11 via Disintegration Records. On the new song, “Mr. X”, Greg MacPherson notes : “Arnold was a grizzled old man who worked odd jobs in West Broadway ten or so years ago; shoveling snow, loading trucks, fixing lawn mowers - physical work for cash. He had an air of menace, a brooding impatience, his movements were deliberate and economical; his mental energy seemed focused elsewhere, perhaps on containing a part of himself that no longer fit in the world. I got to know Arnold editing a community newspaper that he contributed to. He wrote a series of crime stories, cautionary tales from his own life, terrible things he had done, shared with equal parts regret and amazement. He swore that every word was true, and wrote under the pseudonym 'Mr. X' to avoid reprisal from law enforcement and former criminal associates. Arnold died in 2011, his obituary confirming many of his stories, and revealing that he was in fact much younger than we assumed. Years of hardship and hard living, years of being Mr. X.”
The new video for “Mr. X” was shot and edited entirely on MacPherson’s cell phone over a 72 hour period in July. It tells the story of Mr. X, a bank robber played by Figure Walking’s new bass player Al Gardiner, who MacPherson picks up while hitchhiking; a man playing a broken system; someone capable of greatness and of great tragedy.
Rob Gardiner, Figure Walking's drummer and The Detective in the video, has a Masters degree in Cinema Studies and he says this video is “actually pretty good.”
WATCH AND SHARE “MR. X” HERE
Single Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Based in Winnipeg, minutes from the geographic centre of North America, Figure Walking makes music that is at once unmistakably local (fighting through the isolation and limitations of what is essentially a mixed up, outpost town) and reflective of the complex lives being lived beyond the horizon.
Recorded in Montreal and Winnipeg, the band’s second album, Vertical/Horizontal paints a colourful portrait of a beautiful world spiraling through the heartache and mystery of late stage capitalism. As ever, MacPherson’s storytelling pulls the curtain back and offers an up-to-the-minute report; characters fighting the law, crossing the Canadian border into North Dakota, born on a holiday, living with tragedy and winning in style.
WATCH AND SHARE “LAST DOLLAR (GREEN JULY)” HERE
Vertical/Horizontal marks MacPherson’s tenth studio album as lead and principal songwriter, and fourth collaborating with Gardiner. Figure Walking has shared bills with a wide range of artists, from Mike Watt + The Missingmen to the Hold Steady, Father John Misty to The Beaches. This music is anchored by MacPherson’s underrated guitar playing and trademark universality but it is Gardiner’s physicality and post rock sensibility that give Figure Walking an uncommon musical aesthetic. Figure Walking’s previous record, The Big Other, was long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize.
