Jason Sharp, Zach Kleisinger, and Paragon Cause
Jason Sharp
The Turning Centre of a Still World // Constellation Records
Jason Sharp returns with his third album on Constellation Records, providing an immersive and articulate experience through ever-changing currents amidst cycles of light and dark. Using a blend of saxophones, foot-controlled bass pedals, and his own pulse via heart monitor that controls modular signals, Sharp explores the relationships between the natural and the synthetic as he pushes and pulls between horns and electronics in a delicate dance of dissonant and divine.
Throughout six movements, The Turning Centre of a Still World balances the sanguine gently atop a foreboding and imposing foundation: always strong, but rarely steady. Moments of levity are left vulnerable to being toppled from the tumult of the base upon which they rest. Like a large boat on the ocean carrying precious cargo, impossible to sink but unable to resist the motion of rough seas, we charge through shifting currents as day changes to night and back again as the seas rock to and fro.
The movements are bookended by crooning and foreboding saxophones that bring a comfortable ease alongside looming but distant darkness. The bookends, while unique from the rest of the movements, both foreshadow what is to come, and confirm our fate at the end. At first the darkness is only hinted at as bright flashes of colour burst through, but soon we are to realize that darkness will always return with more heft than the levity the light provides. A constant and unyielding churning of unease surges amongst a desire to find stillness and comfort.
Light does not come without the dark, and day not without the night. Sharp carries us through a cycle of day and night until the final bookend assures us that it is not hope that we are meant to be left with, but dread. It is a work that pulses and surges, injected with life and clarity, but also shrouded in a fog of darkness and trepidation. The Turning Centre of a Still World is an immersive and lucid journey guided by an accomplished composer and instrumentalist that has a gravity that cannot be ignored once it is set in motion.
- Clay Geddert
Zach Kleisinger
Their Symposium // Fiend Recordings
I love stories. I love songs that tell stories. The lyrics are the very first thing I listen to and notice when hearing a new song or album; only afterward do I dive into the intricacies and instruments the next listen through. Zach Kleisinger is a true storyteller, a narrator of raw emotions and real tales that can be related to and admired. There is a special comfort and simplicity within the high talent that is displayed through this album from start to finish; almost as if you are right there with Kleisinger, experiencing these moments and events, yet hanging on every word – wanting to know, and getting to know, just how he feels about what you’ve both gone through.
This album was recorded in a week, beginning just the day before the COVID lockdown that happened in Vancouver. Imagining a quintessential rainy day in Vancouver, when everything has suddenly gone still, and laying down this album makes the most sense of anything that has happened this past year. The heartbreak, the loneliness, the feelings of loss and anxiety take on the role of protagonist, while love and conciliation take the passenger seat – still prevalent and beautiful, weaving their way between the shadows. Ending the album with a song called “As Sweet as Yours” that is “all about making up following an argument and everything being alright”, leaves me with a taste of hope and a deeper feeling of peace. It serves as a nice reminder that amongst the dark and scary, there can be change and there can be love.
Kleisinger describes the songs on this album as a “cast of characters” that “endured, and in a sense, have surpassed” him. They are more than songs or music, they become friends that have something to say back to you – conversationalists, though you are the one creating them. He grew up in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and has moved around Canada, ending up in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is no wonder that these characters have grown and changed, just as he has done. Moving with the times and the locations, these songs represent the realities of life that Kleisinger, and most of us, have experienced at least once in our lives. The expectation that an artist’s work is stagnant, and a linear reflection of the writer is not one that is seen here, as Kleisinger’s songs are entities speaking; they are him and are about him – this album is their symposium.
This is deeply beautiful songwriting and instrumental talent that is like a pearl in the ocean of music that exists. Every wave is gorgeous; however, these pearls are rare and special, and overtly desired. Isaac Symonds, Joseph Lubinsky-Mast, Alexander James Glassford, Sam Lynch, Darryl Havers, Scott Smith, Malcolm Aiken, Cody Taylor, and of course, Zach Kleisinger – thank you. I have listened to this album from start to finish, and I will be doing so for a long time to come.
- Krystle McGrath
Paragon Cause
Autopilot // Neko Records
Ottawa’s electro-rock duo, Paragon Cause, have released their highly anticipated third album, Autopilot, a mesmerizing sonic experience that combines enveloping electronic sounds with indie influenced vocals and exciting melodies. Released on August 13th through Neko Records, the LP is packed with thirteen fantastic songs ready for you to dive into.
With a strong desire to create music that is both compelling and artistically fulfilling, the duo is solidifying their presence in the Canadian indie scene. But who’s in the band? Paragon Cause is composed of Michelle Opthof and Jay Bonaparte, a pair of creative talents that have found their creative voices and are now feeling more confident than ever with their sound. In addition to frequent collaborator Sune Rose Wagner, leader of the Raveonettes, they also brought in Liam Howe (Twiggs, Lana Del Rey) and indie rock legend Eric Avery (Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails) to provide both production and performances to the new music.
It's important to mention that although the album was written and recorded prior to the pandemic, the duo was able to cast a new light on the songs during lockdown, resulting in Autopilot having some of the longing and optimism felt by the artists at the time. Get a taste of it with the opening track ,“Two to Play”, an upbeat song with a melancholic aftertaste that sets an ethereal vibe with 80’s-like synth sounds and a distorted bass that carries you from beginning to end. Another hypnotic track in the record is, "Think I'm Going Crazy Over You", with four different remixed versions that, even though they share the same lyrics, each one is able to evoke very different sensations like lust, retribution and loss. And if you feel like closing your eyes and letting go for a few minutes then listen to “Making Up For Lost Time”, a track that was initially meant to be about friendship but after the last year with Covid, it can be applied to our current life, Bonaparte says.
Paragon Cause is signaling an elevation in their commitment to songwriting, masterful arrangements and memorable production with their latest work. Now it’s your turn to listen to Autopilot and get the full experience.
- Fel Gamarra
