nutrients, JoJo Worthington, and Liam Faucher
nutrients
Different Bridges // Earth Libraries
Picture yourself on a hot August night in T.O., just finishing dinner and drinks with friends. Wandering past a sweaty looking club on Dundas or Queen, faint sounds of lurid funk mix with the rising chatter of patrons enjoying a nightcap and dancing on cramped floors. If you're one to be tempted to join the festivities, then chances are you are going to really enjoy the latest album from Toronto's funk-pop masters, Nutrients.
Formed in 2016, with a self-titled debut album in 2019, Nutrients really know how to make funk vibes accessible for the average listener. Their new album, Different Bridges, takes that a step further and provides a cheery, pre-pandemic vibe that everyone could use these days. This album is equally at home in the background making you subconsciously bop your head while writing some work reports, as it is with headphones on sitting eyes closed hearing all the layers and textures perfectly mixed together.
Trying to bridge the two genres, the key is a solid foundation, and for funk music that means the rhythm section. We are treated to a gem here, as the drums and bass have that amazing tightness and synchronization with each other you need, but also allow for the right amount of space and interplay that gives funk its soul. The perfect example of this is the two minute instrumental track "Nausea". Starting off with drums and bass in perfect time with each other, we then get a gradual ramp of really cool percussion accents added. Finally some brilliant saxophone and background vocals appear to provide the melody. And a fantastically engineered mix gives the proper space to hear everything, especially when listening with headphones or on a good hi-fi.
But Nutrients is not just a one trick pony, they also expertly overlay some outstanding pop lyrics and melodies onto the subtly complex arrangements. The songs "I" and "Window Seat" are both great examples of this with lyrics that are super accessible and relatable. They describe the good times and the 'normal' we once knew and are slowly getting back to. And from a sonic point of view, they are able to combine male and female vocals to perfection to provide a sonic width that somehow is both ethereal and sounds like it is there right in front of you.
Nutrients have given us a real snapshot of upbeat funk-pop with outstanding musical performances and great songwriting. The rhythm section is second to none, and the other instruments expertly team up with the vocals to bring funk to uninitiated masses. A pleasure to listen to, highly recommended for a summer time jam.
- Matt Budd
JoJo Worthington
Baptized I // Independent
For many artists these days, it takes a huge team and a truckload of cash to market their talent to the world. And not to say that this artist doesn’t have an excellent team around her for the release of her latest EP Baptized I, but it’s important to recognize the universe of talent and creativity that lives within Montreal-based artist and producer JoJo Worthington. JoJo is the all-sufficient indie artist and an absolute visionary, guiding listeners through her world of sound as she ponders questions of faith and existence.
Working as a professional sound engineer and producer, Worthington has a keen ear for layers and layers of feel-good sounds that listeners yearn for with a tasteful push of the boundaries. She employs ukulele and arpeggiated synthesizers reminiscent of Sufjan Steven’s Illinois with indie rock electric guitars and grandiose string arrangements that are nothing short of epic.
She builds this album like a symphony, each movement containing intense, dramatic swells and moments of delightful sweetness—“The Divide” showcases this well, with a repetitive outro that is a beautiful mountain-top experience. As the chorus pulls back to just acoustic guitar and vocals, JoJo sings, “I don’t know what to do, I don’t know how to reach you. I’m feeling so afraid and every day the faces change”. She repeats this to us softly a few times before blasting us with a powerful crunchy guitar and crashing symbols, turning it into a shoe-gaze anthem. It quite literally gets my heart racing.
I want to be careful to not tokenize Worthington’s position as a female producer, but I do think it’s important to celebrate those artists who are pushing boundaries into male-dominated spaces and making room for other gender minorities to follow. JoJo knows this as well, leaning into imagery of powerful women like Joan of Arc, appearing on the album cover with sword in hand and a body covered in armour. JoJo is prepared for battle—sometimes against her own mind or against the many injustices in this evil world. She draws inspiration from her Christian faith, often singing in powerful metaphors about chariots of fire or the guidance of the Holy Ghost.
While women in rock is absolutely not a new concept, it’s beautiful to hear a package of indie rock songs that are not just good because they’re made by a woman in a male-dominated genre, but because they’re actually really good songs. These tracks sit so comfortably among the indie greats like Local Natives, Vampire Weekend, Sufjan Stevens, and The Killers—I truly think we’ll see a future with JoJo Worthington’s name in lights next to one of these.
- Lana Winterhalt
Liam Faucher
Keeping // Self-Released
Those who have followed the slow but steady drip of releases from Liam Faucher and his related projects know him as a working man’s musician. Logging the 9-5 while steadily ticking away at music when life allows. The honesty in this ethic bleeds through every part of his music; whether it’s his fingernails clacking gently across the strings, the creaks of the stool on which he is perched, or his raw and vulnerable writing, you can feel the authenticity in every facet of his sound.
With little more than a guitar and his voice, Faucher returns to his singer/songwriter roots with Keeping. Steeped in indie folk influences, it’s the kind of work that only comes from an artist who holds the genre in their DNA. From that modest platform, he weaves a tapestry of forgiveness, doubts, dreams, anxieties, and touching sentimentality. Faucher has always had remarkable clarity in auditing his own personality, but Keeping is the height of that vulnerability. They say hindsight is 20/20, but I think we all have a propensity to skew the lens we use to look at our own past. Keeping, however, inspects personal feats and failures with radical clarity and a profound sense of forgiveness.
Keeping feels like growing up, shedding resentments, and valuing goodwill over umbrage. Contentedness rarely results in good music, but Faucher has found that balance by cultivating his most touching anecdotes and ruminations. It’s not overtly sentimental, yet it will probably make you miss your hometown, or feel nostalgia for the movie rental store. Keeping radiates radical contentment and leaves you feeling like you’ve just stood in a field in the midst of sun-shower. The recordings are rough, yet balanced delicately by the steady hand of Sami Valavaara. Altogether it’s an effort in poetic forgiveness that few could muster.
“When I get home, I'll worry that I got your name wrong
When I grow old, I'll worry that I didn't grow up
When I die, I'll know what it means to rest
When this is done”
- Clay Geddert
