Award-winning Canadian alt-folk rock-to blues country duo, Fresh Breath has released two new singles, “Tomorrow Today” and “Make It Together”.
“‘Tomorrow Today’ was written during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Katie Pascoe recalls. “Josh was playing the piano riff one day during our isolation, and I thought of the lyrics on the spot.
The song is inspired directly by the health care heroes and front line workers out there that are choosing daily courage over fear, and fighting for our ‘Tomorrow Today.’
Production was unique to this track,” Josh Pascoe adds, citing the restrictions that come with social distancing and isolation. “We recorded at our home studio and shared the files to our producer, Brett Humber at Sound Foundry Studios.
The video features a mindful cameo from Ann Pascoe, Josh’s mom, who is a sign language interpreter and marks a way to share the inspiring message with as many people as possible.
“The idea of including her came from watching press briefings and public announcements,” he explains. “The video was created at our home, with careful social distance practices in place.”
For “Make It Together,” the inspiration echoes a similar sentiment, even if the lyrics came from a different time.
“I was using different arrangements Josh had been working with, and flipping through an old lyric journal,” Katie says. “I found a rough poem-style entry from a few years back and they happened to fit the guitar licks and chord progression.”
While the pair didn’t realize just how the words rose to the world’s current scenario until after the song was put together, that Women of Substance Radio says “this band delivers an encouraging message of hope and fortitude set to an upbeat and memorable melody” goes to show this is inherently who they are.
“We spread peace, love and Fresh Breath,” the Ontario-based husband and wife duo offer. “We’re all about no attitude, all gratitude.”
Now that you’ve checked out both of their new singles, find out more about the duo via our Five Questions With, below.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Katie Pascoe. Together with Josh Pascoe, we are ‘Fresh Breath’. We ‘re a husband & wife, multi-instrumental Alt-Country duo from Kingsville ON.
Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.
Our music can sometimes be hard to describe, as it has a little bit of everything in it. We’ve ultimately “narrowed it down” to Alt-Country. However it could easily be coined as Roots or Rock, really. We are both songwriters, but Josh is usually the composer of the group. Often he will have a progression or jam in mind. Either on the piano or the guitar and I will write lyrics and come up with a melody. It is usually a joint effort between the two of us, regardless of who came up with the idea first. Writing has always been a therapeutic process for both of us as well. So it’s not uncommon for either of us to write a song solo. You know, to work out some emotions or stress. And then share it with each other after, ultimately collaborating further and tweaking things creatively together.
Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?
During the pandemic, we have had a lot of shows canceled or postponed. So we have been performing via Facebook Live every other Friday night; “Live from the studio”. The next show will be on Friday, June 5th @ 7:30 pm EST through our page @freshbreathband We will also be doing a live-stream on Instagram June 15th with “Make Open Mic” at 7:00 pm EST. (IG page @theopenmicatmake ) We have a 4 province tour booked during the months of July and August with shows spanning from Southern Ontario to B.C. and back. Be sure to check out our website for details and the status of that tour. (www.freshbreathband.com)
In regards to our live performances, we love to interact with our crowds. Talk about our music and tell stories behind the songs. Stories from the road. Whether good, bad, or ugly. It’s all fair game. We want people to leave our shows feeling like they know us as people, as well as songwriters and performers. Josh will often have multiple instruments in front of him; guitar & pedals, piano, stomp pad, harmonica. I play guitar and will pull the flute out for a solo sometimes. Every show is different as we go into jams as we feel them. We love to put our own spin on classic covers and intertwine them into our own original songs. Both of us singing in harmony with multiple instruments going as well. We aim to deliver high energy, emotional, and memorable performances every time we hit the stage.
If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?
I’d have to say our latest single “Make It Together”. This is a song we are really proud of. It was written in late 2019 but really relates to the current situation we are all in. We worked meticulously during the creation of this one. Changing the phrasing, moving the small words around while writing, and arranging the lyrics. The bridge progression is my favourite part of the whole song. The drumbeat was something played off the cuff by Josh in the studio. It really pulled the whole song together. The moment we heard it back in the monitors, we knew we really had something. It’s our favourite song we’ve released to date. Though if we were asked this question in the coming months, we may have a different answer.
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?
We have a lot of great Canadian influences and listen to a ton of Canadian content. In a constant rotation of course are The Tragically Hip, Sam Roberts, and The Sheep Dogs. But right now we’ve been cranking up the latest Alanis Morissette, Arkells & Bahamas.
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