Toronto, ON-based freak-folk band, Within has teamed up with us to unveil the video for their single, “The Favoured”, which is their first release in two years, and is greatly anticipated by fans.
Check out the video below, and find out more about the band, and the release via our interview.
First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?
We are three individuals—Chris, Stefan and Judith—longing to again be in a room together, just like you.
Tell us about the recording process behind “The Favoured”.
On a warm, bright day in August 2018, we drove two hours north of Toronto to a high-ceilinged, barnlike building with wooden beams crisscrossing overhead. Lisa Conway and Andrew Collins ushered us inside and we set up our gear in Wildlife Sanctuary Sound, their studio that is now sadly no longer in the woods. We worked all afternoon and evening to get our two tracks down, taking in the trees and the luxury of such a big, open space meant to be filled with music. At around 8pm we relocated to the barbecue. After food and late-night mixing, our band had a studio sleepover.
What can you tell us about the video-making process for “The Favoured”?
The restrictions of the pandemic produce certain kinds of limitations. A photographer friend (Lauren Kolyn) and I were at the Muskoka river this past summer, escaping Toronto. We realized there was nothing stopping us from making a video by the water (except maybe the lack of a gimbal). Also, the mosquitoes of July 2020 deserve a special shout-out. Anyway, we went out at sunset and experimented by the water, riffing on a few concepts while the song played on her iPhone. Once Lauren and I are on the same wavelength, wonderful things happen.
“The Favoured” is your first release in 2 years, why did you wait so long between releases?
We are not necessarily in any rush.
How have you been keeping creative during the Pandemic?
Elaborate texts to one another, sometimes involving gifs.
What was the highlight of 2020?
For within as a band, it was slipping one last show under the wire on March 5 of last year. We played the opening set for Carmen Elle and Hiroki Tanaka in the Houndstooth basement. It was dark and a little dank but some friends came out and the songs came together. We were planning our next show of the month when…
What do you hope to accomplish in your career in 2021?
This EP release is exciting because these two songs—The Favoured and In Rounds—were written many years ago and it’s time for them to see the light of day. Also, we should be finished writing our first LP this summer, and then we get vaccinated and then we record.
If you were able to collaborate with anyone out there, who would you choose and why?
Fantasies of collaboration begin at home: the three of us still have so much to uncover in each other that for now, the dream is simply to reenter a routine of regular music-making together.