Echoes Of…, The New Project From The Jerry Can’s Andrew Morrison Releases LP, Euphemisms
Echoes Of…, the new project fronted by the vocals of Andrew Morrison (The Jerry Cans, Terry Uyarak, Aakuluk Music) has unveiled his new album, Euphemisms, on Aakuluk Records.
Earlier this week, he shared one last single before the release of the album. “Feel Along”, featuring Lovely Things is
“a song screaming to the world to be creative / express yourself / feel life and the world,” says Morrison. “I am both cautiously excited and extremely nervous to share these songs with listeners. There are seven million reasons not to play music, share music, open yourself to listeners, to be vulnerable. So much of our society simultaneously values and depends on art but then sets extremely limited parameters on how / what art is valued. I see many artists struggling with this dilemma and more and more putting down their instruments and being an extension of their voices/perspectives. This is a problem. Support art. support ethical expression. Sit with ideas that you may not understand. Feel along.”
Next month, Morrison will join together with Terry Uyarak for a run of dates in Japan.
“Touring still seems to be a unique challenge as Nunavut artists but touring Japan is literally a life long dream,” says Morrison. “It is especially exciting as the tour will be with a beautiful collaborative crew of musicians and circus performers including Uyarak and Maya Cook from Igloolik/artcirq, Mike Thomson and Jaqqi from Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) and Gisle Henriet (Artcirq) along with my beautiful daughter Viivi who will join us to perform.”
“As the Echoes Of… project flows along, the collaborative tour approach is a strange but potentially really wonderful experimental approach to figure out ways to tour in the reality of trying to continue to make music in the world we see today. Japan is the perfect place to try out the first iteration. Echoes Of… Japan.”
First off care to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Andrew Morrison, I live in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Earth, and I’m freezing right now as I just had to pump my flat tire in -34 weather. I’m a part-time lawyer and part-time musician, full-time father, and expert macaroni and cheese lunchtime chef.
Tell us a bit about your recent release.
I am extremely excited/anxious to share this music with whoever happens to hear it. Euphemisms, the album title is like the aftermath of the forest fire, I tried to burn down all the things I felt and thought about music, Covid helped that process, it was dark at the beginning but then just as the sun comes up the next day, rain starts to fall, little sprouts start to sprout, very slow songs started to emerge, a few at first, then more and more. I showed them to some friends and they liked them then I thought I want to share this music for my family and friends to appreciate and love, while also trying to encourage young musicians that you can define your own success in the music world. The release is my attempt to encapsulate these processes. I also would like my great-grandkids to have a musical epitaph of my love they can listen to and hopefully feel some connection.
How do you typically go about the songwriting process? Do you have a specific method or
creative routine that you follow?
Songwriting is like wind and can come roaring out of nowhere then disappear just as fast. I just try to catch the wind when I can. It often happens when my house is either completely silent or complete chaos. I have found that when I make space everyday to try and write and create it seems to flow a bit more consistently. I am exploring this daily routine and enjoying it, not so much to write songs for the world to hear, but to take some time to sit with my soul and see how I am doing. I read that the master Japanese writer haruki Murakami writes ten pages of fiction a day no matter how awful it is. I tried to adopt this concept and write something each day no matter how awful it is. Now I have dozens of awful songs.
Looking ahead, what are your plans for supporting this new release? Are there any upcoming tours, music videos, or additional content that fans can look forward to in connection with this project?
We are touring Japan soon with a great collaborative group or artists. We have released a few music videos that you can check out on the ‘echoes of…’ Instagram. They are medium good. We kind of used this release to learn how to make music videos and will continue to try and find ways to share our art. We really lament social media and the shift in pressure on artists to be ‘personalities’ I think it shifts the process from audiences seeking out art to people often expecting artists and art to be delivered to them RIGHT IN THEIR FACE sharing their work. I think that loses something in our souls – the ability to seek out other interpretations of the world rather than scroll through the options. I also think many of my artist friends don’t want to be personalities, they just want to make art. Bottom line, anyone who reads this go seek out some art.
In terms of live performance, Echoes Of… hopes to be like a mini-festival every show, with artists all coming together and sharing, creating, and expressing work that is rooted in collaboration, love, and life. This is vague and strange but it’s turning out to be very cool with the first iteration being a circus/rock n roll / performative dance tour in Japan.
Looking back on your musical career, is there a particular moment or accomplishment that
you consider a turning point or a highlight?
My musical career has been so fulfilling. Lots of challenges, tears, and bumps on the road, but I am very grateful for all the opportunities me and my little family have been given. I just found a picture of my daughter napping in my guitar case at the Winnipeg Folk Festival and this was the second such picture, another from a few years ago. This relates to my arts career in that my daughters get to grow up surrounded by beautiful artists and arts. Whether they pursue art in their lives or not I am proud to create a life that steeps my little family in music and creation. Our other daughter was born at the music festival and is hesitantly proud of sharing that with her friends.
More specifically when The Jerry Cans played at the Junos, that was a special moment that crystallized the trajectory of that band. In my view that was an important moment for Nunavut music and proudly announcing that it is a hugely essential part of the Canadian and International Music scene.
Last but not least, it’s time to pay it forward, what upcoming band or artist would you recommend your fans check out?
Northern Haze is the greatest band in Canada. If you have heard of them you will agree, if you have not heard of them you will thank me later. This release is partially dedicated to James the lead singer with whom I share a special bond in that we both love and hate the music world at the same time. Love you qiyuapik.
Connect with Echoes Of…:
Instagram