First collection in three years from Charlie Angus-led indie legends reflects our post-pandemic reality
After marking May Day by sharing the politically charged “Barcelona (I’ll Be Free),” Grievous Angels have released Last Call For Cinderella, the group’s first full-length album in three years, available on all digital platforms and Bandcamp.
Many musicians talk the talk when it comes to social justice messaging in their songs, but few walk the walk like the Grievous Angels have for close to four decades. Of course, maintaining that reputation helps when co-founder and principal songwriter Charlie Angus has been an NDP Member of Parliament since 2004, representing the riding of Timmins-James Bay. But the Grievous Angels have always been, and continue to be, a collective unit dedicated to carving out a unique place within the alternative country and folk worlds with songs and live performances that reflect the tragic beauty of life in Canada’s blue-collar northern frontier.
Angus recently announced that he would not be seeking re-election, stating,
“After 20 years fighting for people in the House of Commons, I am returning to my roots. Those roots have always been in music and grassroots activism. You can get a clear sense of how those roots come together on Last Call For Cinderella, which has been called a powerful soundtrack for dystopic times. The band takes on disinformation, the climate crisis, economic uncertainty and addiction while providing a powerful antidote of hope. And it’s a pretty kick-ass record.”
As an artist who has followed in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie, Dylan, Springsteen, Joe Strummer, and Billy Bragg, Angus remains unflinching in his observations of modern society, as heard on many of Last Call For Cinderella’s standout tracks such as “This Is How The City Falls,” Angus’s response to the chaos that resulted from the Ottawa convoy occupation in early 2022.
However, the album runs the gamut of emotions, from the poignant ballad “Close Your Eyes” to the unexpectedly funky “Litany Of The Saints,” co-written by Angus’s old Toronto pal and Broken Social Scene member Jason Collett.
The Grievous Angels’ sound has been evolving through its other voices, Janet Mercier and Alexandra Bell, who are prominently featured on “Barcelona (I’ll Be Free),” as well as “Friday Night,” the story of two lovers coping with addiction. Musical growth is likewise displayed on “The Bells Of Pontecorvo,” a tribute to Canadian soldiers who helped liberate the titular Italian city during the Second World War, and “J’ai Passé la Nuit (sur la cord de ling),” the Angels’ first song in French. But for Angus, the track that best sums up the album is “The Last Wedding Band,” which he describes as the Grievous Angels’ story condensed into a few minutes.
As “The Last Wedding Band” suggests, sticking to their mission has certainly not set the Grievous Angels on the path to fame and fortune, but it has earned them the respect of artists from coast to coast, along with some perks such as recording Last Call For Cinderella at Toronto’s Canterbury Music Company with veteran Grammy-nominated engineer Jeremy Darby. With his expert hand at the controls, the band blazed through four hot days of live-off-the-floor sessions in July 2023, with the sweaty interplay clearly evident throughout the record.
Ultimately, Last Call For Cinderella is the latest pledge from Charlie Angus to be a voice for the voiceless, something he’s done since emerging from the Toronto punk scene in the early 1980s with the band L’Etranger, started with his childhood friend Andrew Cash. Following that group’s break-up, Angus worked with the homeless in downtown Toronto while forming Grievous Angels as a street busking project. The new band soon drew national attention through acclaimed albums such as 1990’s Juno-nominated One Job Town and 1996’s Waiting For The Cage, which the Toronto Star called a “groundbreaking achievement.”
Having played everywhere in Canada, from major folk festivals to picket lines, from touring with Stompin’ Tom Connors to performing for residential school survivors, the Grievous Angels are a national treasure. And with Last Call For Cinderella, they prove that their country needs them now more than ever.
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