Punk Folk Icon Eugene Ripper Revisits Canadian Classics With Double-A Side Singles “Hallelujah” and “Four Strong Winds”
Eugene Ripper might not be mistaken for Canadian music artists like the late greats Leonard Cohen and Ian Tyson. But the Toronto-based punk folk pioneer has put his own unique spin on their signatures with the gorgeous double-A side release featuring Cohen’s memorable “Hallelujah” and Tyson’s timeless “Four Strong Winds.” It’s a pair of covers which stay true to the originals while also adding subtle but quite tasteful atmospherics and accents to both.
“In the summer of 2024, I emerged from the studio with my take on these two Canadian folk classics featuring a mash-up of analog instrumentation merged with some trippy electronic grooves, beats, and digital soundscapes,” Ripper says. “This approach is not unfamiliar ground for me. Throughout my solo recording career, I’ve had a proclivity to bend, fold, and manipulate sonic structures, and I reckon this stance is projected with this new release.”
Ripper worked with the producer/musician tandem of Charles Austin and Graeme Campbell, the Halifax area duo who are best known for working with Buck 65 on his 2003 Juno Award-winning album Talking Honky Blues. Ripper says both were crucial in getting just the right sounds needed to do justice to such staples.
“Over the years, I’ve worked with Charles and Graeme on multiple projects and it’s always a hybrid approach utilizing analog instrumentation – coming from me and Charles – coupled with Graeme’s mixing prowess and his use of midi, beats and digital elements – stuff Graeme excels at,” Ripper says. “When it came to getting in gear for these tracks, they were my first call.”
Ripper’s alluring, almost trip-hop seasoned approach to Cohen’s “Hallelujah” shines thanks to Ripper’s world-weary delivery while accompanied by backing vocalist Carmen White. Ripper plays acoustic guitar, six-string banjo, and electric bass on “Hallelujah” while Austin adds electric guitar. Campbell provides gentle but great beats and soundscapes. It makes for a highly enjoyable and refreshing listen for over four enticing, intriguing minutes given how often the song has been almost rigidly covered. To put a fresh imprint on such a classic (produced by Ripper, Austin, and Campbell and mixed by Campbell) is proof of Ripper’s ingenuity.
“Ok, for sure, it’s a cheeky idea as the song is well covered – to say the least!” Ripper admits regarding the Cohen track. “That said, I had an angle I wanted to explore in terms of sonic texture…to give the song a conspicuous modern touch with some edge, a trippy beat and a gritty mood – to zig where most other notable versions zagged when it came to the soundscape that surround Leonard Cohen’s brilliant lyrics.”
Meanwhile, Ripper’s version of Ian Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds,” originally performed by Ian & Sylvia on their 1963 album Four Strong Winds but also covered by Neil Young and Bob Dylan among others, is dedicated “in loving memory” to Ripper’s mother.
“It was one of her all-time favorites,” Ripper says. “She told me once the song simply reminded her of Canada — the vast geography and the unique sense of emotional space, anticipation, yearning, and nostalgia it engenders…I couldn’t agree more!”
And just like his invigorating cover of “Hallelujah,” Ripper makes “Four Strong Winds” soar with a soothing arrangement as Ripper’s vocals are front and center. The musician also adds acoustic guitar while White again provides backing vocals. The instrument which puts another unique spin on the proceedings is Austin’s phenomenal baritone guitar accents, giving it an edgier, grin-inducing feel. Toss in the beats and soundscapes by Campbell (who mixed the song himself but produced it alongside Ripper and Austin) and you have another dazzling fresh coat of sonic paint on a masterpiece.
“Again, as with ‘Hallelujah,’ in terms of the sonic presentation, the goal was to create a twist on what has come before by building contemporary sonic face and groove around the core of what makes the song so engaging — in this case the accessible direct emotive vocal melody,” Ripper says of “Four Strong Winds.”
Ripper first gained notoriety as a founding guitarist with first-wave Canadian surf punkabilly rock group Stark Naked & The Fleshtones, and continues to forge new paths in an already illustrious solo career melding roots, rock, punk, and folk. And these singles only hint at what gems Ripper could treat with equal care and love. Given how fantastic both reinterpretations of “Hallelujah” and “Four Strong Winds” are, somewhere Leonard Cohen and Ian Tyson are having a meaningful conversation about Eugene Ripper.