First new music since 2023 from Canadian gothic folk artist was produced by John “Spud” Murphy (Lankum)
After gaining international attention with his self-titled 2023 full-length debut, which KLOF Magazine described as, “traditional numbers filtered through a modern lens,” Mike Tod is raising the stakes considerably on his new single “Lyke Wake Dirge,” recorded at Dublin’s Hellfire Studios with producer John “Spud” Murphy (Lankum, Black Midi), and released to coincide with the season of Samhain, a time meant to commune with departed souls.
Working with multi-instrumentalists Opal Retzer, Keith Rodger and Jeremy Gignoux, Tod relies on traditional musical sources—along with gothic literature and the work of painter Francis Bacon—as merely a starting point to craft stunning soundscapes that transport the listener to the edge of existence, where “the veil is thin” between our reality and the spirit world. It’s an experience that Tod has been working hard to translate into music, and even a cursory listen to “Lyke Wake Dirge” suggests he’s achieved it as well as anyone can.
“There’s a saying in Ireland that a good funeral is better than a bad wedding,” Tod says. “The point of a song like ‘Lyke Wake Dirge’ is to move the spirit from our plane to another plane in a good way. The song itself dates back to medieval times, but the lyrics are older than that. There are references to paganism that may come directly from that age, or were created by people trying to recall a time before organized religion.”
Such subject matter immediately appealed to Murphy, whose reputation is built upon combining experimental and traditional sounds. However, once sessions got underway, Tod describes them as collaborative.
“We wanted to create something that sounded ancient yet futuristic at the same time,” he says. “Spud has a way of layering noise and experimental textures under traditional folk forms. He also created these ‘sound walls,’ where everything builds up until it becomes one big, engulfing sound. ‘Lyke Wake Dirge’ is a good example of that.”
Although Tod has an MA in ethnomusicology, his own music contains a visceral edge that speaks to fans of all genres. The new single has particular personal meaning for Tod, as it marked his return to Dublin where several years prior he found himself literally fighting for his life.
“At that time I was an active addict and alcoholic and was in Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day,” he explains. “I was picked up by the police and wound up in the St. James’s Hospital psych ward. It was truly the darkest point of my life, and after I returned to Canada I went into recovery and have been sober ever since. Returning to Dublin with clear eyes was an intentional choice to exorcise my past, so these sessions became an artistic retracing of my journey into, and back out of, that hellish near-death experience thirteen years ago.”
Having recently moved from Calgary to Nashville, Mike Tod may have conquered his personal demons from the past, but chasing demons in his music is what continues to put him in a unique position among other artists who could be described as producing “gothic folk.” In making such a distinction with those who reinterpret traditional songs, Tod compares it to a postage stamp versus a mural. But at its heart, Tod says of his creative process, “In the face of death, I ended up finding life.”