Edmonton’s EVERETT LAROI releases new live-in-studio EP The Dept. 9 Sessions featuring Richard Thompson cover
Since co-founding Idyl Tea in the mid-1980s, Everett LaRoi has been a longtime presence in Edmonton, Alberta’s alternative music scene, going on to spearhead other projects such as Manraygun and Goldtop.
After re-igniting his solo career in 2025 with the album Morning Stars Mournings Hush, LaRoi is back with a five-song collection entitled The Dept. 9 Sessions that captures him in a live setting, accompanied by his Goldtop partner Alice Kos on vocals and keyboards, drummer Mike Silverman (The Deep Dark Woods, Kacy & Clayton), bassist Tom Murray (Old Reliable, Pal Joey), and pedal steel guitarist Gavin Dunn.
Recorded—as the title gives away—at Edmonton’s Dept. 9 Studios with producer/engineer Stew Kirkwood, the EP consists of new versions of two songs from the 2025 album, “On This Night” and “Stuck In Another Time,” two Manraygun songs, “Jake’s Big Top Lament” and “Go Out,” and one of LaRoi’s longtime live staples, Richard & Linda Thompson’s “Wall of Death,” sung as a duet with Kos.
LaRoi says,
“It was refreshing to simply play the songs live rather than use the meticulous overdubbing approach I’d taken on the full-length album. The sessions were both creatively satisfying and a ton of fun.”
LaRoi’s original intention was to make some live-in-studio videos, which ended up tallying some impressive numbers, particularly in Sweden and Germany. But the quality of the performances, combined with the stellar sound, led him to expand the project into an official release. It was an easy decision to make, since he admits that he’s felt a resurgence of creative energy over the past two years and wants to take full advantage of it.
“With Morning Stars Mournings Hush and this slightly more raw EP, I feel like I’ve completed one chapter, and I’m excited to see where the next one takes me,” he says.
Expanding on that notion, LaRoi adds that his writing has also come to reflect later-life themes of grief, renewal, and the complicated relationship between looking back and moving forward. In that sense, finally recording “Wall Of Death”—a joyous song rooted in hard-earned experience—is a clear reflection of LaRoi’s current state of mind.
At the same time, he maintains that he’s always looking for musical refreshment from new artists, and that ongoing search is sure to become a part of the next music LaRoi produces.