Diverse musician and composer Jeremy Rice steps outside of the box with his new and vibrant solo album

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Musician, composer, producer and self-described obsessive creator Jeremy Rice is the type of artist that thrives through variety. 

Upcoming Studio Album

A Ryerson graduate having worked on film composition for television, film and video games, while growing a strong profile in Canada’s music culture through his St. John’s based rock group The Thymes, Rice is fixin’ to broaden his palette once again on his upcoming studio album Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, breaking moulds of traditional singer-songwriters once again. 

“I was sort of shooting for kind of an epic Kung Fu story,” Rice says of the upcoming album, scheduled for release on October 12th. “The music kind of drove the theme and then I just thought the theme was so fun I figured I’d work around that idea for the record. It’s not conceptual from a narrative perspective and you wouldn’t necessarily think that everything is linked. Thematically it’s pretty cohesive and holistically it is still pretty unified.” 

Engineered by Krisjan Leslie at his Lab of Chaos studio in Kilbride, the album presents yet another level for the St. John’s born multi-talented artist who now calls Quebec City home. 

“I try to challenge myself to write a different song every time,” Rice explains. The style is easily identifiable and I think you know that it’s a Jeremy Rice song. I guess where I sort of know that that’s always going to be the case it sort of gives me the freedom to try to challenge myself to sort of break my own mould.”

Talented Artist

Rice’s ability to transition through different modes of entertainment, from composing for film, to television spots and his own solo work, provides a rare opportunity to flex creative muscles few artists attain. 

“It’s gratifying when you look at something and it’s in a different format than what you might be familiar with,” Rice says. “I mean for music it’s been with me since a very early stage. I always liked to tell stories. So I guess maybe when it’s all said and done the actual medium itself is sort of secondary to getting the message across. At the end of it, if you can look at the final product and say that’s the message I wanted to send that’s where you get the most gratification.”

NL Influence

Recalling his decade plus living and working in the hotbed of music and arts in Newfoundland and Labrador, Rice reflects on how influential the vibrant scene was, and continues to be, on his own work. 

“I mean that was really a huge growing period for me. I was so deeply involved in it for 10 years. It’s a unique environment. I’ve never been somewhere in a community that’s so supportive and it’s kind of a self-sustaining thing. We support each other but we’re also challenging each other because there’s sort of this aspect between artists and there’s a respect between artists but also the competition. There’s always somebody coming out with something and you’re always trying to prove that you’ve got something too. It’s an environment where it’s so rich with talent that it kind of breeds creativity and it really pushes people to come up with something new and fresh all the time.”

For more on Jeremy Rice, his work and upcoming album visit jeremyrice.net