Newfoundland & Labrador’s Weary explores the sonic pangs of heartache through the atmospheric stylings of sophomore album, Hush. Complete with emotive, lingering guitars and swooning melodies that, as described by creator Kate Lahey, offer up songs of loving, losing, longing and change. 

Following up their acclaimed debut album Feeling Things, which was nominated for MusicNL’s Alternative Album of the Year in 2018, Hush continues the trajectory for a project equal parts emotionally resonant and artistically striking. 

A nominee for MusicNL’s Rising Star of the Year in 2018 as well as earning a 2016 long listing for the Borealis Award, and with noted performances at East Coast Music Week Rising Star Stage, Flourish Festival, Bloom Fest, Lawnya Vawnya, Halifax Pop Explosion, Out of Earshot Festival, and MusicNL week, Weary’s trajectory continues to rocket skyward, as does their way around a tune that tugs at the heartstrings as well as engaging the mind.

Lahey caught up with The Herald for the latest in our album deep dive series, diving into the inner workings, and meaning, behind Weary’s Hush. 

Big Love 

This song is about struggling with mental illness, particularly watching a loved one struggling with mental illness and feeling both helpless and full of hope for their beauty, resilience and spirit. This song is about how we can feel trapped or limited by our minds, while our hearts are overflowing. 

Body 

This song deals with intergenerational loss from my perspective as a Newfoundlander. I wrote this song after my maternal Nan passed away, who I loved dearly. Making sense of the ways the memory moves across generations, how we hold multitudes, I attempt to work through my desire to remain connected to all that came before me, particularly my ancestral relationship to this island. 

Broken Window

Working through my relationship with my teen years, particularly my relationship with addictions, this song explores how loss and longing shaped my experience with trauma as a young person in Newfoundland. Images of smoking cigarettes, listening to The Strokes, skateboarding and even overdosing lace this song with fragments of memory that reflect the effect of brokenness I felt at that time in my life. 

Twin Flame 

Chris Meyers, who is the guitarist for Weary and also a co-vocalist on this song, is also my partner. It has been a long journey of finding how music fits into our relationship and how our relationship fits into music. This song was a really special opportunity to have those worlds interact creatively as we reflect on the many expressions of our connection. 

Trust

Trust explores a moment where my past and future collided. Love asked me to take a leap of faith into the unknown, while trauma filled me with fear. Working through a claustrophobic sense of flightiness, trust explores the ways in which our past can overwhelm our desire for a better future. In my search for belonging, security and safety, I found myself scared of the very things I long for because of their unfamiliarity. Trust is not about trusting someone else with your heart, but about learning to trust yourself. 

For all things Hush and Weary visit weary.ca and all official social medias.

Local musician Ryan Snow, a Harbour Grace native now living in South River, is no stranger around a tune. A longtime member of Sheila’s Brush, Snow has branched out solo with his latest effort Tales from the Lighthouse.

Produced and engineered by Brad Tuck with collaborators Ryan Baker and Ray Legere, Snow’s collection is a proper taste of home perfectly paired with come home year festivities.

We caught up with Snow for an in depth look into the new record for the latest in our album deep dive series.

Sea Legs

This was the first song written for the album. This song was written about an excursion I had with my wife and friends out by Harbour Grace Island trying for some elusive codfish. My friend took us out jigging and the wind picked up after I was whistling. He blamed the wind on my whistling. Nonetheless, the water got choppy and I got feeling a little sick. I had to get brought ashore and then home to lie down. Having ‘Sea Legs’ is a rite of passage for most Newfoundlanders and Labradorean’s, I just didn’t get them. I did finish the song with a better ending than I had, as he became quite proud of the ones that he had grown (unlike myself). 

Tales from the Lighthouse

Modern technology in marine travel is becoming more advanced by the day. The use of lighthouses over the course of time have saved many distressed travelers and fisherman alike. 

This song uses the words “The lighthouse keepers eye’s upon us” referring to the actual light from the lighthouse as a metaphor for the lighthouse keepers watchful eyes.

Audrey’s Adventure

This song came about in a funny way. I was writing music one morning and my little girl, who was six at the time, asked how come I haven’t written a song about her? I told her to grab a scribbler and write down some things she would like to have in her song. 

So in her six-year-old fashion, she had fictional characters like witches and wizards and trolls and dragons, like you would. We created an adventure where she went off in a hot air balloon to see all kinds of magical places to end up finding some unicorns in the sky.

The Storyteller

We all have people in our lives that can captivate us in their stories and keep us hanging on for more. This was inspired by my good friend Jim Pike who’s never stuck for words and my father Wendell Snow who always has a great story to tell. I wrote the song in a type of executive summary style format where two stories are introduced (“Of broken hearts and shattered sails”) and the following verses in the song elaborate on their stories.

Music that Makes Us

This is a tribute to all the great music that has shaped so many of us. I can remember being a kid and my dad would have Irish/Newfoundland music always playing in the kitchen. It has shaped the music I play and the music I love – and now the music I make. The song has a start similar to Simani’s intro in Outport People and takes a turn of its own. In this song there are 29 song references to well-known Irish/Newfoundland folk songs. Some songs are easy to pick out while some others are more difficult. See how many you can able to identify!

Jigs in Full Sail

A great representation of the accordion skills of Ryan Baker. Ryan is from Marystown and has played with the likes of The Ennis Sisters, Natalie MacMaster, and even at Casino Nova Scotia where he performed a tribute to Harry Hibbs. His playing ability is one of the best I’ve ever seen. You can even hear the banjo skills of Brad Tuck following along. Brad’s presence is all over the album with various instruments and vocal harmonies. Brad is a professional multi-instrumentalist and a well-known singer and songwriter. I was fortunate to get introduced to both of these guys and will be forever grateful for their contribution to the album.

Dawn

I had to finish off the album with a sad song I wrote for my aunt that has passed. She was my godmother. She had a lengthy battle with cancer and had it defeated many times. Ultimately, she couldn’t take anymore and succumbed to it. I was asked to play a song at her funeral, but I couldn’t think of a song that would fit, so I wrote this one that evening instead. The day after I had it finished and was prepared to play it, I was informed that I was not allowed to play it in the Catholic Church as it was against their rules. I did play it in the funeral home at her wake and haven’t played it live since then.

Growth. We adapt or we die, and for singer-songwriter Rachel Cousins, adaptation was the name of the game during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rising from promising artist to much in-demand pop-star-in-waiting, Cousins roars back onto the scene with her latest intimate collection of cuts.

Originally set to be completed in the fall of 2020, Cousins’ third studio album Aura is more than the sum of the parts of an artist who is barely scratching the surface of her potential.

But don’t let us tell you. Cousins sat down with The Herald for the latest in our album deep dive series for an in-depth study inside her latest must-listen collection, Aura. 

Hands On Me

Hands On Me is all about that spark and instant gratification you feel with someone from across the room. You want to dance with them, you want to touch them and feel their vibe. Maybe you’re feeling nervous or hesitant, but that vibe is there and you want to act on it.

Don’t Look At Me

This song is all about the after breakup feeling. Feeling like that person is everywhere in your life and you’re still seeing them in everyone and everything, but you know you’re irrelevant to them at this point and that’s what’s most painful.

This Way

This Way is about finally having that love that you’ve been looking for and finally getting what you deserve. Doing things that you’ve always wanted to do with your significant other, and fulfilling the needs you’ve always had after having your heartbroken.

For Myself

You finally acknowledge what you need as a person, but you’re willing to give it to yourself. You’re so independent and confident and you know that you’re capable of giving yourself the love you’ve always given to other people.

Aftermath

This song is about the feeling after almost losing your person. You only wish you could go back before the aftermath of a fight and go back to the way things were.

Here

I wrote this song during COVID, when all I wanted was for my person to be with me. Having somebody that feels like home is something very rare and something to be valued, and that’s exactly why I wrote this song.

Love Language

I wrote Love Language about that need to have somebody that understands what you want and stand for in a relationship. Understanding that you don’t require materialistic things and that you simply need somebody to understand your love language whether that be physically or emotionally.

If You Stay

If You Stay is like a love letter to my future lovers. Letting them know that I do have a lot to say and that there’s so much to understand about me, as long as you stay long enough to really get to know me.

Summer Lovin

This song is super fun and I wrote it about falling in love in the summer and what that feels like. Everyday is so fun and spontaneous.

For more on Rachel Cousins visit her official website rachelcousinsmusic.com and her official artist social medias.

From Shanneyganock and Fairgale to the trappings of a successful solo career, Brad Tuck is one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most tireless artists.

Whether behind the drum kit or standing center stage, Tuck has earned well deserved clout as a multi-talented musician and entertainer, with his first two solo efforts On These Waters and The Rocky Isle earning critical adoration.

Now Tuck is back once more with his latest collection Stages, sitting down with The Herald for our latest album deep dive series for an in-depth exploration into the songs, stories and meaning behind the music.

Madeline’s Might

Madeline’s Might is the first song I wrote for this album. It was written about two years ago, and recorded shortly thereafter. It tells the story of a reliable, old fishing vessel hailing from Fortune Bay, NL. 

The boat may not be new and shiny, but when push comes to shove its crew knows she’ll always guide them through any storm or trouble at sea. Fishermen are some of the toughest, bravest people on this planet, and they rely on their vessels, big and small, old and new, to guide them home after each trip. 

This was my inspiration for Madeline’s Might, a sturdy longliner that will always see its crew returned home safely to their families. It turned out to be a fun, upbeat song, and I figured it was a great way to start the album.

Irish All Along

This song features a melody I had been working on for quite some time. I could never find suitable lyrics or the right song idea to fit this melody so I sat on it for a couple of years. A good friend of mine, Ryan Snow, recorded a song several years ago with his band, Shiela’s Brush, called Irish All Along. 

We were speaking about that song one day and I began humming those words to the melody I had been banking for a while. That night I started writing lyrics focused on a hardworking Irishman, a jack of all trades, who had relocated to Boston. A young lady finally discovers his secret one evening, that he had indeed been Irish all along. It was a really fun track to record, with a unique instrumentation section in the middle featuring Kitchen Parti’s Terri Lynn Hickey on tin whistle.

Stages

This is the final song I wrote for the album. I had been stuck on nine songs for a while and knew I needed to write one more song to round out the album. My fiancée was seven months pregnant at the time and was off having her baby shower in New Harbour. I wrote this song on my father in law’s guitar as I passed the afternoon away.

The opening line of this song is particularly important to me. A lasting childhood memory for me growing up in Hant’s Harbour is the sight of bed sheets blowing in the wind on my mothers clothesline, which ran from her steps down to a pole in her garden, where two lilac trees bloom each spring. 

My father’s old blue Ford F150 would sit in the driveway next to the steps, and in the breeze the bedsheets would often flail across the hood of the pickup. I don’t know what was so pivotal about that but it always stuck with me, and I’m happy to have that memory included in this song.

The title, Stages, touches on two points. First, there’s the obvious nod to old fishing stages and the role those buildings played in many of our childhoods, mine included. Many life lessons were learned in those old buildings, passed down from one generation to the next. 

Secondly, the title refers to the stages of our lives. From child to parent, from parent to grandparent, and so on. It all happens so fast, and it’s up to each generation to eventually pass the things they learned as children onto their own children. 

So as we all make that transition from student to teacher, “It seems we all wind up back in stages after all.” I thought this message was pretty powerful, and after some thought I decided to name the album Stages as well.

The Red Violin

I had been wanting to write a song about the life-cycle of an old instrument for a while. I decided to focus on a violin and with Remembrance Day approaching in 2020 I tied the violin’s story to that of a veteran. In the lyrics, this violin had been passed from the veteran’s grandfather to his father and then to him, and he played it with pride. After a war injury prevented him from playing any longer the violin sat on a shelf for years, only to eventually get a second chance at life due to a chance meeting.

It’s the first song I’ve written in 3/4 timing and it was a new approach for me. I’m quite happy with how it turned out – perhaps my favourite of all the songs I’ve written thus far.

Battle Harbour Bound

“Just a family man with two keen hands for a waltz around the stove.” My Grandfather, William Pitcher, was a cook by trade. He would travel on The Kyle to Frenchman’s Island and Battle Harbour, a thriving fishing port during those days off the coast of Labrador, to cook for the fishermen there. I thought It’d be a neat idea to write a song about that. 

Most Newfoundland songs revolve around fishing and fishermen, so I thought it’d be a unique angle to write a song about the people who fed the fishermen. Although he had passed away before I was born, my mother and Uncle often speak of my grandfather’s trips to Battle Harbour when they were children. 

Today, Battle Harbour is a raging tourist destination. I’ve been in contact with the Battle Harbour Trust and I hope to visit there next summer to perform.

Tie Me Down

I worked on an album with Jacob Lewis a few years ago, a terrific singer/songwriter from Bay Roberts. 

We became great friends through that process and I was eager to collaborate on a track. One day Jacob played me his version of an old Ryan’s Fancy song that caught my ear. Penned many years ago by Allister MacGillivray, the song was right up Jacob’s alley. I began working on my own arrangement and asked Jacob to sing it with me, and thankfully he was quick to agree. I’m very happy with the end result and I hope to team up with Jacob for a live show sometime soon.

Three Fishers

These lyrics were originally a poem, written by English poet and Priest, Charles Kingsley in 1851. The poem was adapted to music many times through the decades, and I heard a lovely version by Stan Rogers a couple of years ago. I thought the song would be a perfect finishing track to this album. It’s a somber tale of three fishermen who go to sea never to return, and the resulting impact their loss has on the ones left behind. 

It’s a reminder that although we may sing plenty of light-hearted sea shanties, when it comes to earning a living from the sea, there are numerous tales of loss and sadness as well. I was happy to have Gabie Toner-Godbout perform cello, and my good friend, Stephen Green, perform piano on this track.