Old Man Canyon premiere their latest single “Run Away” with PopMatters to provide another glimpse at the sun-dappled electronic pop of their sophomore album, A Grand Facade, set for release onNovember 16th. Highlighting singer Jett Pace‘s “hazy, sweet vocals”, PopMatters praise the song for “taking their knack wistful arrangements and quivering synths while delving deeper into an electronic sound.” Pace offered the following explanation for the meaning behind “Run Away”:
LISTEN:
Old Man Canyon – “Run Away”
on PopMatters / Soundcloud
“This song is written as a conversation between someone and their future self, a version of themselves that’s attained all they wish to be and know. It’s the inner dialogue that follows a revelation, and that compulsion to run and abandon everything to avoid real resolution.”
This song follows the album's first single, “Good While It Lasted”, which premiered with Paste Magazine and earned Old Man Canyon acclaim for its “brilliant, sunrise-hailing” sound with comparisons toHomeshake, Mild High Club, and Tame Impala.
Since their formation in 2012, Vancouver's Old Man Canyon have embarked on a series of tours across North America, sharing stages with Foster The People, Boy & Bear, and a sold out tour with Australia's Paper Kites. These opportunities have arisen in part from the prominent placement of the band's songs in TV shows such as Shameless, Suits, and Sons of Anarchy, tying their emotionally resonant music to poignant moments of onscreen drama.
Expanding upon the electronic pop sound of Old Man Canyon‘s 2016 debut album, Delirium, which was produced with Mike Butler (Death Cab For Cutie, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones), every facet of their latest release was recorded by Pace in his Vancouver home studio. A Grand Facade was completed during a trip to the dazzling desert environs of California for a series of jam sessions with Colyn Cameronand members of the JUNO nominated band Wake Owl providing its final flourishes.
On these seven songs, Old Man Canyon’s soft-focus psychedelic pop is infused with lingering melancholy and boogie funk grooves bubbling up below its surface. From the rippling hooks of first single “Good While It Lasted” to the romantic swoon of “Let You Down” and heartstring tugging tempo shifts of “Run Away,” Pace’s buoyant vocals float inside an oasis of shimmering synths, melting in your mind like an ice cream cone on the dash of a spacecraft.
A Grand Facade may sound like a breezy trip through matters of the heart, yet Pace gazes inwards and outwards simultaneously while questioning what truly lies beneath. “Young Again” reveals the upheaval hidden inside the shiny promises of a modern day marketplace of ideas, before “Run Away” finds him battling with a fight or flight response. “No Time To Waste” treads this escape into nature from the chaos of the big city, while “Good While It Lasted” goes one step further, waving farewell to outgrown identities with the liberation of letting go from what holds you back. In the end, “For The Taking” closes the album on another challenging note, asking why we believe there are always blue skies beyond every disaster. Before sailing away, we need to put out the fires that we’ve started close to home.
“This album could be described as a satirical commentary on the state of the world,” says Pace. “Sometimes it feels like everyone is on vacation in their mind, sipping on a mai tai while the world burns behind them. We all turn a blind eye to the nature of things happening around us so I’m trying to bring attention to our inclination to run away from problems and to trust we have the ability to change it. The boat needs to get rocked a bit for people to wake up.”
Old Man Canyon‘s A Grand Facade will be released on November 16th
