Ian William Craig has a new album on the way.
Titled Red Sun Through Smoke, the 12-track album was recorded over the course of two weeks in August 2018 in Kelowna, Canada, while the city was encircled by forest fires. You can hear the album’s lead track, ‘Weight’, above.
Having committed to recording that month, Ian sought an alternative location in which to work, and opted to shift his gear across the province to set up a temporary studio space in the living room of a small house owned by his grandfather who was then living in a care facility across the street. Midway through the two-week recording, his grandfather passed away.
"Everything felt raw, I didn’t want there to be anywhere to hide in this record," Craig says of that period. "My parents and I were cramped together in a small house while my grandfather slowly died across the street in a world filled with smoke, after all. So, in this record, more than most, there exist a great many things straight to tape without any effects because there really was no space."
Recording at his grandfather’s house gave Craig access to his piano, which features heavily across the record, alongside his voice, a shortwave radio set, several modified tape decks and a bunch of tape loops.
Red Sun Through Smoke is set for release via 130701 on March 17.
