r
gg
May 2017 - p.35
“I think my sound has always been a
combination of the folk singers and British
Invasion artists I’ve always admired,” he says.
“At this point, it’s just second nature for me to
write short, melodic songs that say everything
you want to say. But having my band totally
involved on this album maybe brought out more
in the songs than on other recent albums. It felt
special, anyway.”
On the album’s most poignant moments, such
as “Man At The Gate (1913),” there certainly is
a sense—as with all of Sexsmith’s best songs—
that life if often richer than we make it out be,
and we should embrace that. In this case, the
point is made through a photograph taken a
century ago in front of Toronto’s Trinity-Bell-
woods park, conveying the message that
although styles and attitudes change,
we all remain connected through our
shared humanity. It all sprang from
Sexsmith simply buying a postcard
at a shop near his house one day.
“In the photograph, there’s a man
walking by the gates of the park,
and you can barely see him, but
that’s the kind of thing I easily
get obsessed about,” he says.
“I couldn’t stop thinking that
that guy could be me 100
years later, and really could be
all of us. We’re here for a
certain period of time, and
we leave behind these
traces of who we were that
have the potential to inspire
people who come along
after we’re gone. To me,
that’s really beautiful.”
RGG have a
pair of tickets
to give away for this gig at
The Robin on 22nd May.
Just send an email to the
address below with ‘sex’ in
the subject title to be in with
a chance of winning.
MAY
22
r
gg
21
YEARS
1995-2016
