Bryce Jardine Unveils 'Lean Years' EP, Premieres Title Track

BY Sarah MurphyPublished Aug 4, 2015

Toronto-based singer-songwriter Bryce Jardine is set to follow up his Serena Ryder-featuring debut album The Kids Are Gone with a new set of songs by the end of summer. Titled Lean Years, the new EP is due out on August 28.
 
The new six-song offering is the result of a period of self-reflection and songwriting inspired by what it's like to be "young, struggling, broke, in love, while hanging on to hope-filled dreams."
 
It's rich storytelling fodder, and the new album hears a more mature Jardine using his "haunting, emotive voice" to deliver the tales told in his lyrics. Keeping things fresh, though, the singer-songwriter also plays with the notion of contrast, twisting "strains of the muscular and stark" with more whimsical sounds.
 
The album was recorded at HawksleyTown Studios with Brad Kilpatrick (Hawksley Workman, Holy Fuck), and features Jardine's band the Parlour Birds — comprised of Michelle Willis, Nathan Gray and Steve Callahan — backing him up.
 
To get a first taste of the new material, Exclaim! is pleased to premiere the title track to Lean Years. Opening on a melancholic folk vibe, the song is buoyed by Jardine's optimistic lyrics and uplifting vocals, as well as the slow-building twang of the guitar and foot-tapping drumbeat.
 
Scroll past the tracklisting for Lean Years and Jardine's upcoming tour dates to give it a listen in the player below.
 
Lean Years:
 
1. No Matter Where You Are
2. Room With A View
3. The Hours I Could Not Keep
4. All Your Best
5. Be Still
6. Lean Years
 
Tour dates:
 
09/03 Windsor, ON – Phog Lounge
09/04 Kemptville, ON – the Branch
09/05 Ottawa, ON – Avant Garde Bar
09/11 Toronto, ON – Silver Dollar *
09/30 Kingston, ON – The Mansion
 
* with full band
 

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