Toronto songwriter Ben VanBuskirk is back with plans for a new album as Blackout Orchestra. The End of the World is due November 1 via Quickfix Recordings, and today, we get our first taste with lead single "Like Spring."
The album came about in the tailspin of back-to-back bad luck, following the dissolution of VanBuskirk's relationship, which happened just before heading out on a tour of Canada and the UK.
"Of course, it hurt like hell, but it was incredibly freeing," the musician shares. "I could do anything — I was on my own in the world, taking in amazing live music, jumping on a plane and playing in the UK, studying absurdism and Buddhism, just throwing myself into life alone — and I wanted to capture that 'anything could happen' feeling in the songs."
"Like Spring" captures that sense of liberty — its lilting instrumentals recalling Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins, and its vocals harbouring a hopeful bent that embodies a suburban yearning for the season change.
Watch the video for "Like Spring" (and keep your eyes peeled for some west-end Toronto locales) below, where you'll also find the album's tracklist.
The End of the World:
1. Prologue
2. The Rapture Parade
3. We Ride On
4. The End of the World
5. It's Not a Party
6. Leaves
7. The Stars
8. Come Undone
9. Breakable
10. Like Spring
11. The Ballad of Market Research
12. Epilogue