Just under a year after Dustin Bentall delivered his album Orion, the rootsy BC-based musician has announced its follow-up, titled You Are an Island. The record arrives July 2 through Aporia Records.
A press release notes that the LP is a sister record to Orion, and re-teams Bentall in the studio with producer and pal Ryan Dahle (Limblifter, Age of Electric). This time around, though, Dahle was apparently given carte blanche to help steer the solo artist away from the rest of his alt-country-leaning catalogue.
Bentall explained in a statement: "When we decided to work together, the next day I brought my other two records to the studio and Ryan just buried them on the shelf and said: 'Just so you know, I'm not gonna listen to those. I don't want to be influenced by them at all.'
"He would criticize melodies, lyrics, anything he thought of," Bentall continued, claiming that Dahle "pulled us away from the 'root/five' standard kinda country song."
You can sample the results via the shots-pounding, folk-punk-flavoured single "Shine" in the stream down below, as well as the semi-recent video for the album's title track, which is also included on the CD edition of the set.
Along with his backup band the Smokes, Bentall was joined in the studio by Mother Mother's Ryan Guldemond and fiddler Kendel Carson (Belle Starr, Outlaw Social).
Bentall starts a tour tonight (June 6) in Halifax and has club and festival gigs booked across North America until the middle of August. Along the way, he'll play shows with the likes of John Prine, Mother Mother and his father Barney Bentall. You can check out the itinerary beneath You Are an Island's tracklisting.
You Are an Island:
1. Every Chord That Rings
2. Just Be My Friend
3. Shine
4. Dreaming Of A Nightmare
5. You Are An Island
6. Shalala
7. Oxford Street
8. Pretty Good Life
9. You Are An Island (video)
Tour dates:
6/6 Halifax, NS - Deltas in Halifax
6/8 Sydney, NS - Flavour 19
6/9 St. Peters, NS - The Loft in Rockdale House
6/15 Vancouver, BC - Zulu Records (in-store)
6/15 Vancouver, BC - Malkin Bowl *
6/22 Portland, OR - Oregon Zoo Amphitheater ^
6/23 Seattle, WA - Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheater ^
6/27 Toronto, ON - Dakota Tavern $
6/28 Barrie, ON - Clarkson Pub
6/29 Peterborough, ON - TBA
6/30 Wakefield, QC - The Blacksheep Inn
7/3 Charlottetown, PEI - The Factory Cookhouse
7/4 Halifax, NS - The Carleton #
7/5-7 Canso, NS - Stan Rogers Festival
7/11 Calgary, AB - The Palomino
7/12 Edmonton, AB - TBA
7/13 Peace River, AB - Peacefest
7/20 Clinton, BC - Outdoor
8/8 Squamish, BC - Squamish Valley Music Fest
8/9-10 Edmonton, AB - Edmonton Folk Fest
8/17 Christina Lake, BC - Living Arts Centre
* with Mother Mother
^ John Prine
$ with Leeroy Stagger
# with Barney Bentall
A press release notes that the LP is a sister record to Orion, and re-teams Bentall in the studio with producer and pal Ryan Dahle (Limblifter, Age of Electric). This time around, though, Dahle was apparently given carte blanche to help steer the solo artist away from the rest of his alt-country-leaning catalogue.
Bentall explained in a statement: "When we decided to work together, the next day I brought my other two records to the studio and Ryan just buried them on the shelf and said: 'Just so you know, I'm not gonna listen to those. I don't want to be influenced by them at all.'
"He would criticize melodies, lyrics, anything he thought of," Bentall continued, claiming that Dahle "pulled us away from the 'root/five' standard kinda country song."
You can sample the results via the shots-pounding, folk-punk-flavoured single "Shine" in the stream down below, as well as the semi-recent video for the album's title track, which is also included on the CD edition of the set.
Along with his backup band the Smokes, Bentall was joined in the studio by Mother Mother's Ryan Guldemond and fiddler Kendel Carson (Belle Starr, Outlaw Social).
Bentall starts a tour tonight (June 6) in Halifax and has club and festival gigs booked across North America until the middle of August. Along the way, he'll play shows with the likes of John Prine, Mother Mother and his father Barney Bentall. You can check out the itinerary beneath You Are an Island's tracklisting.
You Are an Island:
1. Every Chord That Rings
2. Just Be My Friend
3. Shine
4. Dreaming Of A Nightmare
5. You Are An Island
6. Shalala
7. Oxford Street
8. Pretty Good Life
9. You Are An Island (video)
Tour dates:
6/6 Halifax, NS - Deltas in Halifax
6/8 Sydney, NS - Flavour 19
6/9 St. Peters, NS - The Loft in Rockdale House
6/15 Vancouver, BC - Zulu Records (in-store)
6/15 Vancouver, BC - Malkin Bowl *
6/22 Portland, OR - Oregon Zoo Amphitheater ^
6/23 Seattle, WA - Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheater ^
6/27 Toronto, ON - Dakota Tavern $
6/28 Barrie, ON - Clarkson Pub
6/29 Peterborough, ON - TBA
6/30 Wakefield, QC - The Blacksheep Inn
7/3 Charlottetown, PEI - The Factory Cookhouse
7/4 Halifax, NS - The Carleton #
7/5-7 Canso, NS - Stan Rogers Festival
7/11 Calgary, AB - The Palomino
7/12 Edmonton, AB - TBA
7/13 Peace River, AB - Peacefest
7/20 Clinton, BC - Outdoor
8/8 Squamish, BC - Squamish Valley Music Fest
8/9-10 Edmonton, AB - Edmonton Folk Fest
8/17 Christina Lake, BC - Living Arts Centre
* with Mother Mother
^ John Prine
$ with Leeroy Stagger
# with Barney Bentall