Gift Idea have detailed their debut EP. The Toronto rock trio will share XS Scumble independently on May 31.
In a release, Gift Idea characterize their debut as "music for the goodness of grief," as songs examine loss while outstretching hands toward hope and ways forward.
The first instalment of a two-part album, the six-song XS Scumble finds the trio of guitarist-vocalist Steven Lourenço (ex-Status/Non-Status, ex-Slurry), bassist-vocalist Patrick McKenna (ex-Slurry) and drummer-percussionist Jonathan Pappo (Ducks Ltd.) joined by guests Eliza Niemi (cello) and Alex Hamlyn of Toronto quartet SAP (saxophone).
The EP is previewed today by "S.A.A.D." — short for "Song About Almost Drowning" — which you can hear in the player below.
Lourenço shares with Exclaim! that the single concerns "gratitude and the wide array of near-grazes/misses" — namely, one of his own.
"(Song About Almost Drowning) outlines a childhood, near-death experience; thwarted by a rescue from my mom," he shares. "It's a look back on first memories of young anxieties, consequence, and acceptance. A strand of peace beginning with the memory of looking up at my mom from underwater as I sank — her, fully-clothed, jumping in to save me; and ending in recognition of new chances."
XS Scumble was recorded live off the floor by Chris Shannon (BART, High Alpine Hut Network) at 500 Keele, overdubbed by McKenna at the TRANZAC Club and at home, and was mixed and mastered by Paul Vroom (Little Kid).
XS Scumble:
1. Aloof
2. Five
3. Misnomer
4. Over Here
5. S.A.A.D.
6. Umwelt