Toronto-based artist Aidan Belo's indie folk project His His has announced a new EP called Good Gold Cassette. It arrives November 15 through Victory Pool, and today, you can get a taste of what's to come with new song "Get-Go."
Belo began each of the record's songs on a Tascam Portastudio 4-track cassette recorder, with the original plan to release on digital and cassette only. Its songs are inspired by the artist's father, whom he remembers playing Breakfast in America by Supertramp on cassette while baling hay.
He remembered:
I was fascinated at how this little piece of plastic produced these amazing sounds. At one point when my dad was moving hay while I was sitting in the car, I decided to press eject on the cassette player. I pulled the cassette out and looked at it closely. It made no sense to me, but I saw the little black coils of magnetic tape inside and on the bottom, it was exposed. I started to pull it out and before I knew it, all of the tape was on the floor of the Nissan pickup. When my dad came back inside of the truck, I could see the look in his eyes, and it was then that I first remember the feeling of guilt. He didn't get mad, but I knew I did something wrong. The Supertramp cassette was replaced, and then eventually the cassette player in the truck was replaced by a newer truck with a CD player. To me, it never sounded the same as it did on that old, well-loved cassette that sat out on the dashboard cooking in the sun when it wasn't in the console. That day sparked my love for and interest of cassettes.
Today, Belo shares "Get-Go" from the record, which started off as "a voice memo that had the guitar riff and verse melody, albeit with lyrics that were indistinguishable other than 'I've got a new home,'" Belo said in a release. He continued, "My dad came to Canada in 1991 with a little more than the clothes in his suitcase. It's loosely about the excitement of moving to a new place, a new home."
Listen to "Get-Go" below, where you can also find the EP's tracklist.
While we await the arrival of Good Gold Cassette, fans can catch upcoming shows in Hamilton (Collective Arts, September 27) and Toronto (Great Hall, September 28).
Good Gold Cassette:
1. Sirens from an Apartment Bedroom
2. Get-Go
3. My Friend Wants to Be a Freemason
4. Good Gold
5. Na Madrugada (At Dawn)
6. Cabra
7. Outside