Vancouver pop explorer Nicholas Krgovich released his excellent In an Open Field album last year. Rather than make us wait another half-decade for more material, he's decided to deliver a brand new LP this fall.
The release is called "OUCH" and sees Krgovich explore a recent breakup. In a press release, Krgovich shared a lengthy piece about how the split informed his writing experience. Here's an excerpt:
I got dumped in the spring of 2017, in a way that made the whole, brief but potent relationship suddenly seem like a bit of a joke. But then some deep, churning, real emotions started to happen and life became hilariously heavy and impossible feeling. The next morning I remember waking myself up before my alarm sobbing loudly into the room. I was in hell, but was also somewhere rolling my eyes at the absurdity of how "on the nose" all this was — grappling with these primal, teenager-y feelings as a person in their mid-thirties! A person who in many ways knows who they are! A person who's already had their Saturn Return! All of it!
At the time I hadn't written any new songs in almost three years. Then, in short order, while at work pathetically pushing a lawn mower, eyes red and bleary, I heard a melody and the first line of something and then the second line and on and on. For weeks I compulsively made up these songs, mainly at work in my head, it was all surprising and extremely comforting. I'd go home and quickly thumb them out on the piano, usually just out of the shower, dripping, wearing a towel, drinking a beer, feeling like a true piece of shit.
It was like this whole ordeal turned on a tap. I'd finish a song in my head and instantly hear the next one. I started to be like "I guess I'm making an album?" So I did. I borrowed a couple mics and rented a compressor, my computer had just died so a friend leant me an old MacBook Air. I made this thing at my house, pretty quickly. Turning my small place into a jumble of wires and cords and instruments and gear. Endlessly unplugging the noisy fridge during takes and reaching around to plug it back in. As an aesthetically driven monster I usually keep my place pretty tidy and organized so it felt alien and new to just let the place become feral and unruly. Outsides matching the insides and all that.
Thinking about it now, the whole thing was a pretty damn heartening experience. Having this recording project happen, haphazardly and out of necessity, constantly doing, not really thinking, spacing out, having friends pop over to sing and play and drink gin and bring their gentle wisdom while I whined about my feelings. I felt very loved and supported during a time where I could not have been harder on myself or felt more grotesque or impossibly unloveable. Making this album gave shape to a life event that just felt like this big sad unanswerable blob.
"OUCH" arrives October 26 via Tin Angel Records. Album opener "Rosemary" can be streamed below.
"OUCH":
1. Rosemary
2. Time
3. Hinoki
4. Spa
5. Goofy
6. Belief
7. Guilt
8. Dog
9. Rejection
10. Lido
11. October
12. Field
The release is called "OUCH" and sees Krgovich explore a recent breakup. In a press release, Krgovich shared a lengthy piece about how the split informed his writing experience. Here's an excerpt:
I got dumped in the spring of 2017, in a way that made the whole, brief but potent relationship suddenly seem like a bit of a joke. But then some deep, churning, real emotions started to happen and life became hilariously heavy and impossible feeling. The next morning I remember waking myself up before my alarm sobbing loudly into the room. I was in hell, but was also somewhere rolling my eyes at the absurdity of how "on the nose" all this was — grappling with these primal, teenager-y feelings as a person in their mid-thirties! A person who in many ways knows who they are! A person who's already had their Saturn Return! All of it!
At the time I hadn't written any new songs in almost three years. Then, in short order, while at work pathetically pushing a lawn mower, eyes red and bleary, I heard a melody and the first line of something and then the second line and on and on. For weeks I compulsively made up these songs, mainly at work in my head, it was all surprising and extremely comforting. I'd go home and quickly thumb them out on the piano, usually just out of the shower, dripping, wearing a towel, drinking a beer, feeling like a true piece of shit.
It was like this whole ordeal turned on a tap. I'd finish a song in my head and instantly hear the next one. I started to be like "I guess I'm making an album?" So I did. I borrowed a couple mics and rented a compressor, my computer had just died so a friend leant me an old MacBook Air. I made this thing at my house, pretty quickly. Turning my small place into a jumble of wires and cords and instruments and gear. Endlessly unplugging the noisy fridge during takes and reaching around to plug it back in. As an aesthetically driven monster I usually keep my place pretty tidy and organized so it felt alien and new to just let the place become feral and unruly. Outsides matching the insides and all that.
Thinking about it now, the whole thing was a pretty damn heartening experience. Having this recording project happen, haphazardly and out of necessity, constantly doing, not really thinking, spacing out, having friends pop over to sing and play and drink gin and bring their gentle wisdom while I whined about my feelings. I felt very loved and supported during a time where I could not have been harder on myself or felt more grotesque or impossibly unloveable. Making this album gave shape to a life event that just felt like this big sad unanswerable blob.
"OUCH" arrives October 26 via Tin Angel Records. Album opener "Rosemary" can be streamed below.
"OUCH":
1. Rosemary
2. Time
3. Hinoki
4. Spa
5. Goofy
6. Belief
7. Guilt
8. Dog
9. Rejection
10. Lido
11. October
12. Field