Written up in the north woods, Spencer Burton’s aptly titled North Wind (out now on Dine Alone Records)is a solitary and sparse record that finds the Canadian troubadour in a reflective mood, channelling the stillness and fury of the elements into songs that tug at heartstrings and rattle bones.
“It’s really interesting what pleases the ear, musically, when isolated for a few weeks at a time,” Burton said of his latest. “The only inspiration being yourself and the beauty of true untampered nature. It’s a different atmosphere than what we’re accustomed to. It really helped bring these songs to life.”
Like 2021’s Coyote, North Wind was recorded in Nashville with producer Andrija Tokic, and it sees Burton ease into his songwriting like never before, allowing his music to speak for itself with unfussy arrangements and a raw atmosphere.
“I’m not really trying to write music these days, I’m trying to write good feelings,” Burton said. “I had thought my songwriting days were over, but with the help of this little guitar and a strong want for expressing my gratitude towards the north, I found myself writing again.”
On “Coyote,” Burton recounts an encounter with the titular animal that gave him a sense of hope, a brief respite from the loneliness of farm life. It’s “a song about the farm I call home, but at a time when the only life the farm sees is the flickering flame of a bonfire and whatever that bonfire draws in,” he wrote.
Listen to “Coyote” and stream the rest of North Wind below.