Is anybody happy? How does it feel?
Vancouver-based duo Logan and Nathan know a lot about space and distance, and living separately at opposite ends of Canada for a large portion of 2019 has brought out the best in them on their new album The Happening.
Their third release as Logan and Nathan, The Happening finds singer/songwriter/visual artist Logan Thackray and multi-instrumentalist Nathan Turner taking a significant step forward sonically, adding elements such as down-tempo hip-hop and Eno-esque ambience to their traditional folk foundation. The results are stunningly hypnotic, capturing the alternating feelings of discovery and isolation they each experienced during their time apart.
“I was going to school on Haida Gwaii [formerly B.C.’s Queen Charlotte Islands] and then went to work in Eeyou Istchee [in northern Quebec],” Logan says. “Nathan was in school in Vancouver and then took a semester off to work in Eeyou Istchee, but in a different community. Even though being apart for nine months sucked, we did have space to create art and music that can only come from deep reflection and openness to whatever came up. We were both living realities that pushed us to open our hearts and minds, and when we finally did come together again there was a collision of empathy and understanding.”
Upon reuniting in Vancouver in June 2019, the pair immediately began crafting their new musical ideas at Nathan’s home studio, emerging two months later with 10 finished tracks, aided only by Max Ley on drums, Clara Rose on violin and Jen Charters on saxophone. The common thread with the songs was an exploration of their journeys as individuals and as a couple, along with what it means to live in a world that’s on fire. “We started with the songs we love and then a natural arc started to form,” Nathan explains. “We only abandoned a few songs along the way this time; we do a lot of trial and error-style composing and sometimes songs end up going in weird directions. That can be a good thing, but other times you just have to let them go.”
A lot of what The Happening is about is contained on the first single, “Lonely.” Along with its broad musical vistas, it’s a song about our shared desire as human beings to belong to something that makes us feel alive. The song suggests that disconnection extends to the planet itself, as the growing global environmental crisis stands in sharp contrast to the digital bubbles so many of us reside within. Still, connections can often occur through the creation of art, and those opportunities are everywhere around us if we are able to recognize them.
Another key track is “Where Do We Go,” which was directly inspired by Logan’s time on Haida Gwaii and what she learned from the people there about colonialism and oppression. “I wrote that on my banjo with my back against an old-growth cedar tree, sitting on a soft bed of moss with not a soul in sight,” she describes. “A few months later I got a job with an organization called Mikw Chiyam. There I met Rex Smallboy, a legendary Cree rapper, and he taught me a lot through our conversations.
We quickly developed an honest and open relationship, and after I played this song for him, I was honoured when he asked if he could be a part of the recording.”
Learning, growing, evolving—these have been the cornerstones of Logan and Nathan’s musical output, which was something the couple admit they weren’t expecting when they got together seven years ago. At that time Logan was studying anthropology and concentrating on other artistic disciplines, while Nathan was playing in a variety of bands and honing his skills in the recording studio. “Songs just started appearing out of the little jam sessions we’d have after school and work,” Nathan says.
“Our last album developed over the course of about 18 months, as we started bringing some of our friends to help out, and added more layers to the basic tracks. After that we began to take ourselves more seriously and eventually performing as a duo became the main musical focus for both of us. We toured throughout Western Canada and participated in a bunch of festivals, and the response we received was really inspiring. But then we had to separate, which is why The Happening is so meaningful for us. It’s proven our resiliance not only as people, but as songwriters as well.”
The deep connection Logan and Nathan share is palpable throughout The Happening and, ultimately, is what the listener also gets to share. Sometimes the space between us isn’t as distant as we perceive.
