A focus not just on what fans hear but also what they see

The album would provide what Durlak calls the “kick in the ass” they needed. Since then, Idée Fixe has released folk rock records by Webb and psychedelic country from the Highest Order, to name a couple. Their focus has largely been Toronto artists and those who are firmly established in the Canadian music industry.

While they’ve had the chance to release music that could bring in bigger paycheques, they say mutual trust between label and artists is paramount.

“It’s such a good foundation for this label to start with lifers,” says McMurrich, noting he’d rather work with his friends than “whatever hip Brooklyn band in spacesuits” is garnering attention online and could be marketed on a wide scale.

McMurrich is an established producer who has co-owned 6 Nassau Studio in Kensington Market since 2009 while Durlak runs Standard Form, a Toronto publishing house and record label. They figured with their combined expertise they ought to be running a label anyway, even if independent labels weren’t exactly thriving in 2011.

“It was the stupidest time to start a record label,” says McMurrich, noting the decline in sales of physical music and the general confusion over how to handle the rapid rise of digital music.

Nevertheless, with McMurrich’s expertise behind the controls and Durlak’s distribution know-how they started releasing the records they knew no one else would. Too Beautiful to Work reminded the pair that releasing a record means releasing a work of art and the focus should not just be on what fans hear, but what they see.

It was the last Idée Fixe record to be released only on CD. All 10 releases since have been on vinyl, all with detailed packaging.

The overhead costs of producing vinyl remain an obstacle, especially considering Durlak and McMurrich run the label themselves and have yet to release that breakthrough song or album with wide-ranging commercial appeal. Idée Fixe might not get millions of plays on YouTube but will pony up for audiophile vinyl releases from Quality Record Pressings in Kansas.

“You want to make your artists money,” says Durlak. “But having the multiple thousand-dollar expense on the budget line is challenging.”

Perhaps their crowning achievement came in 2014 with the release of Castle’s fourth album, the Polaris-short listed Pink City. The record turned the world on to one of Canada’s heavyweight songwriters and Castle was crowned heir to Joni Mitchell’s throne.

“We knew how important a record that was. Not everybody does,” says McMurrich. If theirs was the type of label focused on releasing 20 records a year, Pink City could have been lost in the shuffle.

“There’s so much beyond just making the record. The hard work is once the record is done,” he adds.

This year will see Idée Fixe grow, joining with Sandy Miranda of local punk act F---ed Up for a yet-to-belaunched artist services company and releasing up to six new albums, including the debut full-length from local five-piece Bart and the return of the Highest Order. And naturally, expect more vinyl. “It’s about the artifact,” says McMurrich. “As a record collector, when I find some weird record and dig it out from the past, I always judge it in the same way. There’s a permanence to it. You hope in 20 years people will be finding your records.”

Other Toronto-run indie labels have lapped Idée Fixe in output. Buzz Records and Royal Mountain Records, to name a couple, released more music in 2015 than the lone album, Bry Webb & The Providers Live At Massey Hall, that Idée Fixe put out into the world. But the record’s packaging, complete with red vinyl, 3D cover and 3D glasses, speaks to their mission.

They’ll spend extra bucks if it means creating a piece of art they’re proud of, that represents the place they come from.