Shipwreck Radios get loud with debut album
Lynn Jackson’s love of ‘90s alt-rock is clear with new side project
Forget everything you thought you knew about Lynn Jackson.
Anyone familiar with the Kitchener alt-country singersongwriter’s body of work will have to check their preconceptions at the door of the Boathouse on Friday, Nov. 9 for the CD release party of “Shadows Fall,” the first album from her new full-band side project, Shipwreck Radios.
Though Jackson wrote all nine of the songs on the group’s debut, the album is a far cry from the rootsy acoustic folk of her previous nine records. With Shipwreck Radios — whose lineup also includes local scene veterans Ryan Allen (the Miniatures, Romeo Sex Fighter) on lead guitar, and Elliott and the Audio Kings rhythm section Scott Fitzpatrick and Jonny Sauder on bass and drums — Jackson reveals a previously unheard affection for loud and shaggy rock ‘n’ roll inspired by the alt-rock section of her record collection.
“People would maybe never guess from my previous albums — they’re fairly rootsy and folky, which I love that stuff obviously — but my favourite era of music is ‘90s alternative rock,” she said in a phone interview this week. “I have a soft spot for that kind of music, like PJ Harvey, Mazzy Star, Jesus and Mary Chain, Radiohead, stuff that was straight-ahead rock, too, just a little bit heavier. I really loved all that stuff and I wondered if I could actually pull off making a record that sounded like that. So that was my initial goal, was to try to write songs that sounded like it might have come out of that era.”
Jackson originally started writing the songs that ended up on “Shadows Fall” back in 2012, a couple of years after she bought her first-ever electric guitar.
“In the beginning, I was just experimenting with the electric and trying different sounds and eventually collecting more and more pedals, and just trying to experiment with the way the guitar sounded in a way that I had never really experienced before, because I had always written on an acoustic without any effects,” she said. “It was definitely different learning to play electric. Immediately, since you’re playing a different kind of instrument, it’s already a different kind of approach.”
Though the original lineup Jackson put together to record the songs “fell apart” for a variety of reasons in 2014, she soon recruited old friends Allen, Fitzpatrick and Sauder to jam, and the group eventually recorded “Shadows Fall” over three nights at Studio A in Kitchener with engineer Chris Colvin.
Released on Busted Flat Records, the album’s many highlights include the moody PJ Harvey-like opener, “Waves,” the “menacing” vibe of “Deep Dark Woods,” whose trippy coda wouldn’t sound out of place on Radiohead’s “OK Computer,” the beautifully fuzzy “Shipwrecks,” and rocker “Most of All,” which features scorching lead guitar from Allen that fit Jackson’s musical mandate for the record perfectly.
“Ryan’s got this massive, awesome pedal board that’s pretty much the size of a coffee table, and I just encourage him to go wild and experiment, and get loud and noisy and crazy,” she said. “I hope it’s the same way for the guys, but I find it really kind of freeing. None of the songs are very complicated to play, and so it gives people a lot of room to be loud or to experiment. You don’t have to think too hard about what you’re actually playing, and then you can just go for more of a big, loud release.”
Videos for the opening three songs on the album were filmed at Studio A and have already been posted online. Jackson said the early feedback has been positive from friends and fans, with little chance of any Dylan-goeselectric backlash at the album release show next Friday, where the band will also be playing a selection of ‘90s covers.
“The response has been really good from a lot of people I’ve known for a long time. I think they’re surprised and they really like it. And I think the fun thing is, you can come out to this show and you can get up and dance,” she said, although for the first time in Jackson’s career, people might want to think about bringing earplugs.
“This’ll be the loudest show I’ve ever played in my entire career,” she said, with a laugh. “In 20 years, this is going to be the loudest show I’ve put on, and it’s really fun.”