MICHAEL FEUERSTACK

“Natural Weather” FORWARD MUSIC

May 25. There is a clichéd way to say anything worth saying, so Michael Feuerstack simply looks for the scenic route and tries to enjoy the journey at the same time. On his latest full-length album, Natural Weather, the songwriter wanted to make something gentle and complex: a recording that celebrates music as a refuge from binary thinking - a means to seek wisdom in the grey areas. Recorded at home, Natural Weather offers a deceptively rich palette. Most of the instrumentation is provided by Feuerstack, with Jeremy Gara on drums and violin cameos by Sarah Neufeld. The background singers also figure prominently: Camille Delean shadows Feuerstack in harmony, while Michelle Tompkins and Mike O’Brien glimmer in response. This collection balances Feuerstack’s signature dark humour and empathic inquisitiveness as the songs relax into deep ambiguity around heavy themes: love, death, memory, age, mental illness, intimacy, and ambition.