Dillon Currie releases introspective debut solo album Vines of Time
Saskatchewan singer-songwriter Dillon Currie undertook a personal journey of reflection about life during a three-year project to create his 10-song debut solo album.
“I'm really proud of how it turned out,” he said. “It's one of those things where you don't know what it was going to be at the very beginning. It was quite a journey and it was always growing and changing, but I just enjoyed the process of making it so much, and I'm really pleased with the final product.”
The independent release of his fulllength album Vines of Time took place on Sept. 8. The project was an opportunity to explore his interest in songwriting and musical storytelling in a different format than his role as lead singer and co-lyricist of Saskatoon-based rock band League of Wolves. Born and raised in Maple Creek and he now lives in Swift Current with his wife and two children.
“I've always been in bands and I love that,” he said. “Creatively it's very different. There's a lot of collaboration, but with that there's a lot of compromise. I just felt I wanted to see how I wrote on my own.”
The origins of this project can be traced back to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The League of Wolves completed a western Canada tour in February 2020 and shortly afterwards the world became a different place.
“As soon as the shutdown happened in March 2020, I pretty much started working on this,” he said. “I think up until that point, I'd really just been focused on the band. The lockdown kind of gave me permission to work on my own thing for a while. … I learned a lot about myself and it was a bucket list project for me. It was a moment in time where I didn't really have any excuses not to do it.”
He took time to study songwriting and the album therefore is a departure from his rock and roll roots with League of Wolves.
“I just challenged myself to write a little differently and I really wanted to try to write more stories,” he said. “I find sometimes with rock music, it's a little bit more about the feeling of the song and the energy of the song, but it's tough to tell a full story in a rock song. I wanted to try that. I did more narrative songwriting and a little more fictional writing.”
The influences on the album include songwriters such as Elliot Smith, Andy Shauf, Jeff Tweedy from the band Wilco, Andy Hull and Phoebe Bridgers. Their approach includes the creation of fictional tales that are almost like short stories.
“I've had some friends comment on the songs and say it reminds them of bands like Band of Horses or Jeff Buckley,” Currie mentioned. “Those are all major influences on me, and of course the Beatles. They did kind of everything and I've really only sunk my teeth into rock music up until this point. I just wanted to try something different and see if I could challenge myself, and make something that I was proud of.”
Vines of Time is a concept album that takes listeners on a journey from humble, naïve beginnings as a smalltown prairie kid on the opening track In My Town to dealing with the many challenges of life with references to love, loss, trauma, poverty, regret, doubt and accountability. He does not consider the album to be a pandemic record, but those circumstances influenced the content and served as somewhat of a catalyst for the songs and their themes. The album is not autobiographical, but it is natural for a songwriter to be influenced by personal experiences.
“My intent was to not write about myself, but at the same time, there's always so much of you in every character that you're writing and you're borrowing situations and experiences from your life,” he said.
One song on the album, Ghost in the Wind, was written in collaboration with Toronto-based rhythm and blues artist TOVA when Currie participated in SaskMusic's virtual 2021 Canadian Songwriter Challenge.
“That was during the pandemic and it was all over Zoom,” he recalled. “We actually co-wrote that song together, which was a really neat experience. I'm really happy with how that one turned out.”
It was influenced by Currie's first experience years ago of visiting Toronto with League of Wolves, when he saw homelessness on a very visible scale.
“So that was channeling those memories and trying to communicate that life from a different lens in those urban realities,” he said.
He wrote the song In the Wild during a period when his second child was born and the discovery of unmarked graves at residential schools were prominent in the news.
“It's just such a heartbreaking reality of our history and I really wanted to get right,” he said. “So I've never really done more research than I did with that particular song. I read a lot of Indigenous literature and did as much research as I could on residential school survivors. That was just such an important one to me.”
He felt the process of writing the album was a practice in personal self-awareness and identity exploration, and he hopes the songs can help to inspire that process in others too.
“I'm really big into lyrics and into storytelling, and so I do hope people are able to take the time to listen to the stories,” he said. “I love hearing feedback, what people's favourite songs are and what songs connect with them. Anytime people reach out to me to talk about the record, I just love that. I'm excited to play these songs live for people and to connect with people through some live performances as well.”
He was able to record the album with funding support from Creative Saskatchewan and the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings. The album was recorded by League of Wolves bandmate Aspen Beveridge of Skullcreek Studios. Currie feels the result is amazing and the use of a variety of instruments adds a full sound.
“I love the feeling you get when you finish writing a song and you've accomplished something,” he said. “But then the most exciting part for me is taking that raw version of the song and going into the studio with someone you trust. I really trust Aspen and he understands my influences and my tastes.”
Currie will be doing an intimate album release show at The Bethany, located in the village of Hazlet in southwest Saskatchewan, Oct. 6. There will also be an album release show at the Capitol Music Club in Saskatoon, Oct. 7. Thereafter he is scheduled to be the opening performer at a Blenders concert in Swift Current, Nov. 18.
His debut solo album Vines of Time is now available online through his Bandcamp site at dilloncurriemusic.