Tuesday, November 30, 2021
8:00 pm, doors open at 7:30 pm
CMC Presents: Stranger Still // Country Phasers
The CMC Presents concert series, curated by composer Nick Storring, is thrilled to showcase two innovative Canadian groups in the Chalmers Performance Studio, each exploring folk traditions through the lens of experimentalism.
Led by composer Pete Johnston (guitar), Stranger Still features the interwoven vocals of Randi Helmers and special guest Laura Swankey, with bassist Rob Clutton providing the low-end foundation. Together they offer a distinctive take on songcraft that embraces multiple genres and musical eras, as well East Coast poetry.
Country Phasers is a new project from beloved Toronto improviser Kurt Newman and filters its namesake genre through its performers’ boundless sonic curiosity. He’s heard on pedal steel guitar alongside bassist Andrew Furlong and Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone).
Join us for an evening of contemporary Canadian music in-person or together online with a livestream from the performance space.
Ticket price:
General Admission. $15 Advance / $20 at the door
CMC Members and Arts Workers. $12 Advance / $15 at the door
Students. $10 anytime
Venue:
Canadian Music Centre
20 St. Joseph Street
Toronto, ON
M4Y 1J9
416-961-6601 x202
COVID-19 Safety Information:
The health and safety of our staff and all visitors continues to be of the utmost importance to us. As we begin to welcome audiences back to our venue, we are following the guidance provided by Ontario public health guidelines.
Please note the current Ontario Government proof of vaccination requirement. As of September 22, patrons must provide proof they are fully vaccinated along with identification. This is a masked event with limited seating.
CMC staff will be onsite to welcome you, and we ask that you kindly follow their direction and guidance at all times.
_____________________________
Bios:
Stranger Still is a song project that explores the words of Hants County Nova Scotia-born poet Alden Nowlan (1933-1983). Composer Pete Johnston pairs Nowlan’s rural lyricism with music that combines plainspoken folk singing with medieval counterpoint, minimalism, progressive rock, and Scandinavian folk music. The resulting songs are either deceptively odd or deceptively straightforward, reflecting Johnston’s interests in exploring how his roots in the musical culture of rural Nova Scotia have shaped the music he has made over the last two decades in the big city.
Pete Johnston – bass, guitar, composition
Pete Johnston is a Juno Award-winning bassist and composer. He was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and studied composition and bass at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Following a two-year tour of North America with the Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra, Pete moved to Toronto in 2001 to pursued graduate studies in composition and ethnomusicology at York University. After completing his doctoral studies in 2010 Pete resumed his post behind the bass, studying with renowned bassists Barre Phillips and Gary Peacock and performing in numerous groups around Toronto including Muskox, Aurochs, and his own groups See Through Trio, See Through 4, and See Through Two. Pete currently teaches music at Ryerson University and University of Toronto.
Rob Clutton – bass
Rob Clutton is a composer/performer with two solo bass recordings, Dubious Pleasures and Suchness Monster, on the Rat-Drifting label. In 2015 the Cluttertones released Ordinary Joy, a recording of original compositions, on the Healing Power label. Earlier independent releases of original compositions include Holstein Dream Pageant and Tender Buttons. Rob has participated in collaborative projects including Handslang, This Moment, Drumheller, Clutton/Michelli/West, Kavli, and Sweet Session. As a side person, other long- term projects have included Stranger Still, the Steve Koven Trio, NOJO, John Millard and Happy Day, Lina Allemano’s Titanium Riot, and the Ryan Driver Sextet. Touring with these and other projects has included Europe, Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Ecuador, The Caribbean, and Japan.
Randi Helmers – voice
Randi Helmers has been performing as a professional actor and singer across Canada and Europe for the past 35 years. Selected theatre credits include: The National Art Centre of Canada (2006-2012), Caravan Farm Theatre (1990-2017), Canadian Stage (2015),The Stratford Festival of Canada (2003), and Nightwood Theatre/Aveny-T Copenhagen (2002-2007). As a singer, Randi has recorded two albums and toured with the Canadian band John Millard and Happy Day. Selected festival engagements include: Canwest Cabaret at The Young Centre, Toronto (2008-9), Regina Folk Festival (2004), Frostbite Festival, Whitehorse (2001), Festival d’Ete, Quebec (2000). Currently, Randi performs at festivals, concerts and clubs in the duo Sweet Session with bassist/composer Rob Clutton, whose repertoire is Shakespeare sonnets arranged for voice and banjo, and with Stranger Still, whose repertoire is based on the poetry of Alden Nowlan.
Laura Swankey – voice
Vocalist, composer, and improviser, Laura Swankey (she/her) is known for her artistry, versatility, vocal aptitude, and creative spirit. As a settler, she is grateful to live and work in Tkaronto, on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat First Nations. Laura has worked with artists such as Juno award-winner Mike Murley, Poet Laureate Dennis Lee, Christine Duncan, Mark Feldman, and Ralph Alessi, and has premiered works by Juliet Palmer, Lieke van der Voort, Tova Kardonne, Elio Villafranca, and Mike McCormick. Along with her solo project for voice and electronics, Laura has been collaborating and touring throughout Canada, Scandinavia and parts of America with Proxemics, Elisa Thorn’s HUE, Plastic Babies, Jazz Bras Dot Com, Dr. Purgatory, and Star Triptych. In 2018, Laura joined the University of Toronto and Humber College as an instructor in their respective music departments.
_____________________________
Country Phasers is a new project, dedicated to exploring the electronic side of C&W minimalism (a genre with which Kurt Newman has concerned himself for some time, most notably in the Nashville Minimalism Unit). Newman’s pedal steel guitar occupies a central role, along with weird loops, errant drum patterns, insistent harmonicas, and assorted digital errata. The Country Phasers self-titled debut record will be released by the Rat-Drifting label early in the new year.
Kurt Newman is a guitar player, improviser, composer, and writer who lives in Toronto, Canada. A co-founder of Toronto’s Ulterior Music Series in the late 1990s, as a young person Newman played extensively within the North American improvising community. At the same time, Newman established a long-running musical friendship with the composer Martin Arnold, holding down the steel guitar chair in Arnold’s chamber ensemble Marmots. (A document of Newman’s compositional project with Ryan Driver from this time, The Golden Melody Awards, has recently been issued by the Rat-Drifting label).
A move to Texas in the early 2000s found Newman playing with Sarah Hennies, Sandy Ewen, and Aaron Russell in the Weird Weeds and working with Chris Cogburn to get the No Idea Festival up and running. Since returning to Toronto a few years ago, Newman has revived old partnerships and explored brand new ones, playing often with Brodie West, Nick Fraser, Rob Clutton, Karen Ng, Mira Martin-Grey, Andrew Furlong, Blake Howard and the many brilliant denizens of the wider Tranzac Club-based weird music community. He is a member of Eucalyptus, the Dun Dun Band, Helicopter Money, and the Alison Cameron Trio.
Andrew Furlong is an upright and electric bass player and an active member of the Toronto music scene. He has performed with Ken Aldcroft’s Convergence Ensemble, The Holy Gasp, and Skye Wallace. Andrew is a member of Archives of Eternity with Mark Hundevad and Mike Gennaro, plays in Kurt Newman’s Nashville Minimalism Unit, and Glen Hall’s Ossingtones. Andrew’s patient, physical solo performances are the forefront of his artistic practice. He can be found improvising in small groups with some of Canada’s most creative musicians in Toronto, and across North America. Doit, his duo with trumpet player Emily Denison, released their first record Labour of Luck on Withdrawn Records in January 2019.
In July 2018 Andrew received the Chalmers Professional Development Grant from the Ontario Arts Council to study with bassist Mark Helias in New York City. In November 2019 he worked with Han Bennink and the Instant Composers Pool in Den Haag, Netherlands on a grant awarded by Canada Council for the Arts.
Kayla Milmine loves the new and under-explored sonic possibilities that only the soprano saxophone can offer. Her unique approach has the edginess and brashness of Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell yet also a warmth and thoughtfulness reminiscent of Steve Lacy. In 2019, Milmine released a solo album called ‘Straight Horn Magick; a mixture of field recordings and solo soprano saxophone improvisations. She plays regularly in trio form with pianist Bill Gilliam and percussionist Ambrose Pottie, and in duo form with guitarist/composer Brian Abbott in their band FASTER. In February 2019, she was invited to record with celebrated bassist, William Parker in a chamber-improv sextet in NY, where she often travels to study with mentor/collaborator, Sam Newsome. She is presently composing for her new project, the ‘Kayla Milmine Quartet’ with aforementioned Sam Newsome, and drummers Mark Ferber and Rachel Housle. She is co-founder of the Women From Space Festival in Toronto.
