Jon McKiel

On the edge of a golden river there is a small house filled with dark songs. Jon Mckiel makes music that rides that elusive line between feathery folk and a total sludgefest.

Hailing from Halifax Nova Scotia, his previous record The Nature of Things (Wednesday Records), garnered glowing reviews from across North America. Following the album’s release, McKiel toured Canada regularly playing many festivals, bars, churches, halls and sometimes trains, even making a stop to record a session at the infamous “Sun Records” in Memphis, Tennessee.

With the release of his new album, Tonka Warcloud (Youth Club Records, Saved by Vinyl), Mckiel continues to build upon a solid catalogue creating what The National Post calls, “surprising beauty powering through heavy sludge.”

Tonka Warcloud was recorded in The Old Confidence Lodge in Riverport, Nova Scotia. Built in 1929, the building was used as an Odd Fellows Hall until it was recently converted into a studio and venue.

The project was initially a collection of songs, some of which now reside on an ep titled “Confidence Lodge” released in February 2011, a preview to the forthcoming 10 song Lp.

The recording approach often saw Mckiel playing multiple instruments (guitar, bass, synth, considerably large chains, and percussion) over his own voice, building songs in layers late into the coldest nights of winter. This proved challenging since the massive building did not yet have the luxury of heat.

The result treads somewhere between hushed minimalism and crashing dissonence, where the creaks of bones and stair treads find space between layers of fuzzy guitars, lush strings and warm
vocal harmonies.

Tonka Warcloud is released via Saved By Vinyl and Youth Club Records respectively on October 4, 2011.