A collaboration between cryptic folk-influenced songwriter Clinton St. John (The Cape May, Pale Air Singers, Florida BC), producer and multi-instrumentalist Morgan Greenwood (Baths), and acclaimed solo artist, animator and illustrator Chad VanGaalen, CG Tears is the result of a trio of veteran musicians embracing mutual admiration and shared inspiration. Unexpected, elliptical, but always accessible, it’s the sound of three singular artists discovering just how well their eccentricities work together.

For the better part of 12 years, CG Tears was an intention more than it was a band. An expression of mutual admiration between songwriter Clinton St. John and producer Morgan Greenwood, the idea of a collaboration was pitched in 2013 but never quite coalesced. Musical ideas were shared, but with Greenwood uprooting himself to Los Angeles and joining the live incarnation of Will Wiesenfeld’s Baths and St. John pursuing his muse through a string of solo releases and a burgeoning visual arts practice, the project never quite found its footing.

That changed after 2020. Back in Calgary, Greenwood joined St. John’s latest project Florida BC, contributing synths to several tracks to their dark, folk-inflected debut. Always a prolific producer, Greenwood took the opportunity to share some of his latest creations with St. John, and this time it stuck. The skittering rhythms and echo-drenched synth pads of the tracks were worlds away from the dirge-like guitars of Florida BC, but they became a minor obsession for St. John, who set to work recording snippets of vocals and fleshing out lyrical themes.

Moving from those initial ideas to finished songs was a process of discovery as much as creation, with St. John acting as musical dowsing rod searching for deeper wells of inspiration. Lyrics and melodies were improvised in stream-of-consciousness sessions, then sent to Greenwood for reassurance and revision. Themes and narratives would emerge from the depths, images suggesting themselves and pointing in unexpected directions. And with each iteration and each refinement, the two were increasingly convinced they’d struck on something special, a stream of impressionistic poetry and IDM production channeled squarely into the realm of pop.

Eventually they had what they felt was a finished album, handing it to multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Chad VanGaalen to make the final mix. VanGaalen agreed to the task but disagreed that the album was done. To his ears, the songs were promising but incomplete, and he asked to take a more active role than just tweaking the mix. The duo indulged the request, and VanGaalen set to work recording additional instrumentation, adding backing vocals, and rounding out arrangements. Whatever skepticism there was quickly fell to the side; once they heard the additions, it was clear that CG Tears was a trio.

The resulting album is an unexpected pop gem. Fusing hazy Warp Records productions with off-kilter hooks and psychedelic undercurrents, it’s atmospheric and elliptical but always accessible. A dozen years in the making, it’s the sound of three singular artists discovering just how well their eccentricities work together.