On March 26 Joshua Van Tassel releases his new album Dream Date (you can pre-order the album from Backward Music). We've been playing it for a couple of weeks and have fallen in love with it. So we thought we'd give you a chance to stream the whole album here to check it out.
Listen to Joshua Van Tassel's Dream Date
Joshua Van Tassel is from Nova Scotia and now lives in Toronto. He is a multi-talented man. Drummer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, his last album was one of our favourites and it looks like he's done it again with Dream Date.
Just the name of the album conjures up a mess of feelings doesn't it? But this isn't your typical dream date scenario, for Joshua that dream date includes one very large gorilla.
Here are two 'dream date' scenes shot and edited by Mitch Fillion for the launch of the CD. That gorilla I mentioned appears in the videos as well:
Cool...and weird.
Here's how Joshua himself described the concept and the album to me:
LB: Tell me about this thing you have with gorillas.
JVT: Ever since childhood I've had a fascination with them; there's something so knowing and super intelligent in their eyes and actions. Even as I child I remember being convinced that they could talk, and were just waiting to be asked a question that they didn't find completely ridiculous and under their intelligence level.
You've had other people talk about their dream dates - now you need to come clean. Who is your dream date?
Fair enough! I'm a lucky man and I actually have 2 dream dates that I get to live with and have dream dates all the time, my girlfriend Kate Holden who is a an amazing contemporary dancer, and my dog Samwise Gamgee. If you look closely at both album covers, you can see that both creatures have a double incisor, which is what she had when she was a puppy.
One track is titled Daniel Craig -- do you think women think of him as the ULTIMATE dream date? What's the story here?
I think the Bond movies have definitely solidified him as a dream date for millions of women. His role is rugged yet sophisticated, and super charming. As I wrote each piece on the record, I tried to picture a really specific scene in my mind to score the music to. Daniel Craig got it's name because I was seeing a classic spaghetti western scenario with a futuristic twist; giant machines, holograms to confuse and deceive, explosions, and in the middle of it all was Daniel Craig, getting completely beaten and bashed in the most nonchalant and non cheesy way.
Now that the album is all done - what surprises you most about it?
I was a bit worried about half way through that the songs were too stylistically varied to make sense together as a cohesive album, but upon listening through now that it's finished it feels like it makes total sense to me. I think I'm surprised that all the pieces fit into place as smoothly as they did.
What have you done differently this time around?
The last album was done in my living room with a minimal amount of gear, and Dream Date was the first record I got to make in my new studio. I had the luxury of having all my instruments around me plugged in and ready, and access to some beautiful gear that sonically helped me raise the bar. I also involved my friends earlier in the process. Devon Henderson, Robbie Grunwald, Dean Drouillard, Jaron Freeman Fox, Justin Rutledge, and Kate Rogers were all a really important part of the sound of this album as collaborators. Having an album context and vision to score each tune to really helped things along as well and gave some focus whenever I'd get a bit lost in what I was making.
Is there a difference between songwriter brain and producer brain?
I think it's a very subjective thing. For me they're definitely connected in a very large way. A lot of the songs I write are very dependent on the soundscape around them, and I'm definitely writing as I'm recording. I do my best to see where the sonics of a particular piece will lead the shape and form of it. Having my own studio and being my own producer gives me the freedom to work that way and make many, MANY mistakes along the way which the song ends up being all that much stronger for having survived through them.
Two vocalist/cowriters on the album - how does working with words change things for you?
I'm a huge fan of lyrics and of vocals, but there's something liberating about instrumental music for the listener. I feel like it's easier for people to draw their own conclusions and create their own story around the song when there aren't words specifying exactly what you should be seeing/feeling/thinking. I'm a big fan of Kate and JR as along writers and lyricists as well, and I knew to trust them completely when it came to writing lyrics that would help enhance the overall feel of a tune without completely overshadowing it and being too direct in a storytelling way. I had a mental storyboard for each piece while writing, but in no way would I ever want someone to feel like that was the only thing story that could be told by that particular piece of music.
Also...if you could give me a line about each track - anything you want to say - that would be fantastic.
Come Home Safe To Me - this tune tells the story of the last of a long line of sea monster hunters who has defend his village from a terrible beast that has taken residence in the harbour. His wife begs him not to go, but it's his destiny and there's no on else left. Good news though, he survives!
The Sharpest Corner - Set in the future, we get to watch from birds eye view a chase scene. A man is pursued through a futuristic maze like metropolis on foot, hover board, and once even a mechanical horse.
The Warmest Heart - Sometime in the not a distant future as the previous, a young girl and her father are on the beach. He's preoccupied with with his cell phone and working, she digs up what looks like a strange mechanical fish skeleton. To her delight and his horror it starts to wriggle and move in her hands, and suddenly the water around them erupts with all sizes of terrifying cyborg type fish creatures. The girls eyes glow red, the father runs terrified away, and she takes her place as master of these creatures. (Justin was a huge help in the development of this story, he really came in to the studio and got weird with me)
Sentimental Health - a party scene in a nightclub of animals dressed in expensive suits served by human bartenders
Bottom of The Well - hundreds of years ago a commoner fell in love with the a princess, and because of their affair, he was cast into an abandoned well on the castle grounds to eventually die. In modern times, the castle is now a tourist attraction, but the ghost of the poor man still haunts the well and screams for help all through the night, every night.
Daniel Craig - as explained above!
I Think You're A Salesman - I left this one open for Kate's interpretation without telling her too much about what I was seeing. I had a very lonely yet hopeful landscape in mind when I was recording the music end, and I think her lyrics capture both vibes perfectly.
Companion - the sound track to a hand in hand walk with your dream date. Perfect weather, sunset, psychedelic plant life, animals that don't exist saying hello. The usual date stuff.
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Enjoy the album! And come out to the CD launches!
Joshua Van Tassel will be performing on April 2 in Toronto at Lula Lounge and April 3 in Montreal at Casa del Popolo. More dates can be found on his website: www.joshuavt.com