Shuyler Jansen

Nothing is as it seems in Shuyler Jansen's songs. I knew that from the first time I really heard his voice on an album called Pulse of Light/Dark Landscape that his band Old Reliable released in 2002. The songs were driven by a desire to know the unknowable; to break down what one sees on a daily basis into its essential elements; to journey to a place you're not sure is safe. Jansen continued on that journey in 2004 with his first solo album, Shuyler Jansen's Hobotron, a bold hybrid of folk and electronica.

Jansen continued on that journey in 2004 with his first solo album, Shuyler Jansen's Hobotron, a bold hybrid of folk and electronica. The pendulum swung back to the rootsier side of his personality for 2007's Today's Remains, recorded in Vancouver with producer Steve Dawson firmly at the helm. It was Jansen's first work after the demise of Old Reliable, and that sense of starting fresh was all over the album.

It has all led up to Voice from the Lake?two years in the making, but by far Jansen's strongest statement yet as a solo artist. He chose to record in Vancouver again, although this time, significantly, with the city's finest purveyors of pop-rock, John Collins and Dave Carswell, otherwise known as JC/DC, the sonic architects of modern classics by the New Pornographers, Destroyer, Tegan & Sara, Nardwuar & the Evaporators, and others. The album's release on Vancouver's Scratch Records also marks the label's 20th anniversary. Jansen joins a roster that over those two decades has included Black Mountain, Frog Eyes, and Thor.

As Voice from the Lake's brooding opening track, ?Can't See through Tomorrow,? demonstrates, the subtleties that JC/DC were able to recognize in Jansen's songs have led to even more powerful results. Other contributors to Voice from the Lake include Neko Case's collaborator and guitarist Paul Rigby, who most recently was part of Jakob Dylan's Three Legs band. As well, former Old Reliable drummer Mike Silverman, legendary Vancouver keyboardist Ford Pier, and members of The Deep Dark Woods all give standout performances.

Jansen will be joined on tour in support of Voice from the Lake by a new backing band called Foam Lake, comprised of the four Ross brothers, well-known figures within the Canadian music scene. As Jansen explains, each record he makes seems to mark a new beginning, but, more than ever, this time it's for real. ?Finishing this record has given me a huge sense of both happiness and relief. I almost feel like I did in my late teens and early twenties in terms of making the kind of music I've always wanted to make.?

(Jason Schneider)