Only a year after his debut album, Prince Edward Island folk enthusiast Shane Pendergast is back with his second album. Second Wind is a touching collection of insightful folk songs, written and sung with all the zeal you’d expect from someone so deeply in love with the genre.
Pendergast possesses a magic ability when it comes to setting the scene. His imagery is vivid, his language so carefully precise. It’s evident in the lonely chill that accompanies the single “Autumn Rain”, or in the way the title track eases into the album’s energy as the opener—soft and then lively, a fitting combination for the song title.
The majority of the tracks were recorded live at St. Bonaventure’s Church in Tracadie Cross, PEI. There’s a sort of magic that comes with that—both the sombre and the joyful are enhanced and made equally as sacred. Pendergast’s rich, easy voice, coupled with the crystalline instrumentation, result in a sort of crispness that, song content aside, is just pleasing to listen to.
Thankfully, the songs themselves are just as pleasing. The album’s lead single, “It Slips Away”, is also one of the most emotionally compelling tracks. Pendergast ponders the impermanence of time, how tomorrow isn’t promised. The meaning cuts even deeper with the knowledge that Pendergast’s friend, Alex Weir Weiss, died while the track was being recorded. As such, the song became a dedication to him.
“Nothing that is treasured will remain,” Pendergast sings, and while the instrumentation is a bit on the sunnier side, there’s no mistaking the gloom behind those words.
While Pendergast includes his fair share of poignant moments on the album, there are also glimmers of fun to be found. “The Waltz of the Figurehead Maiden” is a salt-soaked sea shanty that falls more in line with the classic Maritime folk that Pendergast strives to preserve. Meanwhile, “Cassady’s Hill” is the soundtrack to a rowdy night of good times.
That being said, it’s clear that his storytelling is his main focus—and it’s one he accomplishes well. Pendergast sinks his teeth into stories from all walks of life. He even takes a dip in the ocean to pen the tale of the lonely 52-hertz whale, a whale of unidentified species whose call is a completely unique frequency.
It just goes to show how keen Pendergast’s eye is when it comes to inspiration. Something inconsequential to some, like a rusting piece of farm equipment, can go on to inspire big thoughts and feelings. In “Man With Stories,” Pendergast claims that his own penchant for stories is nothing compared to that of his father’s. If that’s really true, then Second Wind does a fine job of convincing us otherwise.