Run the River is a band that truly is the sum of its parts. The fact that it took the planet going on an extended hiatus for them to realize it is surprising—most of all to them.
In late 2019 Joel Thompson began piecing ideas together and spending late nights with his guitar in his Fredericton apartment. The place was quiet and the themes were heavy. Lost love, self-care, loneliness, mental health; Thompson was tackling all of it, but just like the topics themselves, he found that it was better if you didn’t face it alone.
In April of 2020, Thompson reached out. Chris Furlotte (drums), and Rick Couture (bass) answered the call first, and the trio began to flesh out the ideas that were born in Thompson’s downtown flat. Now that they had a rhythm section and a compass point they started looking for a supporting cast and found it in Ed Legge (lead guitar), and Scott Stevenson (keys). What were sketches became statements and the newly minted quintet knew they had found the right words to tell their stories.
“Our Winter Song”, the EP’s opening track, is a prime example of the power of collaboration. Written by Thompson on an acoustic guitar it deals with losing a relationship and draws parallels to winter. Oftentimes the death of one relationship can fertilize the birth of another, but it’s never easy to see that when you’re going through it; much the same as it’s hard to imagine hot summer nights in the middle of February.
An east coast winter can be a long and arduous affair and one that sometimes seems like it will never let up. Draped in darkness, locked down, and buried in snow, one can find themselves growing increasingly despondent. The feeling that it might never end is a daunting one, and it was RTR’s second offering, “A Fool’s Fate,” that threw folks a lifeline when it was posted on Facebook. The song with its familiar chord progression and catchy, memorable hooks spoke to people on the level that the band had secretly hoped for, but never saw coming. The response was large and immediate and gave the band the boost they needed to soldier on.
And soldier on they did. Hunkering down in Shiftwork Studios to work with Dylan Ward, the gang put the final touches on what would become The Shiftwork EP.
The group was very keen to work with Ward.
“Working with him was a dream for us,” says Thompson. “He collaborated on the music and helped with the structure of things.”
It’s this kind of input that takes material from acoustic strumming to full-on soundscapes as showcased in the next track on the EP. “The Game” is a groove-heavy, high-energy song that Run the River chose as their first single. Closely following the theme of struggle and inadequacy that runs rampant through the record, this song makes light of the dark and gives us all something to jam to. Its plodding piano and stomping chorus make a bad situation a hell of a good time and ratchet up the energy as any good single should.
Now that your foot is tapping, Run the River hits you next with “Face to the Sun,” which Thompson describes as a song that made him feel as if he was walking through the park on a sunny day; a day that’s so perfect that nothing can go wrong. Having dealt with some heaviness, he’s quick to point out that it’s important to just let yourself be taken away by the beauty surrounding you. Nature can be the ultimate healer sometimes, and it’s crucial to just breathe and let it be.
Rounding out the group’s debut effort is the beautiful “Moonlight Blues.” Ed Legge was a fan of it immediately, and it was his enthusiasm that lit a spark under the song. Originally written by Thompson as a poem, the band decided to deliver it as a piano-heavy piece that would grow in intensity and become a whirling, crashing atmosphere of chaos, much like the environment one can occupy in times of mental struggle.
The times we’ve found ourselves in recently have led us all to deal with darkness. Isolation, loneliness, and longing are themes that have been forced upon most of us. Even those who have never really leaned toward these things have found themselves in the midst of it, and have had to fight to crawl their way back up to the light. Therapy can come in many forms, and for the members of Run the River, it has taken the form of a five-song EP that they have nurtured like a newborn, and are proud to show off to the world.
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