Mitch Currie. Twenty-six years old. Ageing rock star.
It’s a precarious position to find oneself in; the tail-end of a burgeoning music career as the window of possibilities grows increasingly narrow. Whether that holds true or not is an entirely different matter—with countless examples to the contrary—and what truly matters is that the near-side of thirty has lit a fire under Currie’s butt.
Good Enough For Now, Currie’s debut solo EP, is the result: a lesson that something is almost always better than nothing. Good Enough For Now even skews a bit humble in that regard.
Most people will be familiar with Currie’s work with Halifax indie-rock group Sleepy Kicks. They released a new single (“Ego Death”) that had also been penned by Currie, just last month. It’s been a little long since we’ve heard from Currie himself, however. He’s previously released two solo singles: the very catchy “Shininini‘” in the summer of 2020 and his more recent “Knife in my Neck” from earlier this year. His solo material, unsurprisingly, lacks the bravado expected of four dudes with a couple of guitars; there’s a deeper introspectiveness here and a corresponding level of vulnerability. While Currie names influences like The Strokes, Joel Plaskett, Arcade Fire, and Hey Rosetta paired with off-kilter hip-hop artists like J-Dilla, Kid-Cudi, or Tyler, The Creator, there’s a personable and laidback swagger that’s almost reminiscent of Harry Nilsson or Randy Newman.
“This EP is my own personal revolt against perfection,” explains Currie. “Many of these tracks were written earlier in my career, and I’ve been sitting on them waiting for a better mix, a better vocal take, a better snare sound. During the pandemic, I realized how quickly the window of opportunity was closing on my music career, and that any goals I had set for the next five years were not going to happen if I waited for the perfect moment (or for a Rick Rubin to fall out of the sky and offer to produce my project).
“I was reminded by Instagram of a quote from Tim Baker when Hey Rosetta was releasing their album Second Sight: ‘Part of the job of the artist is to see things in a different way – with intuition, with faith, and not giving over to the left brain like you usually do. Fuck the clock. Fuck all the things you have to do. And let’s just be’. I learned that these songs were just stepping stones to a larger and more ambitious project down the road.”
It’s still a quick four-track EP, but just as Currie suggests with the title, it’s Good Enough For Now. He emphasizes this in the title track as he attempts to come to terms with capturing the present (as much present as is currently available, at least). It’s vague, with allusions to both a former hockey coach and Steely Dan, but a clear message about getting anything accomplished despite any shortcomings.
Naturally, there’s no shortage of self-doubt associated with achieving anything in an industry that regularly feels like trying to win the lottery. When statistics suggest that less than 1% of all musicians find some measure of success, those goals can be awfully daunting. Woven throughout the EP we find these aspirations paired with an equal about of fear, occasionally expressed through that classic subconscious reminder that change is uncomfortable and inevitable and someday we’re all going to die: the fear of losing one’s teeth.
Currie puts up a good front, however, with songs like “The Robber.” As he puts it, the song is his attempt of asserting myself as “a legitimate talent (even though most times I don’t feel like it) and warning the music industry that I’m coming to get mine – whatever that is.” It’s a shining point for Currie’s brother Matthew, who has stepped in as drummer for the EP, while Mitch croons away with a disparaging take on finding his way through the industry, one way or another.
The EP definitely puts its best foot forward with the opening, “Weightless.” You can see this is where Currie put a lot of his energy and excitement and probably half of the EP’s lyrics. It’s also, arguably, the EP’s most abstract track—a song about chasing his muse and capturing lightning in a bottle while trying to accomplish the same. It certainly stands out and, if anything, it captures the expression that can be seen on Currie’s face, gracing the EP’s cover.
Currie goes supremely meta on this debut EP, but his concerns are just as valid as his ambitions. Nothing lasts forever; certainly not this moment, nor our youth, nor windows of opportunity, and if a pandemic is in the cards you’ve been dealt then that’s what you’re playing with. If this is Currie’s Good Enough For Now he’s done better than most with the cirumstances.