Even if you aren’t familiar with the hardly classifiable sounds of Toronto experimental collective Bernice, you’ve likely heard a recording which at least one member of the outfit has been featured on. The Weather Station, Andy Shauf, Lido Pimienta, U.S. Girls, and Beverly Glenn-Copeland have all worked with Robin Dann, Thom Gill, Dan Fortin, Felicity Williams, and/or Phil Melanson, suggesting the range of sounds contained on your typical Bernice release, which span the outskirts of whatever spectrum nu-jazz and sophist-pop might coexist on.
Cruisin’ marks the project’s fourth full-length release, and, like its predecessors, its tapestry of left-turn sounds is largely built upon the foundation of a vibrant musical community in and around their native Ontario scene all spoon-feeding each other “steaming bowls of meaning,” as Dann puts it.
To speak a bit more to this hot meaning, we asked the band to put together a playlist of tracks they’ve worked on with peers over the years highlighting the deeper relationships behind the liner note shoutouts. “We love playing music with many, many different beautiful creatures beyond our own little bubble,” the group shares. “Here’s a small selection of tunes to which we have lent our voices in recent times.”
Find the playlist and their writeups below, and check out Cruisin’—out now via Telephone Explosion—right here.
Sam Gendel, “Differences”
Phil: Sam and I met serendipitously at a jazz jam when he was briefly visiting Montreal in 2009, and from the first sounds he made I felt an instant musical kinship. Making music with him and Gabe has been so freeing and fun. A joke has a good chance of turning into a serious musical idea and vice versa.
Joane Hétu, “Pierre-Yves Melanson”
Phil: I really miss this particular improv scene in Montreal that’s mostly Francophone and centered around this venue called Casa Obscura. It’s a very intimate place that feels like someone’s unfussy loft. It’s very quiet, and the sound is incredibly dry and detailed and one can help themselves to beer from a fridge and leave money in a coffee tin. This track is from a night I was playing with some beautiful improvisers: Joane Hétu and Pierre Yves Martel.
Lune Très Belle, “La Mite”
Robin: I think Fred is one of the best songwriters I’ve ever come across. Her songs feel like miracles to me: so deeply vulnerable and true. Fred is also one of the funniest people I know, and to sing with her on this whole record was like swimming in a big beautiful lake. We also literally swam in a big beautiful lake in the Laurentians of Quebec every day while recording and met a fellow who once drowned a moose—very Canadian!
Ben Gunning, “Hold on to Your Decency”
Robin: I was a fangirl of Ben’s music years before meeting him and collaborating. I sent him a Facebook message from Paris around 2010, where I was teaching English and missing home, begging him to please consider me as a back-up singer after he released the perfect album Mal de Mer. Now we have a duo together called exPOM where our slightly oil-to-water aesthetics blend into new song smoothies. This track is off his latest record, Nature, and I loved singing on it so much. The lyrics! Sing along and you’ll feel invincible.
Myriad3, “Fortress”
Dan: A song of mine from the most recent record by a trio I've co-led since 2010. This band definitely plays modern jazz, but I still think of this song as a pop song. I was thinking about Burt Bacharach at the time, though I'm not sure if that comes across here. Maybe I'm always thinking about Burt Bacharach...
Devon Sproule & Mike O’Neill, “You Can’t Help It”
Dan: I have such beautiful memories of this session: it's hard to put it into words. When we were making this album, it really felt like the perfect combination of people. It still does.
Robin: The whole Bernice band plays on this album, and Dev and Mike have become lifelong friends of ours. Dev’s down in Charlottesville, Virginia writing some of the best tunes to ever grace this Earth, and Mike, from Halifax Nova Scotia, now lives in Toronto and rocks with TUNS. Singing these songs live always makes me cry big gobs of loving tears.
Nicholas Krgovich, “Miracles”
Thom: This is doubly special as it's my dear friend Nick interpreting our dear friend Veda Hille's music. This was very much a lockdown project; I sat in my back room and spun an orchestra and choir around Nick's voice and arpeggiator. A fond memory for a beautiful song and performance.
Perfect Angels, “All Love”
Thom: Another pandemic recording—this whole album is such a special, cozy vibe. Honoured to play guitarmonies on this track. Not only guitarmonies, but tapped ones! Shred on, world.
Tone Bonk, “Sour Girl”
Thom: Pals and I “run” a label here in Toronto called Tone Bonk. Our debut venture was a massive treasure chest of our nearest and dearest interpreting the classic Big Shiny Tunes compilations of late-’90s MuchMusic infamy. My contribution was “Sour Girl” by STP, featuring some full nasty sax by the one and only Daniel Pencer.
Christine Bougie, “Undercurrent”
Felicity: Listening to this song again just makes me feel how much I love Christine Bougie. Theirs is a bottomless well of soul. We've shared an innumerable number of hotel rooms touring with Bahamas together. We recorded this during the pandemic with the wonderful Josh Van Tassel, who’s really made the most of my “ku kus” on this track.
Chiquita Magic, “Paradise”
Felicity: Robin and Isis Giraldo and I recorded this a few years ago, around the time Isis went to LA to work with Genevieve Artadi and Louis Cole. After re-listening to a few of her songs just now, I texted her to tell her she's a genius. Her writing is endlessly inventive and there's just no one like her. I love how much the three of us are singing out in this recording (i.e. not close-mic'd and breathy). Singing in harmony with these people is literally paradise.
Fresh Pepper, “Congee Around Me”
Felicity: Joseph Shabason's garage, deep in the Junction Triangle, is a kitchen of sorts where spice is never off the menu, President's Choice club soda is always on offer, and many wonderful records by Toronto artists are cooked up. Recording these songs toward the end of the pandemic was a blessed reminder of how much fun it is to be in the presence of friends. This hang with André (Ethier) and Joseph was 75 percent jokes and also as warm and nourishing as a bowl of you know what.
Robin: When you say (or sing) a word over and over and over, it usually turns to nonsense, but singing the lyrics “Congee around me” endless times with Felicity never once felt absurd. This album is at the heart of a big friend crew that continually feeds me steaming bowls of meaning.
