Shane Ghostkeeper and Sarah Houle—perhaps best known for their band Ghostkeeper—were working on several exciting projects: creating sound design for their visual art installations, writing film scores and experimenting with sound sampling.
“We thought that we should find a way to release this stuff and make it a project,” says Ghostkeeper. “So we got to work and started recording a bunch of new sound design ideas and then turning them into songs.”
“Some of them were the scraps of the film scores,” says Houle. “Maybe they were a little too crazy for the director to accept, so we had these bits and pieces that we really loved.”
They worked with producer Jay Crocker, who goes by JOYFULTALK, to create Cîpayak Joy, their new album that comes out August 28. The main premise was to create experimental, spontaneous work without overthinking. They’d record songs or sounds without pre-writing, and send them to Crocker. Their Ghostkeeper bandmates, Eric Hamelin and Ryan Bourne, also contributed, though without Ghostkeeper or Houle overseeing.
They had agreed to stay hands-off, whatever the outcome. It was an interesting exercise, they say.
“It made it fun,” says Ghostkeeper. “It made it less precious. It was a practice in letting go and moving fast.”
“My percussion parts tend to be quite gritty and raw sounding,” says Houle. “So when it came back really polished I thought, ‘whoa, is this the new sound?’ And it took us a few listens to get less self-conscious about it, to get used to something like that, that could be a club song too. Hopefully people will be dancing to it.”
Ghostkeeper had a similar moment hearing “Raven” for the first time. He had experimented with a different sound on vocals, not thinking it would be used. Crocker insisted they keep it.
“I was using this new voice, kind of like my Leonard Cohen voice,” laughs Ghostkeeper. “It was really hard to accept at first. I couldn’t listen to it for a while.’”
“I’m behind it now,” he adds. “It’s a new voice now for me to explore.”
Cîpayak Joy is the first of two parallel records Ghostkeeper is releasing. They are also working on a version with producer Brad Hawkins, that will be released later as Cîpayak Hawk.
The musicians, who are also married, have several musical irons in the fire, in addition to their work in filmmaking and sound design.
“I think Cîpayak Joy is going to continue for sure, we’re really excited about it. Then Ghostkeeper will continue to be our band with Ryan and Eric and it will sound a bit more traditional. Then the Shane Ghostkeeper thing is going to be more country music focused for my people up north that need the real music, not this weird, abstract, experimental pop stuff,” laughs Shane.
Speaking of the pop stuff, what’s the best way to describe it?
“Métis pop experimentalism? Dystopian doo-wop?” says Ghostkeeper.
Whatever it is, it’s not like anything you’ve heard before.
“Raven” from Cîpayak Joy:
