FREDRICTON, New Brunswick musician Bob Deveau, who you’ll find jaunting out and about in synthy surroundings as Senior Citizen away from the drum stool he usually occupies with bands like The Olympic Symphonium, Grand Theft Bus and Force Fields, is primed to release an album with sometime bandmate Tim Walker at the beginning of next month for Halifax’s Backwards Music.
Tim, of course, is a compatriot in the Chicago-esque, deft and jazzy Grand Theft Bus, but the two are out to tackle a more indie electro melodicism on What Was That, which’ll be with us on December 3rd.
They’ve already twitched back the drapes one time already, appealing that you “Tell Me When It’s Safe” in bubbling, chattering, early Depeche-style pop; now they’ve dropped a second missive, “The Foreign”, chattering away with a detached, Kraftwerk-like vocal on the verse, and a whimsical breaks bpm very much putting one in mind of Hot Chip. Have a listen below.
Tim says of the new single: “My cousin got covid. She was the closest person to me that actually got it. Her two kids caught it from her. She was out with friends to dinner one night, following all of the proper protocols, and was exposed to it by someone who was not.
“Despite this, the guilt she and her family felt and the shame from some in their community (both real and perceived) was hard on them. The song is not specifically about her but her situation certainly provided its genesis.”
Senior Citizen has been Bob’s electronica alter-ego for more than a decade; his/its debut album The Hawk came out in 2016.
This second album was, like the first, a remote collaboration engendered by the viral restrictions and began with no intent to become a fully fledged album release. In the grip of a creative surge – when the muse calls, you answer – he was lucky that his friend and musical partner in Grand Theft Bus was similarly on a roll. The two decided to make beautiful music together. Why ever not?
And when the dust settled they found themselves bemusedly wondering: “What was that?” – hence the title.
Senior Citizen x Tim Walker’s What Was That will be released digitally by Backward Music on December 3rd; you can order yours here.
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