Track: Sound artist extraordinaire, Michael Scott Dawson previews new album with the achingly poignant ‘Present Day’.

You could say that Saskatchewan sound artist and producer Michael Scott Dawson is a key contributor to the We Are Busy Bodies catalogue. Since 2020 he’s gifted the label three solo albums and two collections as a lead member of the post rock minimalists Peace Flag Ensemble, but those numbers only hint at his significance. Dawson’s essential artistic restlessness, his progressive shifts from release to release, his commitment to ambient forms and the emotional edge in his music all encapsulate WABB’s core endeavour to “Change the world, one record at a time”.

Now comes a heads up from the Toronto curators that a new Michael Scott Dawson album ‘The Tinnitus Chorus’ will be released 6th September. It’s a recording with its own pertinent back story as this was an album that nearly never was. Dawson, impeded by hearing problems in recent times and struggling to craft his new solo material, reached out to the people at WABB who suggested a way forward to the artist. Why not take the collaborative route to bringing these latest creative ideas out into the open?

So each track on ‘The Tinnitus Chorus’ will pivot around Dawson and a collaborator’s shared endeavours. We’ll get to hear how his atmospheric blend of shimmering ambience, calming minimalism and expansive cosmic country is reconceived alongside other musicians ranging from sound-sculptor M.Sage to Congolese guitarist Vumbi Dekula, experimental folkist Eli Winter to seminal composer Suso Saiz. There’s also a double helping of shared pieces with like-minded explorer of cinematic Americana Michael Grigoni to open and close this intriguing collective effort.

For a sneaky glimpse of what the full spread of Dawson’s new project promises, here’s the first single ‘Present Day’ featuring instrumentalist and future-jazz experimenter Jairus Sharif. It’s an elegant, sun-rising sax-crooned beauty, the bluesy emotion of Sharif’s fluttering horn melody nestling within the harmonium hums and delicate guitar peels. A brief, moment to pause and contemplate as well as wonder what’s more to come from ‘The Tinnitus Chorus’.