Recording: Stranger Still

Artist: Stranger Still

Songs: The Drunken Poet + Looking For Nancy [based on poems by Alden Nowlan]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (All-Set! Editions Double Release Celebration), April 27, 2019.

Stranger Still - The Drunken Poet

Stranger Still - Looking For Nancy

This dual release celebration ran with the double-up concept, putting both bands on stage simultaneously, each taking a couple songs at a time before flipping things over. This project from Pete Johnston saw him exploring the work of Alden Nowlan — a poet who, like Johnston, emerged from Hants County, Nova Scotia. The poems are constructed from ingredients close at hand (cold Canadian weather, gossip about the neighbours, another drunken night out) and were largely set to be sung by Mim Adams and Randi Helmers, backed by Rob Clutton's bass and Johnston's guitar. (The exception was the delightful "Looking For Nancy", transformed into a slightly quavery country tune and sung by Johnston himself.)