Bumping into... Patrick O'Reilly

Bumping Into... is a series of mini-chats with a variety of peeps that you might run into in some of our local music communities. (There's a bit of an intro and my thoughts behind the series here.)

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How are you? Where are you?

I'm feeling good! I'm in a little place with my little cat Navy.

What have you been up to since March or so?

It's been a wild ride. At first being totally alone with no obligations was very surreal and possibly a much needed break. It felt different and exciting to have so much time to compose, practice, take photos, and go on long walks. Eventually I realized I didn't need to be on my computer as much as I had before. No rehearsals/gigs to schedule, no coffee dates with friends to plan. So I moved away from that and slowly started leaving the city all together for stretches to stay with other friends who had also been isolating and make music together.

This all culminated in a drive across Canada in August with my dear friend & collaborator Meghan Gilhespy. The whole trip was a highlight of my life. We made our way to Vancouver where we split ways and I hopped on the ferry to Victoria to visit recent Toronto expat bassist/composer Phill Albert. We recorded an acoustic duo album I'm hoping will be released summer 2021.

When I got back to Toronto things had changed and it felt safe to do socially distanced gigs outside. I started playing frequent porch concerts with WAPAMA. A trio with my friends Max Senitt and Waleed Abdulhamid. We jammed and recorded in Max's backyard too, and then started playing a weekly residency outside in Kensington Market at the Oud & the Fuzz. Man it felt good to play again!

Now with things being what they are, the weather getting colder, and the days shorter, I'm hunkering down for the winter and mostly just recording.

Have you found any new ways to do old things? How are you feeling about the shifts in how music is being made/shared/listened to?

Practicing has changed a lot! So much of my time has always been spent preparing for gigs. I love this process, but the change has resulted in the ability to have more consistency day to day. For the time being I am still enjoying this consistency.

I'm not sure if it's the result of lockdown or just that I have more time to research things, but I feel like there has been so much amazing music released this year. Though admittedly I haven't been watching many livestreams.

Any works of art that have been a light for you in these times? Anything that's just been a good diversion?

So much music! I'll keep it to two:

• Meara O'Reilly's Hockets for Two Voices has been on a pretty constant rotation since March:

• and this week I've been getting into Richard Devine's new Acid inspired EP Systik:

How are you feeling about 2021?

I am hopeful. There is a lot to look forward to, and I would like to use the solitary winter months ahead to prepare for that so I can be ready for when the time is right.

I miss our friends and I every day I dream of the day that we can all hug each other and sit at a table chatting at the Tranzac until closing time.

Anything else we'd chat about if we bumped into each other?

Pedals...we would talk about pedals :)