Since early 2022, Maria and I have run an “Always” list – we think we’ll probably be making playlists together until one of us departs the planet ;-p. She added Boss-A back on October 15, 2023 and I was kinda hooked. A few trippy evenings and a vinyl purchase later we’re in one of our regular sessions talking about how much we dig the album – and how wouldn’t it be cool if we made a playlist around it.
It was great fun selecting tracks that would work well coming out of the previous Big Share track and then transition into the next one. We completed the list before the end of the year and then the question was – how did we want to publish it? We did play with the idea of coming up with individual track descriptions and poems but one of us – probably Maria – thought it might be a good idea to ask the band – Chesley Walsh and Luke Fowlie – what they thought and whether they’d be up for doing a Spotlight.
And here we are :-). We’ve held off on publishing to celebrate the release of their new Album: Printed Pictures out on all streaming platforms today – September 26th 2024 – Go check it out – it’s awesome.
If you’re looking for a bit of context behind the band – here’s some questions and answers that Chesley and Luke kindly answered:
I’d like to first say that these questions were really interesting and I appreciate the depth they required in terms of thinking through the answers! Thanks for making them so juicy 🙂
1. What about music makes you passionate?
The sense of connection, of vibrating through sound and feeling, as a form of touching into other people. There is an actual tangible manifestation of that vibration, but it also feels connected to a deeper sense of what “being” is. Virginia Woolf said writing was capturing the rhythm of the mind, and I feel that’s the highest form of making music as well.
2. What is a piece of music that has changed you? In what way?
I suppose Joni Mitchell’s Blue, the whole record shaped me when I was around 11 years old, and they are songs that I still know the melody and lyrics so deeply, but also they feel like such sad songs, about dealing with some intense traumas in life, so as I’ve aged I’ve felt the music in so many different meanings.
3. When did you write your first lyrics/music and how different is it from the lyrics/music you are writing today? How did you develop or evolve alongside the writing?
I started writing when I was about 14 years old, and while the writing has changed I still feel the push to write and to perform is the same. I just love singing and crafting music, and I feel driven to write when I experience strong emotions. I can probably name the experiences a little more clearly nowadays, but I still feel like that emo-sensitive kiddo today in a lot of ways.
4. If you had to express your essence with a song/sound, what would that song/sound be and why?
I feel like the answer to this has probably changed even throughout this past week (lol), but I suppose recently I’ve been resonating most with the song “Blaze” that I wrote for our forthcoming release. It was a song about examining why hope can feel so hard, and the kind of need to see hope and grief as intertwined to experience either completely. This is a feeling I’ve had a lot recently, so when I sing this song it feels quite cathartic.
5. What are you curious about at the moment? Why?
Translating experience in a way that can feel universal and also broadens empathy for particular experiences. I wrote the songs “heartwork” and “Unbound” about this to some extent.
6. Do you believe music matters? Why?
Yes, but I do think it’s a struggle to make music matter inside the current music industry. Music and poetry are linked artforms for me, and I feel most in my creative element when I am writing and sharing poetry with other poets, partially because I feel the branding of the medium hasn’t been so deeply co opted by capital. There is so much freedom to play and experiment in these shared non-monetized spaces, but the music industry is deeply broken and it is making music matter less, not at its core, but the consequence of diminishing its monetary value while placing the burden of popularity on broke artists means the whole thing feels like a demoralizing shakedown. And we will continue to hear less variety of voices as a consequence, since the work of making the art and exposing it to people has become nearly impossible for anyone who needs to earn their living.
7. Do you believe music can be a source of repair? If you are open to sharing – think of a misunderstanding you’ve had with a loved one. What song would you have given them to capture what you wanted to convey and perhaps were unable to?
I suppose I’ve used music as a source of my own personal repair, again I think “Blaze” was a song I wrote about my own experience of dreaming towards having a child, and I do feel like writing that song helped me through my very difficult pregnancy. I don’t know that I would ever assume that a song I wrote would be interpreted the same way by someone else though. Music has never worked that way for me, when we feel something deeply in a song I think it comes with very personalized feelings, shapes, memories.
Big Share is a guitar & vox duo, living and such in Tiohtià:ke/ Montreal. Big Share was started by Chesley Walsh & Luke Fowlie.
Track Listing
- Heartwork – Big Share
- All Now – The Staves
- Jules – Big Share
- On The Nights You Stay Home – Donovan Woods
- Follow – Big Share
- Svefn-g-englar – Sigur Rós
- Joy – Big Share
- Feels Like Going Home – Kacey Johansing
- Moon – Big Share
- Sapphire Lake – Pollyanna Blue
- Cornerline – Big Share
- Falls on Me – Sylvie
- Innovate – Big Share
- Fast Like a Match – River Whyless
- Wanda – Big Share
- Carried Away – Yesway
- Boss-A – Big Share
- Where Have You Been – Leah Senior
- Even When – Big Share
- Easily Gone – Ivan Moult
Playlist image by Jed Villejo on Unsplash
About the Curators
Maria Fish
Andrew McCluskey
The first visual memory I have is that of the white upright piano in Singapore, Hell and the Dark Forces lived at the bottom, Heaven and the Angels at the top, they would play battles through my fingers and I was hooked.
As a psychology graduate I studied how sound affects human performance.
As a musician I compose instrumental music that stimulates your brain but doesn't mess with your language centers, leaving you free to be creative and brilliant without distraction.
As a curator I research how music can improve your life and create flow - I can tell you what music to listen to when studying for a test and why listening to sad music can make you feel better.
As a creator / contributor at musicto I’m part of a global creator community that collaborates through music. You can learn more about our community here.
