What would you do if you’d purchased a reel-to-reel tape recorder with the intention of recording your album, only to discover that one of the tapes included with said purchase already contained a treasure trove of material? Do you discard it? Or do you turn them into unwitting collaborators, to form the backbone of your new masterpiece.
Jon McKiel, chose the latter, and that’s how his upcoming album, Bobby Joe Hope, was created. “Object Permanence,” the album’s first single, debuted today, and it’s so impressive we’re dying to know who the mysterious collaborator was.
When Jon McKiel bought a Teac A-2340, a reel-to-reel tape recorder back in 2015, it came with an extra surprise. The recorder came with a bit of surplus — though quite necessary — equipment: a collection of magnetic tapes. And among them was what McKiel has come to call his “Royal Sampler,” a collection of samples from an unknown source.
Purchased online from a complete stranger, and without any other context, the creator of the tape, and the unfinished demos within, remained a total mystery. Rather than discard them though, McKiel began jamming over them, forming what he describes as a conversation with his unknown collaborator.
Then, during the summer of 2019, McKiel teamed up with Jay Crocker (JOYFULTALK) to construct an album from a combination of McKiel’s work and the “Royal Sampler,” forming a cohesive sonic architecture. Layering the wealth of McKiel’s lyrics over this sampled substrate creates a beautifully textured depth that shows through in the same way you might recognize that The Beatles were always better together. It would otherwise seem entirely homogenous if you weren’t already familiar with McKiel’s past work.
“No more magnetic fields, who can tell you what is real?,” sings McKiel on “Object Permanence,” suggesting, in a rather telling way, the value that transmutation brings to the process.
Jon McKiel will be releasing his beautiful and ambitious new 9-track album, Bobby Joe Hope Due, on Friday, April 24 via You’ve Changed Records. His yet-to-be-announced tour will take him across Canada in May.
And if the mysterious collaborator is discovered in the meantime?
“Maybe said person will come forward when the record comes out and I’ll see if they wanna join the band,” says McKiel.
Show Dates:
05.08.20 – Toronto, ON @ Monarch Tavern