North Lakes aim for a “smart blend of nostalgia and new.” The Charlottetown-based band claim equal parts power pop, proto-punk, and garage rock; pure-grain and punchy with a reverb chaser, carefully structured to provide a soundtrack to accompany the wind in your hair. The band name influences like Jesus and Mary Chain, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and HAIM, but with songs like “Jasmine and Flowers,” their heritage is clearly rooted in classic rock.
It’s been a minute since North Lakes have reared their heads. Their last single, “Queen of Cyprus,” was released all the way back in 2013. In the meantime, frontman Nathan Gill has been putting his efforts towards projects like Baby God. Understandable, the latest EP, Black Cat Music Volume 1, begins the process of reintroducing us to the band nearly a decade after the last album.
The band describe the album as being crafted “image-first,” holding close to the imagery of Canada’s northeast, and recognizing the people in your life the matter most—although, “Jasmine and Flowers” might just be about the special kind of tea that matters most to Nathan Gill.
The song, or at least the music, started as a project between Nathan Gill and his fellow Prince Edward Island musician, Nick Doneff.
“We came up with a song structure and forgot about it. Then I dug it up, dusted it off and finished off the lyrics,” explains Gill.
The title, however, comes from a variety of tea sold at the Charlottetown Farmers Market, and aside from Gill’s affinity for the tea, it’s also something of North Lakes’ very own equivalent of the cellar door.
“I just really like it, so it became a bit of a tip of the hat to songs like ‘Afternoon Tea’ and ‘Have A Cuppa Tea’ by The Kinks in a roundabout way,” says Gill. “‘Jasmine and Flowers’ just sounded like a song title in the vein of ‘Crimson and Clover’ or ‘Incense and Peppermints’ to me, so that felt fun. Together with the North Lakes guys, we found a bit of a psych-pop sound for it that we’re really happy with.”
Rather than Tommy James and the Shondells, “Jasmine and Flower” leans a bit closer to Joan Jett, reining in the psychedelia for the harder edges of indie rock. It then leaves the rest of the song up to abstract imagery wide open for interpretation:
“When I’m out of power, I’m going back to the owls, With some jasmine and flowers in my veins,
I’ll be, touched up, for sure, by your mainland leisure, But I’ve got jasmine and flowers in my veins”
North Lakes’ upcoming album, Black Cat Music Volume 1, engineered, mixed and produced by Colin Buchanan at Hill Sound Studio and mastered by Dan Weston, is scheduled to be released on November 26th, 2021.