Midnight Shine is going back to its roots with its upcoming remastered album James Bay being released next Tuesday, June 30.
With 12 tracks in total, the band’s lead vocalist and frontman Adrian Sutherland says the start of remastering their debut album dates back to 2015.
“We thought it’d be nice to go back and spend a little bit of time on the mastering of those tracks and I think some of the songs turned out really nice sonically when you listen to the music,” he says.
The new album will feature nine remastered tracks from the 2013 album Midnight Shine in addition to a greeting in Sutherland’s Cree language and two additional songs – a radio edit of debut single Since You Been Gone and the previously unreleased bonus track Misguided Woman.
The band is planning to release lyric videos along with the tracks. Starting at the end of June, Sutherland will also be performing an acoustic version of the songs live from his home.
Besides Sutherland, the band is also comprised of Charnelle Menow from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba and Moose Cree First Nation’s Stan Louttit and Zach Tomatuk.
Although many live shows have been cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band members got more time to focus on projects they haven’t been able to work on for a while, Sutherland says.
Going back and revisiting the songs, trying to remember what kind of headspace he was in at the time and listening to remastered tracks was really fun and enjoyable for him.
“Sonically, the entire album sounds better. Everything is spaced out,” he says. “I really appreciate how I can hear everything clear and better now. I can really appreciate that as a listener.”
Coming from the Cree community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast, Sutherland says it’s always been important for him to incorporate his culture and mother tongue in almost every project he’s been involved with.
The album offers “something for everyone,” he says, with different themes such as loss, hope, love, family, culture and people of James Bay.
Title track James Bay is dedicated to his home region, while Mooshum pays tribute to his grandfather. In Save My Life, Sutherland opens up about his past addiction and sings about resilience, and Indian in Disguise is about losing one’s identity.
Misguided Woman, one of the earliest songs Sutherland wrote, is also one of his favourite songs to listen to. Another of his favourites is What Do We Do With You, a song about the experience of having daughters come of age.
With three studio albums and a debut single Politician Man under his belt, Sutherland is now working on a solo record, which has been in the writing for about a year, as well as a fourth Midnight Shine’s album.
“The timing now couldn’t be more right … There’s going to be lots of new music. I think our best music is still ahead of us and we have a lot more music we’d like to put out for our fans (while) trying to win over some new fans as well in the process.”
Sutherland also looks forward to getting together, playing with the band and recording music at the studio once more restrictions are lifted.
“I’d like to send out a big shout out to Timmins," he adds. "I spent a long time in that city at one time, so just a big shout out to everyone there.”
