Ian William Craig - Comma by FatCat Records published on 2020-03-03T14:03:14Z Eighteen months on from his last solo release, Vancouver-based singer/composer Ian William Craig returns with a brilliant and powerfully emotive new album. His first for a long while to be centred around the piano - and also one of his most pared back - the record was made through an intense period of personal loss and environmental catastrophe. Recorded over two cataclysmic weeks in August 2018 in Kelowna, British Columbia, whilst the city was encircled by forest fires, it was captured from start to finish in the living room of a small house owned by his grandfather who was residing in a care facility across the street, having been afflicted with dementia for the past decade. Midway through Ian’s recording, his Grampa passed away, his lungs filled with fluid as a result of the smoke. Performed using his voice, his grandfather's piano and shortwave radio set, several modified tape decks and a bunch of tape loops, Ian notes how events helped force the shape of the record and a tendency toward a less layered, more spartan expression. “Everything felt raw, I didn’t want there to be anywhere to hide in this record. My parents and I were cramped together in a small house while my grandfather slowly died across the street in a world filled with smoke, after all. So, in this record, more than most, there exist a great many things straight to tape without any effects because there really was no space.” Genre Ambient Comment by Will Samson wow this is amazing 2020-03-10T17:23:12Z