The Citizen, 2019-01-17, Page 2PAGE 2. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019.
The creators of The Pigeon King
were back in Huron County over the
weekend to record an album of
music from the famed Blyth
Festival-commissioned show that
will be on the National Arts Centre
stage this spring.
Blyth Festival Artistic Director Gil
Garratt hosted the group over the
weekend, which included all of the
original artists involved in the
project when it premiered at the
Festival in 2017. The group –
including Garratt, Gemma James
Smith, J.D. Nicholsen, George
Meanwell, Rebecca Auerbach,
Birgitte Solem, Jason Chesworth,
Ajineen Sagal and even director
Severn Thompson – began with
rehearsals and some creative time at
his Bayfield-area home and then
spent two long days recording at the
home studio of Holmesville
musician John Powers.
In an interview with The Citizen,
Garratt said that as the show has
continued to garner interest from
theatre companies across the
country, it was clear that the music
from the show needed to be
memorialized somewhere.
With the music all being in the
creators’ heads, he felt a recording
only made sense. The music and
arrangements don’t come to life as
words in the script like they do when
they’re performed on stage, he said.
The cast tried to record the songs
when they were being performed
live at times, whether it be in the
show’s original 2017 run or during
its 2018 remount, but it never really
translated to a usable recording, he
said.
Garratt said that while he and
many of the other creators are no
strangers to performing on stage,
having the musical experience of
established musicians like J.D.
Nicholsen and George Meanwell in
the group has really helped to steer
the ship in the right direction.
Nicholsen and Meanwell both
have extensive experience
recording – Nicholsen with the Juno
Award-winning Leslie Spit Treeo
and Meanwell with Short Turn and
Quartetto Gelato – and that made
working to arrange the music a much
smoother process than it could have
been.
Garratt said that while all of the
music in the play made sense to an
audience watching a production
telling the story of convicted
huckster Arlan Galbraith, there were
concerns about how some of the
numbers would translate to an
independent album with no visuals
to fill in the blanks.
With that being said, some
components of songs have been
added, while others have been
dropped, making for a satisfying
arrangement ready for the studio.
Garratt says there are eight solid
songs to be recorded for the album,
however, to flesh out the rest, the
group has worked to incorporate
some of the atmospheric music that
audiences would remember from the
production and adapt it to the album.
The recording process was a quick
one, with two 12-hour recording
sessions booked in Holmesville.
Garratt said the group wanted to
record the production’s music the
old-fashioned way. Not only was it
being recorded in Powers’s barn
recording studio, but the artists also
wanted to play the songs live in the
studio, recording them together,
rather than isolating different parts
and then mixing them together in
post-production.
Much like the creative process the
led to the original writing and
arranging of the songs and the casual
rehearsal process at Garratt’s home,
he felt that an organic, casual
recording atmosphere would best
suit the music the group was
attempting to create.
As the group rehearsed and
figured out arrangements, that
process too was rather organic,
Garratt said. If one of the creators
brought a song concept to the table
and led the way on writing it, then it
was up to that artist to again lead the
way on its recording arrangement.
Garratt said that it only made sense
that way.
Once the album is recorded,
Garratt hopes it will be available on
CD from the Blyth Festival box
office, perhaps in time for the 2019
season.
In the meantime, tickets for The
Pigeon King at the National Arts
Centre are now on sale. The show
runs in Ottawa from April 24 to May
5, marking the first time a Blyth
Festival show has been chosen to
grace the hallowed centre’s stage.
For more information on the
production, or to buy tickets, visit
the centre’s website at nac-
cna.ca/en/
‘Pigeon King’ creators record album in Holmesville
Working out the kinks
The creators of The Pigeon King, the Blyth Festival’s runaway success from its 2017 season,
were in Huron County over the weekend, first at the home of Artistic Director Gil Garratt for
rehearsal and then at the home studio of John Powers in Holmesville to record an album of
music from the show. Above, some of the artists are seen rehearsing at Garratt’s home. From
left: George Meanwell, J.D. Nicholsen, Jason Chesworth and Garratt. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
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Laying it down
After the success of The Pigeon King, first as part of the Blyth Festival’s 2017 season and then
as a remount production last year, the creators of the play decided to record an album of the
show’s songs before heading to Ottawa to stage the show at the famed National Arts Centre.
The creators are seen here, recording at the Holmesville studio of musician John Powers.
From left: J.D. Nicholsen, George Meanwell, Jason Chesworth, Blyth Festival Artistic Director
Gil Garratt, Rebecca Auerbach, Ajineen Sagal and Birgitte Solem. (Shawn Loughlin photo)