J.R. Proctor – Daydream Sommelier
Independent – 6 March 2020
I’ve never been able to put my finger on exactly why they appeal so much, but I’ve always loved EPs. One definite aspect of them I appreciate is how, for musicians hoping to embark on a career in music, as a water-testing debut release they can serve as a business card of sorts. It’s an oft-used and commonsense practice, in this instance handily employed in the form of the Daydream Sommelier EP by young Victoria, BC singer-songwriter, J.R. Proctor. You see, just one airing of the five songs present was evidence enough for me to keep close tabs on Proctor’s future releases.
A member of the lovely folk outfit Twin Bandit’s touring band, as well as the Vancouver-based bluegrass/old-timey four-piece Stardust Stringband, at least as displayed on this fine 16-minute debut Proctor is a country singer and writer of some skill. All five songs are self-penned, covering topics ranging from lost love and the things that remind us of it (One White Rose) to homelessness in Vancouver (City of Glass).
The former track opens the EP, setting the twangy tone for the sweet country tunes that follow. It’s a melodic lovelorn song in the great country music tradition, and I love the third verse’s self-referential couplet:
There’s an old guitar that hangs by the door / It’s sick of love songs and the same three chords
At the other end of life’s experiences, City of Glass closes the EP in lyrically bleak fashion. To the outside world, especially when regularly assessed as one of the world’s most ‘livable’ cities, Vancouver may seem like the proverbial land of milk and honey. While it unarguably has a great deal going for it, the ‘City of Glass’ – as coined by Canadian author/artist Douglas Coupland to reflect its steel and glass downtown architecture – is a big city with, increasingly, a big city’s problems. It is an extremely expensive place to live, a fact several friends of mine who are financially clinging on by their fingernails would attest to. 2019 saw the highest number of homeless people recorded there in 15 years (over 2,200) and – as in other Canadian communities, including my own – the formation of tent cities in many city and suburban parks. It is this grim situation that Proctor’s song examines, with the two central verses summing it up:
It’s the promise of tomorrow that shimmers on the bay / But that parking lot campground seems awful far away
So when the hope of a new day washes up on shore / Buy a discount tent to save on rent at the Army-Navy store
While these two lyrically disparate songs bookend the EP, the three others are also excellent country fare. Dancin’ (In the Dead of The Night), Golden Embers and Six Days in December are all wonderfully recorded and performed. The last of these tells the heroic true story of Vince Coleman (1872-1917), a train dispatcher for what in his day was known as the Canadian Government Railways. On December 6th, 1917, when he was, as usual, working at the Richmond Station in Halifax, Nova Scotia, adjacent to the harbour, a collision between a French munitions ship, SS Mont-Blanc, and the Norwegian vessel SS Imo caused a massive explosion which killed Coleman (and a co-worker), but not before he had (ultimately successfully) sent warning messages to an incoming passenger train.
Aside from the skill of the songwriter, Daydream Sommelier sounds so fine due to the backing musicians and noted producer, Adrian Dolan, involved in the project. Joining Proctor for this launch EP were pedal steel player Marc Jenkins (Pharis & Jason Romero / Real Ponchos / Roger Dean Young & the Tin Sea), in-demand session drummer Jason Cook, and Darrin Wiebe on bass guitar, while the multi-talented Dolan (The Bills / Ruth Moody) contributes fiddle. As an ensemble they’ve concocted an assured, relaxed sound for an EP that should set Proctor well on his way, so now it’s out in the world I will indeed be keeping an eye on what this promising artist’s next moves may be.
‘Business card’ received, goods delivered, job done.
The Daydream Sommelier EP is a digital-only release, available for streaming, purchase or download at Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Google Play Music, Tidal, Deezer and Soundcloud on 6 March 2020.