Justin Rutledge – Islands
Outside Music – 26 March 2021
Those with finely tuned memories might recall Justin Rutledge bursting onto the music scene with his 2004 debut No Never Alone. The album garnered considerable praise when initially released here in the UK, not least from major print publications of the time, from where the comparisons with Ryan Adams first emerged.
With a back catalogue of some eight album releases which span this nigh on two decade period, and a career which has seen the Toronto born, Juno winning alt-country singer graduate from tending bars in London, and appearing live throughout the UK before playing anywhere in his home country apart from his first Monday night residency at local Toronto club, Cameron House, to performing at venues across both North America and Europe, building up an enviable fan-base along the way.
As with all artists, the pandemic has curtailed live performances, and whilst this has obviously had a major negative impact, it has also afforded opportunities, not least in freeing up time for consideration of alternative creative activities. For Justin, this manifests itself in the form of his forthcoming album, Islands, set for release in the UK on March 26th. This release, following his previous, highly acclaimed 2019’s Passages, (Review in Folk Radio here), sees the songwriter look back through his expansive, rich catalogue, providing stripped-down acoustic takes of some of his best-loved songs alongside two previously unreleased gems from his live repertoire.
Recorded over three days at Toronto’s Union Sound with friend and collaborator Chris Stringer, Islands can be viewed not only as a career retrospective, which undoubtedly it is, but also as an autobiographical reflection on snapshots in time, capturing some of the significant life experiences and emotions that informed his song-writing process, from those early bartending days and the debut album through to settling down and starting a family on Passages. As he explains, “I look back and view past albums as bookmarks in my life – each composed of a span of 2 or 3 years – I was a different person at the release of each album,” with recording the album being “a stroll down memory lane, for better or worse, shaking hands with the people I used to be.”
Given the nature of the release, the songs will be well-known to his fans, and indeed those lucky enough to have seen him perform live. The re-interpretations presented here will, however, sound fresh, spacious and delightfully reincarnated. Re-recorded as they were conceived, alone with minimal accompaniment, in the main it is Justin, alone with his guitar and voice, with support from friends Tom Juhas, guitar and Aaron Comeau, piano.
The overall effect is one of a warm, intimate gathering taking place in your home, a definite fillip in the current absence of live performances.
In broad terms, most of the songs on Islands are stripped-back versions of the originals, and, rather than following a chronological order, Justin adopts a more random approach to the running order, thus opener Come Summertime, a beautifully delicate track from his second album The Devil On A Bench In Stanley Park (2006) is immediately followed by Good Man, originally released as the first single from his most recent, 2019 set, Passages, a poignant song written about a friend with an addiction illness.
The pairing of both opening and closing tracks from his Man Descending (2008) release, Alberta Breeze and St.Peter, an album that was nominated for the Canadian Folk Music Awards ‘Contemporary Album of the Year’, gives further compelling evidence of his skill in creating songs of melodic charm and interest.
A fascinating reinterpretation of Federal Mail sees its transformation from what was a mournful, country ballad into a guitar and piano led jazz arrangement. This, together with the decision to remove the vocals completely and deliver the piece as an instrumental, renders it even more plaintive than the original. “Even though I rarely play the song live, I’ve always loved the melody in Federal Mail,” says Rutledge. “I wanted to hear the melody stand on its own, without the distraction of words or my voice. Although I am a singer, I really enjoy not singing as well.”
Perhaps of greatest interest to Rutledge aficionados, however, will be the inclusion of two unreleased songs. Jellybean, which closes the album, written when Justin was in his early 20s but only making its debut at the Cameron House when he was 24 years old, has long been a crowd favourite, being the staple sing-along show finale, almost an unofficial anthem. Its very success as a live number has meant that he’s been reticent to record the song, “I’ve always been cautious about recording Jellybean on an album because it is such a ‘live’ song,” says Rutledge. “I’ve tried a few times in the past, but it never made the cut. I think I finally captured the essence of the song with this recording.” Covid restrictions dictated an approach that resulted in a variety of friends all contributing various takes of the song, independently and remotely, resulting in an almost club/bar room-like rendition that has no lead vocal as such, thus replicating the live feel, which was the ultimate aim.
The second song making its debut here is Nautical Disaster, an elegiac song from the Tragically Hip catalogue. Whilst Rutledge’s 2014 Daredevil release was an entire album of Tragically Hip songs, and the song is performed at almost all of his live shows, it does not feature on that release, and thus its inclusion here is a welcome and timely one.
Justin Rutledge’s softer Americana/alt folk ambience effortlessly combines his clear, warm and tender voice with an eloquent, poetic lyric-writing strength. On Islands, Justin has breathed new life into already fine songs; this will, rightly, be appreciated by long-time fans, but it will also serve as an excellent primer to those who may be new to his work.