The Hermit’s Music is set to release three albums by local musicians during an event to raise money for Nanaimo Community Hospice Society.
The Language of Light, set for Saturday (Oct. 19) at Costin Hall in Lantzville, will see albums by Wind Weaver, called Discovering Eden, Cali Massey’s Honey Whistle, and Travelers, by Dave Kilbank and Paul Bezooyen.
Kilbank is the current host of CHLY 101.7 FM’s Songwriters Circle radio show, while Bezooyen continues to develop The Hermit’s Music as a label, music publisher, and community of likeminded musicians.
Both artists have issued solo releases and Bezooyen records and performs with Terry Mack as Wind Weaver, but Travelers marks the first collaborative project for the Nanaimo-based singer-songwriters. Itdraws from a diverse range of influences including the Alan Parsons Project, Joni Mitchell, Acoustic Alchemy and New Age guitar masters William Ackerman and Michael Hedges.
“We chose to call it Travelers partly because it’s about journeying through life, navigating the obstacles and experiencing its joys and pitfalls,” Bezooyen said.
A reflective, yet often joyous collection of contemporary folk songs, Travelers examines themse such as the relentless march of time via nostalgia and reminiscence; our humble individual and collective standing in the infinitesimal universe; the simple pleasures of life; and human fallibility.
“We’re from different backgrounds with different influences, but in taking those two elements we’ve come up with something fresh for both of us, something tangible to be shared with other people,” Bezooyen said.
Recorded at The Hermit’s Music home studio in Nanaimo, Travelers is set to be the start of a fruitful partnership.
Canada boasts a long and proud tradition of excellent female singer-songwriters. Folk music in particular has proven to be a genre from which many key Canadian female artists have arisen, and on the strength of her debut release, Honey Whistle, Nanaimo’s Cali Massey could well be another.
Massey will perform songs from Honey Whistle with Bezooyen during the hospice fundraiser.
Having studied for four years at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, it comes as no surprise that Massey is also an accomplished painter.
“Whenever I’m writing a song I see the ‘colours’ of the song, and I go with the feeling of those colours,” she said.
Massey started playing music relatively late, at 27-years old, and after drifting in and out of music as life took her down various paths she eventually met Bezooyen. They clicked immediately. Bezooyen contributed arrangements and instrumentation to Honey Whistle.
“It’s really important to me that music is a gift all the time, so whatever I’m writing about it has to be a shared thing,” Massey said.
For more information, please visit www.thehermitsmusic.com.