We spoke with the trio about the band’s history, their sound and the importance of community-building music festivals.
Can you take me through how you first got involved with music and the forming of Slow Spirit?
We met in the music program at Brandon University. The band truly formed when we were living together in an artist loft space in downtown Brandon with a rotating cast of 9 or so other artist-musician roommates.
As for your musical style, you could call it indie/folk, but you meld a lot more elements into that. Can you tell me a bit about how your sound has come about?
I think as people we're just aware and interested in a lot of music. Firstly, we all studied music traditions in school, mostly in the jazz tradition. Natalie played in the BU Orchestra on the double bass, and right away after school started touring with folk and old-time music bands on folk festival circuits. Justin, the drummer, is not only a seriously eclectic music listener and lover but has been teaching people how to play the music that they want to play for many years now in Brandon and Winnipeg, which can mean learning and dissecting anything from Taylor Swift to Slayer. Eric has worked as a recording studio assistant in Winnipeg and has engineered and created videos with a whole bunch of current, working artists coming from all kinds of backgrounds. We are all so inspired by this broad music universe we inhabit, and we love to contribute our little part as best we can.
You’ve been a part of Manitoba’s music scene for some time now, what are some of your favourite career highlights so far?
Our highlights are the relationships we've made with other musicians who've been making records all this time, too -- it's so amazing to watch our friends grow artistically and persevere even though we know it's almost never easy. A highlight has been this past winter, hibernating in a house-sit in Onanole and writing our upcoming record over three frosty months. We're still finishing it up, but we think it's our best work yet. We're so excited to see where it takes us.
A lot of impromptu collaborations happen at Harvest Sun, so who on the roster would you be most excited to see jump into your set that weekend?
We've played music with so many of these lovely folks over the years! Our set is pretty un-jump-in-able, but we welcome anybody who wants to make a sound storm with us in our song “Last Night” - the lyrics take place right after a wild thunderstorm had hit and cleared out in Brandon, Manitoba. That's a spot in our set where we aim to recreate that powerful sound.
Why do you think a festival like Harvest Sun is essential to have in Manitoba, especially for those in the folk music scene?
Community, music, laid back feel good feelings with no real reason to get together other than to celebrate and enjoy hanging out and hearing some nice tunes. Festivals are basically the best part of being a human being, don't you think? Manitoba has some hard, hard seasons, so it's of dire necessity to get together and enjoy the good times when we can. And the small scale, family-sized, un-corporatized secret gem festivals truly hit on the magic combination, in our professional opinions.
What are you most excited about in regards to playing Harvest Sun?
Big fans of the sleepy-eyed morning songwriter in the round workshops when there's plenty of coffee at hand and no pressure whatsoever.
Catch at Slow Spirit at The Harvest Sun Music Festival in Kelwood, MB - August 16 -18th.
Follow the band on Facebook, on their website, and Instagram.
Be sure to check out @harvestsunmusicfest on Instagram on July 12th, as Slow Spirit takes over our account for the day!
Janet Adamana is the Founder/Editor-In-Chief of Sound, Phrase & Fury Magazine - a Winnipeg-based digital publication dedicated to promoting independent artists and industry professionals from all over the world. More than just about inciting hype, she interviews/writes to capture an artists’ essence and their greatest passions to ignite meaningful connections between fans and really great bands.