New bandcamp exclusive "Spectral Acoustics Vol 1"!

Spectral Acoustics Vol 1

Friends! Today (May 1), I released a Bandcamp exclusive album called “Spectral Acoustics Vol 1” and I’m super proud of it.

This music is about looking back. Thinking about the people we look up to, our friends, family, acquaintances. The places we miss, the things we miss doing. This is an isolation album. Spectral Acoustics Vol 1 is a 5 songs EP, but you also get the complete album as one track for the complete experience.  Best listened to from start to finish with headphones.

It features some synths by Kristian Noel Pedersen, but most of the instruments / samples are me. It was recorded by Rob Currie in Gravenhurst, and mixed by Rob, then by me. My good friend David Newberry (who has a single out today!) mastered it. Listen and buy it here:

You can also buy it on cassette! Yah girl. Pre order it right here!

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In Basements: In Isolation Vol 2

Did you know that the we did a second volume to our In Isolation mixtape??? I have a new Instrumental tune on it, and I think it’s preeeeetty dope. Check that all out right here

New tracks while in Isolation

Hey friends, as I had mentioned a couple weeks back, I’ve been spending my isolation working on a music project. In Basements: In Isolation is a mixtape featuring 18 musicians, with the sole rule being they had to record a song using only what they had in their homes. There are low fi iPhone songs all the way to nice home studio recordings!

When No 1’s Around - Shawn William Clarke

When No 1’s Around is a tune I’ve been playing for a few months. It was written at home and during a transitionary stage for me. I had a wonderful roommate, who had a great partner living at the house. But I find I have trouble practicing and writing when people are around, ultimately a product of low self esteem.
I think of this song as a low-fi tune from the 90’s. Something Beck or Hayden might of done in those days. It features sounds of the streets of Roncesvalles outside my window.

Donut Dust Theme - Donut Dust

Me and my partner Katie McLeod have been talking about starting a Krautrock band since we began dating. Both of us are big fans of Can, Neu!, Cluster, etc. We first needed a name. It’s hard to say how Donut Dust came about, but it’s kinda perfect if you ask me. Our hypothetical Krautrock band had it’s first show as real DJ’s. We spun a couple nights at Little Jerry here in Toronto. We are spending A LOT of time together now, so the time was right! I fooled around with the drummer feature on Garageband, put down a straight ahead driving bass line. Then Katie came up with all the synth parts. I added some guitar, edited and now we have Donut Dust Theme!

In Basements: In Isolation

I’d appreciate it if you went to the bandcamp site and gave the whole mixtape a listen! It features 18 tracks, and it’s really special. Volume 2 will begin very soon, so keep checking in!

IN BASEMENTS: IN ISOLATION VOLUME 1

In Basements: In Isolation & Bandcamp goodies!

NEW PROJECT ALERT! As some of you may know, I’ve been spending a lot of my Sunday nights at Wenona Lodge, a bar here in Toronto. In the basement we’ve been putting on special performances, trying to foster a community of great musicians. Because of the COVID-19, we’ve had to postpone these shows. But I was hoping to keep this community together and creative, so I suggested the In Basements Mixtape: In Isolation. We sent a message to all the people who’ve been a part of our Sunday series, asking them to record a song at home, using only the instruments and gear they have available. This will be an ongoing project, with submissions coming in until the pandemic has passed. OH AND IT’S LAUNCHED! You can here the first few tracks, including my new low-fi tune “When No 1’s Around”, right here!

Bandcamp!

Do you know Bandcamp? Bandcamp is an online site for streaming or buying music. The difference between this and say, spotify, is that it actually pays a pretty good rate! And today (Friday March 20th), they’re waiving the fee they usually take! So 100% of all sales will go to the artists! How great is that? So below you’ll find linked my two main projects; Shawn William Clarke & Will Moor. If you were hoping to help support local music, now’s the time! Stay healthy my friends.

https://shawnclarke.bandcamp.com/

https://willmoor.bandcamp.com/

Thank you Europe + Videos!

THANK YOU ICELAND / NETHERLANDS / GERMANY!!!

It was such an honour to get to play through out Europe over the last 3 weeks. I had such a good time I’m already planning my return for next year (If you have any suggestions for festivals / venues, please let me know!)
Among many highlights, I was lucky to be able to play at the Melodica Festival in Cologne, and even luckier I was able to see and play with a wonderful duo from The Netherlands called The First Wolf.
Since we’re talking about luck, the good folks at Love Music were there to catch it all. So check it out! The first video is a new unrecorded song called “The Impossible” and features Melle on guitar. After that we get Suze onstage for a cover of Neil Young’s “Out On The Weekend”. The two videos that follow are solo recordings of “I Blame The Loyalist Ghost” & “Autumn In New Brunswick”! I hope you enjoy them, let me know what you think!

A return to Iceland & Germany!

In a few weeks I’ll be back in two of my favourite countries to play, Iceland & Germany! Below you can find the dates and FB pages, please let your German & Icelandic friends know! (PS, how amazing is this poster of the Iceland shows by Lóaboratoríum?!)

ICELAND: Facebook Page

GERMANY:

Wuppertal Facebook Page (Opening for Christian Kjellvander)
Cologne Melodica Festival Facebook Page
Munster Facebook Page
Mannheim Facebook Page
Bad Soden Facebook Page
Waldshut Facebook Page CANCELLED

New Video + Folk Alliance International showcases!

The Tourists

In recent years, I’ve had the chance to hang out with visionary director Mike Philper, and I’m honoured to have him put together this music video for my song The Tourists (from 2017’s TOPAZ). It’s pretty trippy, and super cool. Check it out!

Folk Alliance

There’s a really great music conference happening in Montreal, and I’m excited to be playing two Private Showcases! This is my first time at FAI, and apparently it’s madness. Music happening everywhere, in hotel rooms, hallways, stair cases…. sounds like a dream (except I won’t be sleeping). Shows are as follows:

Thurs Feb 14th
1am, The CampsiteRoom, 465
Split show with The Young Novelists

Sat Feb 16th
2:30am, The Mountain Room, 546

See all you music friends there! You can find out more about the conference by visiting their website
https://folkconference.org

My fav albums & Songs of 2018 (with playlists!)

Another year, another list! (people still like lists right?!)
Here were my favourite albums of the year, plus two playlists! My favourite albums and favourite songs. Give them a listen, follow, whatever! Happy New Year folks!

TOP 10

1. Little kid - might as well with my soul
2. Jeremy Dutcher - Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa
3. Adrianne Lenker - Abysskiss
4. Kamasi Washington - heaven and earth
5. Noname - room 25
6. Hayley Heynderickx - I need to start a garden
7. Snorri Hallgrimsson - Orbit
8. Dana Sipos - Trick Of The Light
9. Shad - a short story about war
10. Free cake for every creature - the bluest star

The Next 5

11. The internet - hive mind
12. Doug paisley - Starter Home
13. Corey Gulkin - All The Things I’ll Forget
14. Foxwarren
15. JFDR - White Sun Live Part 1: String

OK here are my fav albums of 2018... this is stressful!

My Favourite Songs Playlist!

Here are some of the songs that really spoke to me this year! They remind me of good friends, cool new places and difficult emotions. Featuring many friends and probably a few surprises.

Back to Iceland!

I’m excited to be going back to Reykjavik this November for a few shows around Iceland Airwaves! I’ve been dreaming about this festival for a long time, so it seems crazy that I’m not only going, I’ll be playing an off-venue show as well! 6 years ago, when I first visited the country as a tourist, I bought a couple records from a guy named Snorri Helgason and this week I’ll be opening for him. Life is strange. Anyways, here are the dates, tell your Icelandic / Airwaves friends!

Tuesday November 6th, 9pm
Dillon Whiskey Bar (Airwaves Off Venue)
With Petur Ben & Snorri Helgason

Saturday November 10th, 4pm
Aurora House
with Svavar Knutur

Saturday November 10th, 6pm
Ida Zimsen
Alllll byyyyy myseeeeeellf

And I get to play with my friend Svavar! Man, that guy is a real delight. So maybe I’ll see you there Iceland!

SWC

FMO Recap

Hey friends, I wanted to take a moment to talk about this years Folk Music Ontario conference, if you got a sec, read along!

I've been coming to this function for 5 years, and finally I was able to officially showcase, which is a huge honour and the most scared I've been for a gig in a long time. It's an audience full of my peers, so I knew I'd receive lots of love and support, but it just felt so important to put on a good show. With the help of my wonderful band, Michael McDonnell, Kristian Noel Pedersen, new comer Bill Simms & special guest and my musical sister Abigail Lapell, I feel like I might have accomplished that.

I couldn't possibly thank everyone who made this weekend special. But I’d like to quickly Thank the judges who saw fit to award Bellwoods Park the best Instrumental for this years Songs From The Heart awards (AHI, Noosa Al-Sarraj & Emma Julian). It’s really such a wonderful honour.

Emotionally, So many new and old friends kept me in working order, but special thanks to the The Campsite & The Lifers crew who managed to always be around when I needed moments of calm, and my Songwriters In The Round friends when I needed moments of chaos.

I’d just like to end this note with something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and was hoping to talk about more this weekend. I guess this is a call for thoughtfulness. To my songwriter friends who identify as male, I have a question, and maybe we can think think about this for a little while and come back to next years conference and try to have an open and honest discussion about it. My question is this;

In the songs that you write, and the songs that you cover, how are the women treated? What is their purpose?

These questions have already helped me learn a few things about myself, and I think it’s making me a stronger songwriter, and maybe you’ll find the same results. But I’d love to hear what you think.

See you on the road!

SWC

SWC at FMO 2018!

Folkie friends! This weekend is the Folk Music Ontario conference and yours truly has his first OFFICIAL SHOWCASE!! AAaaaaghhHHhh!! And I won an award (whaaaaaaaa???) Below you can find more info about those and two amazing private showcases I’ll be taking part in. Hope you can make it. Find out more about FMO at their website

OFFICIAL SHOWCASE

Sat Sept 29th // York Room (Full band) // 9pm

This is the big one! I’ve been coming to FMO for the last 4 years and this has been the goal! I have a full band featuring my longtime keyboard player Kristian Pedersen, drummer Mike McDonnell and new face on the bass, Bill Simms! With special guest Abigail Lapell joining for a couple songs.

PRIVATE SHOWCASE

Fri Sept 28th // LAMApalooza Room 233 // 12:30pm

My good friend Preetam Sengupta puts on this room every year, and I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to be a part on a couple occasions. This year he’s doing something different, having a series of songwriter rounds. I’ll be joining two very talented songwriters Rachel Beck and Gabrielle Papillon!

Sat Sept 29th // Songwriters in The Round Room 229 // 11:30pm

This will be a new room for me. Gillian Nicola has been putting on this songwriters in the round series at Painted Lady for some time, and now she’s bringing it to FMO! This Saturday I’ll be joining friends Shawna Caspi and Sarah Hiltz to play share some tunes!

Bellwoods Park wins Songs From The Heart Best Instrumental Award!

Bellwoods Park seems to be the song that keeps on giving. Not only is it my highest played song on Spotify (over 1 million plays!), but it just won me my first songwriting award! The Folk Music Ontario Songs From The Heart Award for best instrumental. This was such a surprise. I submitted a bunch of my new songs to a few different categories, and threw this one in at the last minute… and here we are. Award Winning Songwriter Shawn William Clarke. Very nice. I’ll post a pic of my award later (will it be a statue? A nice piece of paper? A firm handshake?! We will soon find out!)

So see you at FMO 2018 folk lovers!