Bahamas

Bahamas is the solo project of Toronto-based guitarist and musical gun-for-hire Afie Jurvanen. With a carefully trained ear for melody that he’s honed during his time playing with the likes of Feist and Howie Beck, Jurvanen’s solo project has a stripped-down and contemplative sound that focuses on doing more with less, allowing his voice and guitar to do most of the heavy lifting on his quiet indie folk meditations. Bahamas will release his fourth studio album, Earthtones on January 19, 2018. Below is an excerpt from Bahamas’ handwritten description of Earthtones.

To whom it may concern, Re: BAHAMAS EARTHTONES

Earthtones is the newest and totally most best album yet from Bahamas, aka me, Afie Jurvanen. I wasn’t feeling too inspired in 2016. I’d been in a seemingly unbroken cycle of recording and touring for 6 years. I know, you’re saying to yourself “that’s so clichė, all musicians complain about being tired…” But wait, there’s more! Not knowing exactly what type of album to make, I was feeling pretty low. But at that very moment, my longtime manager and confidante Robbie Lackritz called and said: “dude, you should make an album with D’angelo’s rhythm section.” And just like that, the juices were flowing and the songs started coming. I wrote songs about having success, having kids, and having depression. I wrote songs about going on tour, going back in time and going in circles. I wrote songs about my otherworldly wife, my jerk dad and my garbage relationship with my brother. Crazy right?! In Sept of 2016, I flew to Los Angeles and spent three days in the studio with the bass boss Pino Palladino and the titan of time keeping, Mr. James Gadson. No rehearsals, no charts, no rules. We worked fast and came away with 10 songs that sounded fresh and strange and warm and free of any genre. The results were so inspiring to me that I quickly pulled my road band (Felicity Williams, Christine Bougie, Darcy Yates, Jason Tait, Don Kerr) into a Prague studio to record a few more songs. And here’s the best part… the whole thing is produced by my longtime producer and confidante Robbie Lackritz, so you know the sound is correct, totally modern and completely familiar at the same time. Whoa! I know! You’re saying to yourself “wait what? The same Robbie from earlier??” Yes! It’s a story about friendship come full circle, and how great it is to have someone in your life that can lift you up when you’re feeling down. It’s a very positive album about having a joie de vivre for the joys of life. Okay, full disclosure… there’s a few slow jams too… Hope you enjoy the music as much as I enjoyed making it.

Sincerely, Afie Jurvanen