The Harpoonist: Did We Come Here To Dance (Tonic Records) 8th November 2024

Album of the month [November]

This magazine has been championing the Canadian band The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer since 2017 – the duo of Shawn Hall and Matt Rogers – and now we get behind Shawn’s new project under The Harpoonist moniker; his debut solo album “Did We Come Here to Dance,” out today [8th November 2024] via Tonic Records.

Originally from Toronto, Shawn Hall has performed for almost two decades, with guitarist Matt Rogers as The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer, releasing six albums and playing countless sell out tours.

Described by Shawn as “new gritty, tough-assed swamp music with edge and off-the-wall lyrics”, the album teams him up with a new musical partner-in-crime: Canadian national treasure Gordie Johnson, the founder of one of Canada’s biggest selling bands, Big Sugar.

Under the guise of The Harpoonist (inspired by the line ‘I pulled a harpoon out of my dirty red bandana,’ from the beloved song ‘Me and Bobby McGee’), Shawn has already released a string of singles etched in blues and psychedelia. His first full-length solo album delivers swampy grooves and heavy soul into the mix with Gordie Johnson on production duties.

Speaking about how this album differs from his previous work as a duo, Shawn says: “I think it captures my sense of humour a lot more, often with really absurd imagery, so it breathes truer to my personality than my previous incarnation. There is also a heavy attention to groove, and off the wall hooks while never losing touch with the pulse. Making sense of these musical influences is my harp [harmonica] playing threading a sort of narrative.”

Lead single “Good People” opens the album, influenced by Sonny Terry, Aretha Franklin and Daft Punk. “Heartbreak Autobahn” sounds a wee bit like George Michael’s “Faith” with a bluesy filter, and the official video for the track features Shawn’s children and his father –  “a quaint postcard to the city of Victoria.” [This track, out today, is the final single to be lifted from the LP.]

“Acrobatic”, sits on a swampy groove that sticks, along with the “oh-ooh-oh” refrain. “Lullaby Life” marries mid-90s hip-hop… drums, guitar, Moog bass with sparse ‘harp’. Gordie’s Big Sugar influence makes its way further into The Harpoonist’s music on “Show Me the Green” with its “down-and-dirty grooves, stinging guitar and gospel-inflected vocals.”

Following the easy-listening tribute to the American jazz great “Yusef Lateef” which allows Shawn’s vocals to shine alongside some stellar sax’ playing, “Scrapper” is a modern blues tune as it tells a comedown tale following a three-day bender. The album’s closing track is a cover, with a reggae beat: “Trucker Speed” is originally by Canadian touring musician Fred Eaglesmith, the story of a truck driver who falls out of love and into a life on the road.

Recorded within a 10-day period at Gordie Johnson’s ranch in Austin, Texas, creating this set of songs was one of the most enjoyable experiences of Shawn’s creative life. “He has these three shacks he calls the Sugar Shacks down the hill from his house that overlook Dripping Springs, Texas… One for drumming, the other for his guitars, the other for singing and mixing. We would bounce back and forth between shacks and write lyrics on the deck.”

While journeying between these shacks, Shawn explains that ideas came together from all over, such as a graffiti line spotted in a bathroom stall married with a piano line he’d had in his head, and looking through scribbled notes and listening to phone memos to see what would stick. The result is an album he describes as “joyful”, and one that showcases “a version of me that’s always existed, but just not quite captured on record before.”

It is more of the same as regards the quality of what’s gone before on record from Shawn and his previous incarnation of 17 years duration, and again it is something different to the often usual conveyor belt of mediocrity out there and in the charts – and those 15-minute famers chasing stardom and riches.

This is the sound of a gifted musical creative searching for his own unique identity – and he’s found it right from the off. Neat job. More please…

Words by Steve Best

(1 / 5) ‘Dull Zone’
(2 / 5) ‘OK Zone’
(3 / 5) ‘Decent Zone’
(4 / 5) ‘Super Zone’
(5 / 5) ‘Awesome Zone’