New CD: Nick Zubeck - "Tracker"

A criminally unheralded fixture of the Toronto music scene, Nick Zubeck is a versatile and accomplished guitarist whose talents have led him to play with The Great Lake Swimmers, The Lavender Gloom, Polmo Polpo, Barzin, and the Book of Gnomes. As a songwriter, he has released two albums under his own name (2001's A Meek Spectacle and 2003's Hiding Out and Laying Low), both of which were marked by his unequaled use of lush delicately-layered textures and unconventional song structures. His clever, skillful lyrics explored subject matter ranging from the dark and introspective to the quirky and playful, and the discs were received by reviewers as "... (a) beautifully dreamy....blend of folksy and experimental beats," a and "mellifluous acoustic album... a sunshiny wholesome listen."

Tracker, Zubeck's greatly anticipated new full-length disc, builds on the melodic and thematic elements of his previous two albums, while underscoring the decidedly more confident, single-minded, and mature musician that he has become in the past five years. Engineer Jeremy Darby (Lou Reed, David Bowie, Johnny Cash) recorded the bed tracks for the album over two days in June 2007 at Canterbury Sound. The core band features Nick on guitars and vocals, Darren Wall on bass, Marshall Bureau on drums, Robbie Grunwald on keys, and Justin Haynes on electric guitar, plus an array of special guests. Mixed and co-produced by Sandro Perri, and mastered by Harris Newman (The Acorn, Arcade Fire, D'Urbervilles), the music is colourful and varied, straddling a number of styles while retaining a focused and unique vision.