It’s been a year of maturing and hard work for The Tourist Company. The four-piece has spent the majority of the last year either on the road touring nationally, or in the studio cultivating their sound and recordings. Their stunning new Mercury EP confidently shows off the band as one of Canada’s most prominent independent acts poised to make an impression in 2016.
The EP was recorded in two halves over the last 12 months. The first recording sessions in the spring were with long-time friend of the band and engineer Daniel Klenner (Hey Ocean) at The Space Studios. Jordan Klassen returned as producer, and the band completed a wide variety of tracks. Mixing was handled by Colin Stewart (Yukon Blonde, Hannah Georgas) and for the time being, the band thought they were done recording. However time off in the winter found lead singer Taylor Swindells writing a batch of new material, and early in the year the band went back into the studio, this time working with Ryan Worsley (Dear Rouge) at Echoplant Studios. “I get lost in describing life through metaphors and the one that’s stuck with me the most as a writer lately has been the parallels between creating music in the modern world and venturing into the unknown of outer space”, said Swindells. “Mercury was the name given to the space program that paved the way for the Apollo missions. We wanted to create an EP that would set the tone for our full album. It isn’t the full story. It’s more like a prologue for what we want to say next.”
What The Tourist Company want to say next is that they have found their sound and know how to showcase the full spectrum of what it can offer. Opening with the epic “Mercury 1”, the band hints at the cinematic nature of the upcoming full record. “The title track was a last minute ordeal. Something was missing sonically, and this song kept nagging at us until it was a reality. Creating the song is ultimately what helped the EP take shape”, added Swindells. Lead single “Shouldn’t Believe” offers a deep bass groove alongside a sure-to-be-stuck-in-your-head chorus, whereas “Now What?” invites you to bounce along to its quirky pop stylings. The band experiments with punk and garage rock in “1972” before segueing into the synth-rage of “Budget Meeting”. The EP wraps up with a teaser of what’s to come with an acoustic rendition of the upcoming full record’s sprawling experimental closer, “All of You on the Good Earth”.