1. Quiet Part Loud – 03:38
2. My Own Devices – 03:48
3. Vegas Moment – 03:55
4. Decoder Ring – 03:28
5. Rapture – 04:12
6. Michael Myers – 02:56
7. Haves and Have Nots – 03:08

Indie rock polymath Adam Staple returns with his second solo EP Quiet Part Loud – seven more beat-forward songs about echo chambers, mixtapes as identity, unkillable boogeymen, cultural burnouts, and one-in-a-million jackpots.

Firmly grounded in alt-rock and pulling from influences as far-flung as Spoon, Peter Gabriel, Art Blakey, Nilufer Yanya, The Damned, and Newfoundland traditional music, Quiet Part Loud continues the previous EP SuperAntiHero’s exploration of Staple’s experiences with his “mental health skeets” – panic disorder, agoraphobia, and depression.

Written and recorded during 22-23, Staple performed, produced, and wrote (with the exception of a cover of Blondie’s “Rapture”) all the songs on the EP, which also features guest spots from Kelly Russell, Kelly-Ann Evans, and Jayne Batstone.

A veteran of the St. John’s indie scene for 35 years, Staple has previously written and released music as a member of Drive, Bash Brothers, McKudo, and Kelly Russell & The Planks. He was the long-time drummer for singer/songwriter Sean Panting; and has appeared on recordings by Alan Doyle, Hey Rosetta, The Punters, and Amelia Curran, among others.

All songs written, performed, and produced by Adam Staple, except:

Kelly-Ann Evans – vocals on Vegas Moment
Kelly Russell – fiddle on Rapture
Jayne Batstone – ukulele on Decoder Ring

In Relation To is Big Space’s sophomore album, following their self-released 2016 debut, Live at The Levee. The album In Relation To was recorded live in studio – with no overdubs – between lockdowns during 2020 and 2021 and was released on October 22.

It’s interesting how just a switch of viewpoints can affect our perception. If you look at the album’s art cover on its initial orientation, you see an asphalt road through a puddle. But reverse the picture, let your senses be charmed, and you see a lovely, snowy day or even an improbable glimpse of the beautiful Milky Way in daylight.

The music is just as good as the art cover at attuning us to the band’s uncommon and fantastic point of view. A studio album becomes a live recording, a prepared session becomes an improvisation, rock becomes progressive, math, or even post-rock, jazz becomes the perfect vector to paint delightful atmospheric soundscapes.

Ian Murphy (b), Ashley Chalmers (d), and Grant King (g), a trio from St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, are certainly not the kind to see a glass half empty, nor to judge an island as a limiting space. Big Space they are and big spaces they create.

In Relation To, from the blue star-filled half-cloudy sky of St John’s, delicately seduces our ears thanks to the band’s ability to express the whole through the details, while not losing themselves into those same details. And that’s how they focus on taking us further than we ever expected when we first pushed play.

Now available on VINYL!

All These Hours by Selina Boland is an album that captures the essence of raw emotion and heartfelt storytelling. The concept behind the album is deeply personal, as each of the ten songs represents a moment in Selina’s life that she has spent countless hours reflecting on.

The full-length record from St. John’s emo/math rock group Swimming. Features Fred’s Records own Liam Ryan on guitar and vocals along with drummer Jacob Cherwick and bassist Nick Hunk.

“A rich oral history that documents in lurid detail the true stores from the St. John’s scene. It’s chaotic and joyful and a wonderful time capsule.” – Christopher Ward, author of Is This Live?: Inside the Wild Early Years of MuchMusic: The Nation’s Music Station.

Let it All Fall traces how underground youth culture challenged social and economic inequity, as well as cultural norms, during one of the most turbulent times in Newfoundland history. 

Author Mike Heffernan was born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He is the author of the national bestseller Rig: An Oral History of the Ocean Ranger Disaster and The Other Side of Midnight: Taxicab Stories. His work has appeared in Riddle Fence, This Magazine, and Our Times and has been performed on CBC Radio.