When he sings, Geoff Smith unleashes a triumphantly clear voice that weds elements of his prairies upbringing. Despite the fiery effects - the intense, dusky melodies and wistful urgency - the singer/songwriter possesses something else entirely: tales that are strikingly familiar.
Combining the telltale gravel crunch of a grid road with the soaring expanse of skies, it’s this voice, both lush and literate, that carries forth his stories of connection and shared experiences marked with an uncanny fluency in Americana folk and roots rock.
And now Smith, who records music as Gunner & Smith, is back with a new collection of songs that are packed with both tension and redemption. His third full-length album, Hear You In My Head, due September 16, 2022, expands his take on a tried and true genre, and continues the deeply entrenched traditions of evocative lyricism that has established Smith as a voice well worth paying attention to. His lyrics trace an increasingly intricate existence: doubt, trust, faith, reflection. Hauntingly beautiful chords each come with their own suitcase full of tension, each capable of delivering their own reckoning.
From the fingerpicked parlor guitar outlining the pitter-pattering of spectral footsteps to the smattering of spirituality throughout the lyrics, storytelling has always been front and centre in Smith’s songwriting. While the sounds emitted from his guitar evoke enigmatic folk rock and swirling country narratives amidst dream-like psychedelia, it’s the vocals that resonate with deep intensity.
Hailing from the golden sunrises of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Smith has crafted both a name and sound as expansive as the rolling fields that surrounds his hometown of Saskatoon, and as rollicking and temperamental as the stormy wind that licks your face and roils in your footsteps.
No stranger to the road, with scores of shows under his belt, having played across North America and Europe, from the intimate confines of packed hotel rooms in Kansas City to massive festival stages of Germany, Smith’s return to the studio is marked by yet another fortuitous spate of travel, guitar case in hand.
The result? An extended stay in Nashville, Tennessee, and his most ambitious recording project to date.
The sojourn saw Smith once again paired with legendary producer Andrija Tokic, who leant production to Gunner & Smith’s previous outing Byzantium, in addition to heavy hitters Alabama Shakes, Langhorne Slim and The Ettes to name a few. Building upon demos from a solitary guitar, largely because distance and circumstance prevented him from playing half of the songs with the band, Smith and Tokic were able to record much of the instrumentation off the floor, straight to tape, in an all analog studio. Taking a largely open-ended approach, the results are a collection of songs that are able to meander and stretch in different directions, each with a distinct personality and story to tell.
From the tightly woven ghost story of “Little Gracie”, to the soul-searching of “Townes”, to the densely layered choir that thunders throughout “He Once Was A Good Man”, Hear You In My Head is anchored with rich textures that are instilled with grander sounds and visions. Gunner and Smith has built an admirable career upon a solid foundation of vibrant narratives anchored by faith and phantasms - a heralding soundtrack that signals it’s time to let the light back in, to sit down with a semblance of normality, and ultimately a sense of hope and wonder.