Royal Canoe, have announced their new full-length Sidelining, will come out on July 9, 2021 via Paper Bag Records/Birthday Cake Records. Today, the winnipeg base band have shared a single and video for album track “Butterfalls.”

When Royal Canoe began working on Sidelining at Private Ear Studios there was one rule: no song-nuggets or lyrical ideas from before. No demos you came up with last week that you brought to the band. Everything would be built and completed that day. Less second-guessing, more music making.

“We booked studio time, set up and mic’d all of our gear and then just pressed record and tried to let things happen,” says singer Matt Peters. “This is pretty much the complete opposite approach to how we made our previous three albums, where everything was very planned ahead of time. I think at first it felt like this arbitrary test of limitations that might go disastrously, but then we learned to trust ourselves, and follow the ideas as they came, whether it was a drum part, or a chord progression, or a recorder solo. It was really refreshing to capture these ideas in real-time as we were discovering them, and watch these songs start to materialize.”

The Sidelining liner notes reveal more of the psychology behind the album, the comeradery and the common denominators they felt being stuck in this pandemic and realizing we were all stuck on repeat and feeling the same pressures. Royal Canoe decided to chase something new.

“You’re having a bit of a year, aren’t you? I mean, that’s kind of a silly question, because we’re all having a bit of a year – this is just a strange time to be alive – but you’re in over your head. Sure, you made the necessary adjustments. You bought a bread making kit. You did yoga twice. You got a Zoom-pro account. And yet, for some reason, that third re-watch of The Wire just isn’t hitting right. Then, all of a sudden, one of those rogue anxiety-waves comes crashing through your brain fog. You realize that you’ve been spinning in a dozen different overlapping whirlpools. Your work feels joyless and irrelevant. Your relationship is complicated. Everyday the world somehow out-clusterfucks itself. You can’t sleep. You look in the mirror and you’re kinda gross. You’re scrolling and scrolling, watching the goddamn Joneses be as busy as ever. Your body aches in weird new ways. And then, suddenly, the existential threats start to pile on, and it’s like, “OK.. I need to take a minute here…” And that’s when you remember that this isn’t your first rodeo. You take a breath and you tell yourself that you can only control the controllables. Maybe be less of a jerk in your relationships. Try exercising. Read a book. You have friends – lean on them. But also support them, and those around you who need it. And take care of yourself, too, because it’s not necessarily going to get any easier. You step outside for a moment. There’s music playing. The air feels kind. You’re sitting on the stoop watching all that sun shining.”

Royal Canoe
Sidelining
Tracklisting
Paper Bag Records

1. Sidelining
2. Butterfalls
3. Surrender
4. Get It
5. Scratching Static (feat NNAMDÏ)
6. Remmin’
7. Summer Stay
8. Feels Good
9. HAL
10. Alexandria (feat. Begonia)

Pre-order Sidelining by Royal Canoe HERE