Wayfinding’s debut, self-titled, EP drops on April 21st via Victory Pool Records. The band, which includes musician/artist Cassia Hardy (guitar), Marek Tyler (drums), Ryan Beattie (vocals/guitar) and Matthew Cardinal (bass/keys). Ahead of the EP’s release, the band is sharing “Belafonte’s Farewell”, a song about “ephemeral moments and how bittersweetly formative they can be”, says Beattie. “Like Portuguese Saudade, a sense of missing a place, a time, a person, or an experience that is past or distant but still kinda there. Like the refrain from the Harry Belafonte song ‘sad to say I’m on my way’. His gently lifting voice delivers the sad news.”

On their debut EP, Beattie says that “thematically, it’s about dipping into fading memories and pulling them into sometimes reverent, comedic, or melancholic regions. There are ideas of good times and terrible times and coming to terms with my ancestry of colonialism and how that relates to my writing partner Marek and his ancestry. And in a way, all these things mash together in an undefined but hopefully beautiful and interesting way.”

Tyler adds,” I don’t feel ashamed when I play music. I am me. I close my eyes, listen, and wait, then do my best to support. Before, when writing a song, I used to close my eyes, I used to imagine an audience, but now I feel my family and friends. When the sweat lodge door closes, you can’t see anything, but you can feel everything. Cassia, Matthew, and Ryan provide the space to be free.”

With his mix of matter-of-fact narratives and off-kilter vocals, which generally float above a rubbery mix of synthesized tones, electronic blips, and dreamy guitars, songwriter multi-instrumentalist Beattie is genuinely hypnotic and alluring. As the creative driver behind Chet and Himalayan Bear (also works with Frog Eyes, Kathryn Calder, Ashley Shadow, and Pink Mountain Tops) Wayfinding have made fans of Destroyer’s Dan Bejar and Islands’ Nick Thorburn, among others, and one can hear why. The playfully clever and intellectually amusing, postmodern pop craft on display here seems right up their respective alleys.

Cardinal and Tyler’s other project, nêhiyawak, received both Polaris Music Prize and JUNO Award nominations, and they bring a wealth of creative history to this new endeavour. Tyler’s subtle percussion and Cardinal’s synth soundscapes and melodic bass playing are an ideal complement to Beattie’s winding chord progressions, keeping the listener on track through each unexpected curve.

“Marek and I have worked together as musicians on several projects spanning more than 15 years but we’ve never had a project that was solely our own,” says Beattie. “The Wayfinding EP came about when I sent Marek some song sketches and along with Matthew we developed them at a little studio in Vancouver. This little album went through a number of heavy revisions eventually landing in this textured gothic-sounding thing which we asked Cassia (Wares) to help us fill out live and have since brought her on as a full member.”

Wayfinding 2023 Tour Dates

7/14/23 – 7/16/23 – YELLOWKNIFE, NWT, Folk On The Rocks
9/22/23 SASKATOON, SK, Louis’ *
9/23/23 CALGARY, AB, Commonwealth Bar & Stage *
9/24/23 EDMONTON,AB, The Starlite Room *
9/25/23 WINNIPEG, MB, Park Theatre *

* With Destroyer

Pre-order Wayfinding by Wayfinding HERE