strange coyotes - strange coyotes

     The debut studio album from Strange Coyotes, their self-titled effort was recorded in one entirely improvised session at the main PaperClip Productions studio in Sault Ste Marie, ON. While the record was initially intended to showcase the band's strong original live staples, which had been predominantly written by bassist James Watterworth, the group settled on a session of complete improvisation once arriving at the studio. 

     The entire studio session lasted barely more than an hour, with approximately 45 minutes of tape recorded. All tracking was recorded live off the floor, with no overdubbing of any instruments or vocals in post-production. As a result, the overall tone of the recording blurs some notes from instruments, and the vocal work is occasionally difficult to discern. Despite these pitfalls, the resultant record encompasses the strongest 33 minutes of the improvised sessions, and is typically regarded as a favorable debut effort.

     Following the band's studio session, the tape sat untouched for one week before any attempt to trim, mix, or master was made. This decision was made with the goal of approaching post-production with fresh ears, and a blank slate. Once underway, the session recordings were extensively trimmed, repositioned, tied together with transition effects, and shaped into seven individual tracks to form the resulting album. Due to the extensive nature of the record's post production, at the time of their debut album's release, the band had never actually played a single one of the album's seven songs from start to finish. After the release of the album, the group went about learning and rehearsing the album's material, but only a handful of those tracks were ever performed live. The few tracks which made it to the live stage were very often only performed in part, and not in whole.

     This record was tracked at PaperClip Productions under the supervision of recording engineers Daniel Horton and Curtis McKenzie. Post-production trims and sonic arrangements were accomplished by Mike Haggith, and the album was mastered by Chase Wigmore. While a short run of CD pressings were made available for sale, they quickly sold out and the record was subsequently made available exclusively online. It continues to be available for digital download only.