MAGNET Exclusive: Premiere Of Horsebath’s “Another Farewell”

Canada is one vast swath of real estate—so big that members of Horsebath would often take long drives to nowhere just for kicks. Initially, their ride was a CR-V with a massive piece of driftwood strapped to the roof. They drove it all over Canada, interviewing artists, poets and just plain weird characters for a series of offbeat short films currently being whipped into shape by their writer/artist friend Enora Sanschagrin.

Eventually, as their musical enterprise began taking on a life of its own, the freewheeling Americana quartet had to go legit and trade the Honda for a van. But they still miss the road trips in the CR-V. And if we were to guess, that’s sort of the gist of “Another Farewell,” the title track to the band’s debut LP, available February 7 via Strolling Bones.

“Life seems to be mostly about letting go and cherishing the moments that make you feel especially human—or at least close to one,” says Keast Mutter, part of an instrument-swapping quartet that also includes Daniel Connelly, Etienne Beausoleil and Mutter’s brother Dagen.

To record Another Farewell, Horsebath hopped in the van and drove more than 1,200 miles to Montreal from their home in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They even brought along another Mutter brother, Niall, to help with production. At his analog-friendly Treatment Room, Gilles Castilloux was more than happy to indulge the group’s penchant for improvised jamming and off-the-cuff songwriting, not to mention its obsession with the Band, Lee Hazlewood, Doug Sahm and Gram Parsons. Given those influences, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the finished product is often as troubled and complex as it is giddy and boisterous.

“There’s plenty of devastation in beauty, and it sadly goes both ways sooner or later,” says Keast Mutter. “You can only smile gratefully at it all while you’ve got a chance.”

We’re proud to premiere Horsebath’s “Another Farewell.” 

—Hobart Rowland