Regina multi-instrumentalist Piper Burns announces new EP recorded on Grand Manan Island.
Regina multi-instrumentalist Piper Burns will be returning to Grand Manan this weekend to perform at the Summers End Folk Festival. To mark the occasion, Burns will release Tragic Songs Of Shed & Skull, an EP of music he recently recorded on the island.
After a brief visit in 2013, Burns fell in love with the scenic island and decided he’d return one day.
“I first visited the island about five years ago for the Folk Festival and it kind of stuck in my head as a really interesting and beautiful place,” he said. “Basically I just made up my mind a long time ago that I was gonna go there for an extended period at some point in my life.”
With minimal equipment at his disposal, Burns tracked five songs, full of dark humour, wise words and meditations on life.
“You’re gonna die someday, I’m afraid that it’s true, and everyone you’ve ever loved will die someday too.”
“My friend let me use her microphone and bunk down in her shed for a weekend which I greatly appreciated,” said Burns. “There wasn’t much outer input or influence on the songs which was different than any other projects I have done. Two of the tracks I wrote back home in Regina and the other ones I wrote within the first few days or arriving to the island.”
Burns plays the 9th annual Summers End Folk Festival Friday August 17.
“Grand Manan is a special place with many odd and endearing characters,” said Burns. “I can’t really explain it but be careful…if you go there the island might choose you too.”
Related: A Brief History of Summers End Folk Festival
