Saint John musician Erin Muir expands her solo project for 2018 performances and debut full-length.
Matt Carter
WROTE | FACEBOOK | BANDCAMP
After a successful year of 2017 performances that included sets at Quality Block Party, POP Montreal and Halifax Pop Explosion, Saint John’s WROTE have announced an upcoming single and their first Maritime tour.
For these dates, WROTE’s lineup will include principal musician and songwriter Erin Muir performing together with drummer Evan Matthews (Owen Meany’s Batting Stance, Devarrow), bassist Hannah Melanson (Girls With Knives), and Dan Chamberlain (Shrimp Ring, Usse) on synthesizers.
“The band is absolutely incredible,” said Muir. “I’ve been playing with Dan Chamberlain on and off since the beginning of the project in the summer of 2016, and he’s been a huge influence and support over the past year. Then last October I spent three days collaborating with Evan Matthews in Sackville, NB and making the album that this single will be on. I met Hannah through Evan, and the three of us had played a show together after just one rehearsal that went mind-blowingly well, so this particular lineup for touring was a no-brainer. They’re all fantastic musicians who I really admire, so I’m counting my lucky stars that I have them in my camp.”
The new single, Not Afraid, will be released digitally on March 1 via Bandcamp with availability on other streaming services to follow. A full album of new material is planned for the spring.
“The single is part of the album that Evan [Matthews] and I recorded in the fall called Each Other’s Skins,” said Muir. “I think it’s a great introduction to the recorded material because the arrangement is similar enough to the way I’ve been playing the song solo, but it hints at what the rest of the album will sound like as well. It takes up a lot more sonic space than I can with just my guitar and voice, and because of that it’s become more of an anthem than I could have ever expected. I’m really excited to see what people who are already familiar with the song will think of the recording.”
Like a mournful, low-hanging morning fog, there’s a quiet determination to the vulnerable truths that Erin Muir lays bare with Wrote. Conceived in the tiny, contemplative moments between exhaled cigarettes under a sparkling moon in the summer of 2016, the project sees Muir as the eye of a hurricane. Whether filled out by what is an ever-rotating cast of confidants and collaborators, or standing shrouded alone, Wrote is an open-book of anxieties, heartbreak, and uncertainty.
Unabashedly honest, there’s a sweetness to the often stark revelations of self that are sneakily tucked into the plaintive, alluvial arrangements. Bathed in sorrow, but smiling through it, Wrote is a gloomy night in with a glass of wine while the world collapses outside; a warm and welcome solipsism.
Tour Dates
March 2 | The Attic | Moncton, NB | w/ Liken, Ryan Hillier | View Event
March 3 | Baba’s Lounge | Charlottetown, PEI | w/ Liken, Russell Louder | View Event
March 8 | Gus’ Pub | Halifax, NS | w/ Gianna Lauren, Ocean Charter of Values | View Event
March 9 | Read’s Cafe & Newsstand | Fredericton, NB | w/ Denmother, Jerry-Faye Flatt | View Event
