LET IT GO

North Track Records and Ian Tamblyn are pleased to announce the release of Let it Go, Ian Tamblyn’s most recent release on North Track Records. Recorded in Anchor Studio, Alcove, Quebec, and produced by Ian Tamblyn and Ray Montford, Let It Go is the latest in an extensive collection of Ian’s work and the second release of this season, following the Te Na Gadino  CD that was presented live last November at the Black Sheep in Wakefield, Quebec. 

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The songs on this collection were written on Sable Island, Labrador, Greenland, Baffin Island, and at home in the Gatineau but unlike many of his other albums, Let it Go is, at its heart, quite autobiographical and personal.

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Songs include:

“Where the Wild River Flows” – an invitation to the Gatineau River.

“First Harvest” – a celebration of many years working at the sugar bush, Cantley, Quebec.

“Let It Go” – written on Sable Island, a meditation, surrounded by the seemingly impossible world that is Sable Island, Nova Scotia.     

“Not A Day Goes By” -  an impact statement, probably the key reason I became a songwriter, an observer. You can try to let it go but it keeps coming back. 

“Pangnirtung” – written with Nancy Watt on a ship with Students on Ice. A joyful description of her home town.

“Walking in a Dream”- in the action of letting go …. I have long admired John Sebastian’s ability to write a meaningful, yet light hearted song. Here is my pitch into that ring. 

“Raven – Looking the Moon” – not there yet, but working on it, the observer, disengaged from the want.

“Uumannaq”- a love song of sorts, observed from a distance,  a community in Greenland which has an astounding geographic feature, a giant pinnacle that dominates the landscape in the shape of a heart! They say that people once taken by the shape of the heart (Ummannaq) will never leave.  What better place to write a love song. 

“Going Home” – written for my friend and colleague Louis Rompre who died a few years ago. He was a charismatic character, known as the people’s mayor of Wakefield, he was all the community symbolized in community spirit.  After I recorded this song I asked a friend, Doug McArthur if he had any recordings of Louis playing flute as Doug had recorded him with the band Riverbend. Doug sent a piece over and as soon as I heard it I knew it was in the right key and would work. It took Ray less than five minutes to edit his flute playing into this tune. It was meant to be.

“The Ancient Ones” – written in Eclipse Sound, Torngat Park, Labrador, I was overwhelmed by the sense that there were spirits in the landscape that were guiding us, watching over us. This feeling spoke through the wind in the grasses, as a whisper from the snowfields. I guess it was another case of animistic surrender. It has happened before, I hope it happens again as it is a great comfort. 

“Nothing But Time”- imagined as an Irish pub song, I am of an age where such reflections about time are more common. Part of the “Irishness of” the song also comes from visiting Newgrange, Ireland and gazing down the hallway that allows a path of sunlight to enter at each solstice.  We have been thinking about and needing to account for time for – a long time. 

The cover of this album is an old sundial I found on wall in Northern Italy, the bullet holes likely from the Second World War.   

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