Sunfields
Sunfields' next album: "All hits. No fillers", says Jason Kent
Sunfields’ Jason Kent once came to my apartment to drop off music in 2005, and in about two minutes he endeared himself to me. Many others have had the pleasure. He is, without a doubt, one of the good guys of our scene.
He’s also played with everyone in it. Though he’s a Sunfields man these days, he’s been a part of (among other bands) Soft Canyon, Bodega, the Sonny Best band, and whatever our old friend John Lennox was calling his band before Panoramic & True.
Also, like most Montrealers, he spent some time playing with the Dears, time which he reflects upon with fondness.
“It was all in all a great experience,” he says. “It was interesting coming into the band as an outsider, not knowing the tunes or the other new members.”
It also provoked a bit of a turning point in his career, amplifying his commitment to his craft.
“It was strange going from playing in my band, sleeping on couches, cutting costs where we [could], taking two [VW] Golfs on the road, to going on a tour bus, being paid, rider, good audience attendance... it made me take things more seriously. For example, I quit smoking because I didn’t want to not be able to sing.”
This commitment reveals itself in country-inflected, acidy Sunfields. Whereas before he was playing under or leading with his own name (e.g. Jason Kent and the Crystal Lake), Sunfields is much more of a band than Kent’s ever had.
“The Sunfields record almost came out as 'Jason Kent' record, but when I was approached by British label [Nude Records] to release it, they suggested a new band name. Also, it was more of a band collaboration than my first record.
“Phil [Burns, guitar] and were traveling to England a lot and that's where most of it was recorded—in a 200-year-old manor with our friend James Watkins. At night we'd walk through the fields with cans of Carlsberg; in between we'd play shows here and there. The record is very organic and 'English' in some ways. I still write all the songs, but we're much more of a band than we've ever been now, and we're already working on our next record!”
And working with purpose, it turns out. “All hits. No fillers,” Kent says, trying to characterize the new work. “Too many songs too chose from. Many have been road tested so it's pretty obvious which ones we’re gonna use. Bed tracks have already been done at Breakglass [studio] with Jace [Lasek].”
Kent’s also working at mastering a very new skill: fatherhood. He recently became a dad to a little boy named Levi whose existence has already changed his father’s: “My lame jokes are now considered 'dad jokes.’”
You must be logged in to leave a comment.
