The four members of the folk-alt-country-rock band, Fieldstone Reverie, began playing together when live music seemed like a faraway memory during the pandemic.
Now, a few years later and with several shows to their name, they have released their debut album, The Wilderness Inside, and will celebrate it in the Valley on February 8 as headliners for The Gleaner’s first benefit concert along with openers Stew and Alice and Luc De Tremmerie.
Fronted by singer-songwriters Daniel McKell and Noah Tolhurst, accompanied by guitarist Kris Mah and drummer Jake Morrissey, Fieldstone Reverie self-describes its eclectic sound as ranging from “toe-tapping acoustic ballads to hard-swinging rockers,” with lyrics that delve into everything from regional history to apocalypses.
The songs for the new album were mainly recorded in-studio at The Stuzzio last year and in a barn/jam space in Ormstown. After releasing a few songs digitally in the spring, the band launched the full album a few months later with a fall show in the city after plans for a local launch fell through.
“Slowly, we have been putting things out,” says McKell, who admits the band is pretty chuffed to be playing a local stage come February at the new LBA dining hall in Ormstown. “It’s absolutely gorgeous in there. It has a great ambiance, and it’s exciting to test it out with a full band!” he exclaims.
The band is also proud to now be among the very exclusive club of local musicians to have released an album on vinyl. “I just know three records that came from the area,” says McKell, while holding up Bruce Mann’s album, The Ormstown Fair Affair, which was released in 1980. “So, we took the plunge,” says McKell, who admits the band is pleased to have contributed to the region’s small but hopefully growing self-released vinyl tradition.
“We invested in the recording, and it sounds really great, and we thought, why not present it in the best way possible – which is multiple ways,” explains McKell, who admits the music “fits really well on vinyl.”
“It was one of those bucket-list things,” adds Tolhurst, whose artwork is featured on the album cover. Along with the record, the band will have a selection of T-shirts and merchandise up for grabs during the upcoming concert, all of which was designed and printed at Tolhurst’s studio in Howick.
This won’t be the first benefit concert the band has played, having performed a few years ago to raise funds for the Howick United Church and I am Heshima. The concert is also not the first time the band will share a stage with musicians Stewart Burrows and Alice Packard after they jammed together during Hudson’s Porch Fest last fall. Some of the band’s members have also played with Luc De Tremmerie, most notably during the production of On the Line at Grove Hall in 2017.
“We will have to do a big jam at the end,” says McKell with a laugh, before noting how hard it can be as musicians to find venues to play together. “There are little factions, little places here and there… but it’s all small. It would be great to see if we can make something happen,” he notes. “Who knows? This is a great opportunity in that sense,” he adds.