THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto powerhouse Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs’ third studio LP Real One is a work of loving, earnest maximalism. The ambitious record features blown-out gang vocals, sweeping piano, shimmering saxophone, romantic string arrangements, and resounding guitars reigning across 11 tracks.
Along with his band mates Dave Tyson (keys), Liam Doyle (lead guitar), Joel “French” Desbois (rhythm guitar), Richard Stanley (bass) and Connor Glen (drums), Coffey has created an album that could be staged on Broadway. Across the album, Coffey explores different voices and tones, putting them on like a stage actor might costumes. Real One glides from arena-rock rippers (Back With The Gang) to fringed country gallops (Magic) to slow-burning Brill Building balladry (Gates Of Heaven) to beloved Thin Lizzy-adjacent workouts (She Knows).
To complete these anthems, the band called on their community for help: Vocalist Siânteuse contributed soaring operatic vocals to four tracks, while Destroyer member Joseph Shabason’s sax solos alternate between brooding patiently on Gates Of Heaven and screaming boldly on 15 Minutes, and Paul Erlichman of Ducks Unlimited and Elrichman arranged the string quartet who underpin the album’s most dramatic moments. “It’s a really triumphant, victorious record,” says Coffey. “I always thought I wasn’t where I should be, but now I feel like I am.”
It’s been three years since Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs released their self-titled LP. An album that elevated their rough and ready garage stylings into something with true arena rock ambitions, the disc was a milestone for the band that saw them adding surprise commercial radio success in their native Canada to high praise from international media outlets — all while taking their joyous live show on the road on a bigger scale then they ever had before as they toured with acts like Fidlar, The Dirty Nil, Frank Turner and Billie Joe Armstrong’s The Longshot.”
