Kevin Towill is back in business with his comeback EP After The Party Is Over — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Featuring five tracks of gritty, earthy and emotionally rich guitar-rock delivered with a rootsy flair, The Party Is Over marks the return of the Calgary singer-songwriter, who is picking up where he left of after taking a break from music when his band disintegrated in 2017.
“After The Party Is Over, for me, started as a collection of songs I wrote while I was playing with my old punk band The Reckless Heroes,” Towill says. “I knew these songs had no place in that band, so I decided to keep them to myself and only ever played them when I performed at the occasional open-mic night. For a long time, they were really just bare-boned, unfinished ideas — perhaps because I didn’t have a plan for them.
“It wasn’t until long after my old band had broken up and I had found myself in an office job that I started writing again. Music was something missing from my life – something I once had and then stopped doing almost altogether. I always wanted to come back to music and put out some of my own original solo material. It was during the COVID-19 Pandemic when I decided to it down and work on completing all of these songs — the timing just felt perfect.
“As soon as I got these songs to a state I could be satisfied with, I booked some studio time and recorded all five songs within a few days. This was very much a passion project for me and I was fortunate enough to work with a few friends to make this record become a reality. This is the first new music I’ve released in four years and couldn’t be more excited to get it out there! Music was far too important and self-identifying to abandon completely,”
Throughout this EP, Towill gives it all unabashedly. His gruff vocals plead, concede, offer, and bargain across the melodies and raw, scaled-back instrumentation. Utilizing a variety of song styles, he draws on his influences to create a diverse ambiance. Some tracks are laced with upbeat vibes; others are melancholic and deeply introspective. Percussion creeps in on opening track The Contemporary American Dream, featuring ethereal back-up vocals that make the track liberating and haunting in equal measure. Towill concludes the EP with Goodbye, an instrumental electric-guitar curtain call that wraps up the pieces of the album with a tidy bow and a nod of thanks
Listen to After The Party Is Over below and follow Kevin Towill on Instagram.
