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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Music Southern Shores drift home

For a bit, anyway

Posted by Rachel Bloom on Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 4:00 AM

click to enlarge

Southern Shores is coming home. Halifax-born and raised Ben Dalton and Jamie Townsend are performing at Gus’ Pub on Tuesday, July 31 (with Gwen West) and they couldn't be more excited. After seven months in Toronto, they’re eager to return home to see friends and family.

“Since January we have been here making new music, trying to get things going for ourselves in a professional sense but we miss our friends and family,” says Dalton, guitarist.

The duo, leaving behind former band members Seamus Dalton and Paul Conrod, moved to Toronto in November and has been hard at work there making new music.

Townsend and Dalton moved in together, setting up a studio in their living room and made music everyday for four months.

“It presented its own sense of challenges but being able to create at any hour of the day made it easier to capture moments of creativity so the results were fruitful,” says Dalton.

Toronto has been a big change for the band, which has made them appreciate Halifax all the more, in particular the lakes and beaches. “When you’re stuck in the concrete of Toronto, 33 degrees everyday, you really start to look back on memories of summers past,” says Dalton.

Their music is described by Dalton as a “meeting point” between Dalton’s organic guitar textures and Townsend’s hip-hop/production background of energetic rhythm. Their tunes are typically labelled as beach-pop and are difficult not to like. Inspired by travelling, there is a distinctive style to their EP Atlantic.

Southern Shores just finished recording their newest album which is expected out in fall 2012. “We are quite proud and excited with the results; I have to say that it’s quite a step forward for us. I think people are going to be surprised and I really hope they like what we’ve come up with,” says Dalton.

For more on Southern Shores, check out the song they created on episode two of Vice's new documentary series Artist to Artist which aims to showcase Canadian artists. The song, "Malabar", is based off the painting made in the first episode by Montreal artist Jody Hargreaves.

Tags: Southern Shores, Gwen West, music