Lookout Tower consists of singer Rankin MacEachern from Mabou, Bryan Picard from Baddeck Forks, John Pinnington from Middle River, and Franzi Habith from East Margaree (missing from photo).
May 31, 2023
-by Brad Chandler
In the music world, they say one of the most challenging achievements for a young band is to not only recreate the success of their debut album, but to find a way to exceed it.
Bands often struggle to find a new avenue to take their discography to the next level and subsequently fall into what is referred to as the “sophomore slump.”
Then a band like Lookout Tower comes around and completely puts that theory to shame.
The self-proclaimed “winter swamp music” quartet composed of singer Rankin MacEachern from Mabou, Bryan Picard from Baddeck Forks, Franzi Habith from East Margaree, and John Pinnington from Middle River released their second album entitled Fields on May 26th.
“This album shows that our first album wasn’t just an experiment,” said singer Rankin MacEachern in an interview with The Oran. “This was something we were really working at and for this album, nothing was off the table.”
Running just over 34 minutes, Fields is 11 tracks of seasoned and refined “bluesy rock, soulful ballads, and blizzard funks” that see each band member reach heights not seen on their debut album Smoke Over Sound which was released in June of last year.
“As we are getting to work more together as a band, I think our writing process is improving and we are willing to take more chances. Now, the sky’s the limit and we are having so much fun doing it, so why do it any different,” MacEachern said.
The band has been piecing the album together since the release of Smoke Over Sound, oftentimes creating new material during jam sessions and polishing them during live shows.
Rankin MacEachern’s vocals have leveled up with time and are especially highlighted in the record’s opening track I Ain’t Leavin’.
Fields carries much more weight in terms of musical freedom and expression, offering new and exciting sounds that can stand on their own, but work incredibly well when layered on top of one another.
The instrumentals are at their all-time peak in the albums fifth track Late Arrival, where Picard, Habith, and Pinnington create a mesmerizing and sneaky-sounding instrumental piece appropriate enough for the likes of Woodstock 69’s main stage.
Similar to their debut, MacEachern said they wanted to write an album that sounds “pretty much the exact same live as it does in the recording.”
The record was produced by SoundPark Studio’s Jamie Foulds and was recorded in a 125-year-old farmhouse to add a spacious yet raw texture to the song’s 11 tracks.
Franzi Habith recorded the entirety of the album’s bass in his homeland of Austria, where he was able to write remotely.
“This time around, we felt that we weren’t as constrained with time so we were able to add in more layers and new sounds,” MacEachern said.
Trevor Wentzell from Rankin MacInnis and the Broken Reed’s and Jake Foley from the Big Country Ramblers added to the album’s diverse sound with guest features on a number of tracks throughout the album.
Bradley Murphy, who played organ and fiddle on the band’s debut record, did not play on Fields due to other musical engagements but is said to be a big influence on the band’s new expanded sound, according to MacEachern.
“He was one of the first people to really help us think outside of the box and just write the way we want to write.”
Although Fields doesn’t stray far away from Lookout Towers’ signature sound made popular on their debut record, new elements introduced make hits on the album rank amongst the band’s best so far.
“This album is deeper, the lyrics are stronger. There is more depth to the songs…but we are really honing in on who we are as a band with these songs and really leaning into that ‘winter swamp music’ sound,” MacEachern said. “We are whoever we want to be and our style is forever changing.”
Lookout Tower will be playing an official album release show at The Carleton in Halifax on June 2nd, before hitting the “emerging artists stage” at this year’s Cavendish Beach Music Festival on July 6th.
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