Mawzy Presents 'Long View' | Shares "Start Again"

Newfoundland born/Toronto based psych-pop artist Mawzy today releases their debut album Long View, produced by Thom D’arcy (The Sheepdogs, Yukon Blond). To celebrate the release Mawzy shares the latest video “Start Again”, featuring Kirty (Fast Romantics) on vocals. Mawzy is playing a month-long residency in The Cameron House, Toronto. Full details below.

Watch/Share: Mawzy “Start Again”

“Start Again” was shot on 16mm film by Sameer Cash on location around the neighbourhoods of Wychwood and St.Clair in Toronto’s Westend. Speaking on the track Matt Cooke, aka Mawzy says, “Start Again is about giving someone a second chance and starting anew. The lyrics describe a day spent with a past partner, walking through the city, and airing out old grievances. There is a shared sentiment between the two that was never quite finished and to make things work it would require honesty and a fresh start.”

Mawzy is a departure from Matt’s folkier Newfoundland roots which saw him nominated for MusicNL and ECMA awards. The Newfoundland term “mawzy” describes a“mawzy” day which begins before dawn. It’s a foggy early morning, the sunlight never rising above a bare simmer. Mawzy is the perfect word for Cooke’s project which burbles with hazy vintage synths, misty vocals and a message of love and longing. Growing up in Newfoundland, Cooke cut his teeth in pentecostal church bands, jazz, and folk before packing up and leaving Atlantic Canada for Toronto where Mawzy was born.

Speaking on the record Matt says, “The first Mawzy full length album, Long View, is a very special one for me. Although I’ve put out records with other projects, it’s been a dream of mine to complete a full offering for what is my most personal artistic outlet, Mawzy. Long View is introspective and draws greatly on themes of love and loss, pulling from my past experiences with partners and friends. My life in the city over the past ten years has shaped who I am and the music I make, and I’m grateful for the musical companionship I’ve garnered here. There has also always been the influence of the east coast in my music and ocean/nature imagery is a recurring motif in songs. Long View conveys an overall sentiment that through the ups and downs of life we can choose to see the brighter side.”

You can hear that maritime fog transposed to the bright lights of the big city in Mawzy’s discography. Driving forward with a disco edge, bright guitars, vocals reverbed into the sky, Cooke’s musical project is alight with an eerie groove. It’s a canted pitch of supercharged pop urgency and nostalgic nigh-on crooning psychedelia mixed into a fog of lush analog synths that echo into oblivion. Emerging from the mist is Cooke himself, fading into view in bursts of light amidst the gloom. Mawzy is a distinct portrait of a constantly inventing artist who stretches over landscapes and warmly molds them into the size of a song.