"We really didn't know how much time Gord had left and it wasn't like there was some kind of a countdown or that the pressure was really on." (Arts & Crafts)Īccording to Patrick, it was like "any other trip down to Bath.… Very business like, but also light and fun," he says. His daughters, Clare and Willo Downie, provided the album artwork, and the album is being released on Arts & Crafts, the Toronto label that has handled almost all of Gord's solo albums since 2001's Coke Machine Glow.Īway is Mine will be released Oct. The recording process is described as an intimate, light affair, with friends and family brought in to flesh out the songs, including Travis Good of the Sadies on fiddle, mandolin and guitar, Dave "Billy Ray" Koster on drums, as well as Gord's son, Louis, on drums.
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To me it puts a nice cap on his solo catalogue and I just feel like it's him really unshackled and in full flight." 'He gave it all he had' I knew we always had this in the can and there was no question about where its place in his legacy is.… I really wanted the last thing he did to be the first thing to come out. "Those are not easy decisions to make under the haze of sorrow, so to speak, but this one, I always felt super solid on. "Dealing with grief of losing a brother, it's been a real gift, but at the same time it's not always been easy," says Patrick of having to make some final decisions around his brother's legacy. It was never planned that these songs would make up an album, nor was it planned that these would be the final songs Gord ever recorded, but once it was in motion, it was never questioned whether or not they would be released. There, each song was arranged by producer Nyles Spencer, the Bath studio manager and engineer for both Gord's solo work ( Introduce Yerself, Secret Path) and the Hip ( Man Machine Poem, Now for Plan A). But then he said, 'What do you think about going to the Bath house?,'" Finlayson says of the decision to take the songs and record them at the Hip's studio outside Kingston. "It was a nice distraction for him and he loved to work. They recorded their parts, Finlayson on his iPhone, Gord into Garageband on his Macbook, with nothing but guitar and vocals. "Music was a very familiar place where I think he found solace and peace of mind, so I felt that was the best friend I could be to him in that situation." I really wanted the last thing he did to be the first thing to come out - Patrick Downie "It was just a good way to spend time with Gord," says Finlayson, not ever thinking it was more than an exercise. For Finlayson, working on music with Gord was just a way to stay connected, doing something they've always loved.Īt the time, Gord was working on a book, but that ultimately proved to be too isolating, especially for an artist who thrived on collaboration. For a while, the Hip members were living in Toronto, but as they slowly began to move away, Gord stayed and put down roots in the city, sparking up a lifelong bond with Finlayson. He collaborated with Josh Finlayson, the guitarist and co-founder for Toronto band the Skydiggers who is also described as Gord's "oldest Toronto friend." They first met in the early '90s, when the Skydiggers opened for the Hip at the Spectrum in Montreal. The songs featured on Away is Mine started as a way for Gord to stay busy. 'It was just a good way to spend time with Gord' " Introduce Yerself was more of a thank you," describes Patrick. It makes sense that the songs on Away is Mine were written during a period of down time, after the Hip's grand finale and his two solo projects. "Please be good to me/ Yea, save me from the useless nights," he pleads.
"Come be surrounded/ by those who love you the most," Downie sings on "About Blank," while on "Useless Nights," he seems to be addressing a higher power. Introduce Yerself was more of a thank you. Both that album and Secret Path had a real sense of urgency to them, as if a clock was ticking, whereas the material on Away is Mine is much more relaxing and pensive, the sound of a man who is under no pressure and alone with his thoughts. Patrick describes the period following Gord's diagnosis as a bit tumultuous, with his brother instantly going into "writing mode" in order to complete Introduce Yerself. He left us a lot, including this drive to carry his legacy forward in the same way he would have."
When he speaks of his brother, Patrick considers the weight of his words carefully, and will sometimes speak in the present tense. Just piles of poems and little things he's got at his disposal," says his brother Patrick Downie, Gord's caregiver through the last two years of his life. "He's always got pieces of writing in various forms of completeness and they're always within arm's reach.
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