It was time to change it up.
Touching (aka Michael Falk) has turned the tables on his previous work, taking inspiration from a broad range of new sources, transforming his artistic path with the new album I Can Be Two People At Once.
The album was mixed by BC-based Mounties & Limblifter musician/producer Ryan Dahle. Ryan’s recent collaborations with jazz adventurer Donny McCaslin and pop/rock heritage (Mother Mother, k-os, Hot Hot Heat) were he perfect match to bring Michael’s ambitious vision for this new album to the finish line.
While in the pre-pandemic role of Artistic Director for Jazz Winnipeg, Michael fell in love with some of modern jazz’s more adventurous offshoots. He saw a fair amount of punk rock spirit in some of the reckless abandon deployed by artists like Donny McCaslin, Shabaka Hutchings, Pino Palledino, and Portishead’s Third. So his new goal was simple: do everything the exact opposite of how he used to.
A self-taught musician and songwriter, Michael challenged himself to see if there was a path that could take these new musical influences and funnel them through his love of overdriven synths, dramatic arrangements, and introspective, story-telling lyrics. Together with Alasdair Dunlop (bass), Sean Irvine (sax), Sandy Fernandez (drums), Dave Quanbury (keys) and Micah Erenberg (engineer), they went into No Fun Club recording studio and laid down beds for 6 songs.
The rest of the songs gradually took shape through periodic sessions at Volcano House … until it was time to sing. The previously prolific Falk hit a wall. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the new task at hand, but it caught him off guard. His solution? Turn to his talented friends to help forge new melodic pathways.
He engaged Rococode’s Laura Smith and Andrew Braun to contribute, giving a push to Feeling Swell, Cauldron and Blue Shoes aka David Duchovny’s Dirty Linen. He invited New York singer Olive Louise into the process, bringing Ocean Of Smiles to life. Longtime friend and acclaimed New York-based jazz drummer Curtis Nowosad (Braxton Cook) soon joined the fray.
Nowosad’s contributions to the album include drums and percussion on several songs, the arrangement of Oil + Water, but also fuel for a big experiment. Touching have manipulated and re-worked Curtis’ song Water Protectors into their own: Harvest In The Time Of Children. Taking micro-samples of Curtis’ multitrack, they created entirely new synthetic instruments out of his waveforms and written a new piece of music. Part remix, part sampling experiment, part entirely new composition: this process kickstarted the album’s journey, in partnership with longtime collaborator Alasdair Dunlop.
To fulfill the vision, Michael turned to mix engineer & musician Ryan Dahle. The two quickly become symbiotic partners, sharing a similar ethos towards the creative process – open-ended, connective, trusting of the special spirit that can weave through an artist, if they can get out of the way and let the music lead.
The result is something oddly raw and special. I Can Be Two People At Once pokes, prods, scalds, hints, and warms its way through 12 songs charting whimsical courses through the canyon between jazz and indie rock.
In 2021, Touching released littleworlds, and lead single Tony Called The Muscle went to #1 on the CBC Radio 3 chart. It featured three thematic videos around a boxing ring, directed by Michael at the Burton Cummings Theatre. In 2020 Touching released their debut, Isolation Blues, with a pandemic art project of 10 improvised one-shot music videos in collaboration with actress Ali Tataryn and filmmaker Tyler Funk. In summer 2023 Touching launched a new block party called Hatch.
