R.D. Macnab

Written by Francis Baptiste

The first single from R.D. Macnab’s self-titled debut album is a dreamy, mellow folk introspective. Macnab, who also sings and plays guitar in local band TANGLERS, is a talented multi-instrumentalist. He played every instrument on the record. His voice, soft and wispy, sweeps through the song soothingly. Citrus Magazine got to catch up with him to ask him a few questions about his latest release.

Who edited the video for Testify?/What prompted the use of archival footage?

I created the music video to Testify on my own. My music funds were low at the time, but I wanted to have some sort of visual representation of the song to promote. I did some deep digging and found an archival footage website that has hundreds of clips from movies, ads, short films etc. which are over 50 years old and now under the public domain. It took me a few very late nights to come up with something that I was remotely happy with. I used a basic video editing software on my computer. The song has a very nostalgic feeling for me and when I found the "roadtrip" footage it reminded me a lot of times when I was growing up in Ontario and driving up north. There's something about road trips....I've always loved them. The winding roads and the forests and landscapes were always something I held close to my heart. The animation is from some german filmmaker in the 20's that I stumbled upon, I thought it helped create a more surreal aspect of the video/song. I always find writing about death to be very cathartic, and that theme rears it's head in a lot of my songs, hence the car crash I threw in at the end haha. I made a little bibliography of all the original projects that you can find on the video credits, so feel free to go check them out.

Where was Testify recorded? And What was the recording process like?

Testify, as well as the rest of the album, was recorded in a new studio in the downtown west-side of Toronto called Ritchie Recordings. I was having a pretty big existential crisis around December 2018, so I moved home to Toronto for 6 months to figure my shit out. I reconnected with an old friend from high school named Aggrey Ellis who was living there and helping to get the whole recording space up and running. He was really nice and let me rent out the space for cheap, so I would go there almost every day and just play and record music by myself and that's how it all came together. The whole process helped me get back into a better headspace and it was kind of a perfect "aligning of the stars" as some would say.

What were your main influences for the debut album?

Influences are always changing but I'll name a few artists that I seem to feel very connected with musically most of the time.

- Michael Nau (also known as Cotton Jones)

- Steve Gunn

- Jeff Tweedy

- Sam Cohen

What is your favourite thing about the Vancouver music scene?

- There are a lot of people who are pushing back against the venue and art space crisis in this city. The band I'm in, Tanglers, have played a lot of DIY shows and house shows over the past couple years and that has been amazing. It's good to see people making do with what they have, because what's the point of living in a big crowded city if there's no art or culture? I think it's a never-ending battle, especially with the cost of living in Vancouver, but it's good to see there are still cool people living here trying to keep this city an exciting and interesting place to live.

Who are your favourite local artists?

I think my favourite band that I've come across in this town is Dumb. I think they're a super original, talented group. It's some high energy, post-punk rock that just fits the vibe of this city really well. I didn't really get into that genre until I moved here. I saw Johnny Decourcy before he moved away (maybe he's back?) and that was an amazing show. Some other honorable mentions are Wrecked Beach, The Pierce Kingans, Laverne and probably a bunch more I'm not thinking of.

Do you have any live performances upcoming?

My band Tanglers is playing a show at the WISE hall with The Blank Tapes and Leisure Club on February 8th. We're excited to play some new stuff we've been working on.

Is there anything you learned in the process of creating your debut album?

I learned that there is a fine line between making sure your songs sound the way you want them to and spending too much time obsessing over the finished product. You want the project to be the best version of itself, and sometimes that's the first take. On the other hand, if you're too impatient like I sometimes am, the end product will be missing some details that could have taken the song to the next level of artistic quality. I dunno, it's a never-ending learning process, but the process itself is what keeps me feeling some sort of fulfillment that I can't find anywhere else in life. So I'm going to keep doing it.