It's now time for our 193rd monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and as our sudden backlog of new album reviews marches onward, we're taking a look at local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's 53rd solo album "Frequent Flyer" today! This album is very unique, as it was technically released via his own independent label MorningStar Records on June 13th, but the seeds were planted last year when Mike launched a "secret album" campaign via his Frequent Flyers mailing list. Each week for a year, subscribers were given a letter towards a password to unlock one of the album's songs for free to download, and as of June 6th, the earliest Frequent Flyers (myself included) were able to download all nine songs. One week later, Mike released "Frequent Flyer" to the public via his Bandcamp page on mp3 (for $10) and via his new ElasticStage store on CD for $20.40 or vinyl for $51.90.
In order to keep the album special for his mailing list subscribers, there are no imminent plans to release the whole thing to major streaming services, though three advance singles can be heard for free on Bandcamp and Spotify. I got "Frequent Flyer" the long way, but if you don't want to invest the time, you can invest some cash if you want! Not considered to be a "mainline" album in Mike's vast discography given its recording methods (a'la the Haggith band's "Apocalypse" albums), Mike performs the vast majority of parts on the final product, though two tracks feature guest performers. Featuring nine tracks running for about 36 minutes, let's begin our flight!
Musically, this kind of feels new wavey, if that's fair, but the lack of vocals could influence that perception. I will tell you that the song never feels "turbulent" or chaotic, but I like how the song gets an orchestral tinge in the back half. Not a bad song with a retro feel, but adjust expectations given the lack of vocals! Next is the first of two songs with guest musicians, namely "Cruise", which features Dag, White Rhino, and Serge Paul. Promotion didn't really clear up who they were, but all three are musicians from Winnipeg, with Mike collaborating with them when he was layover there during his work as a commercial pilot. Serge Paul is a saxophone player, while White Rhino and Dag are rappers, so there's a change of pace! Here, Mike sings the chorus (about driving through the city endlessly) and delegates to the rappers on verses. Partially thanks to Serge's presence, this song has a jazzier feel to it as music, without much rock to speak of.
I'm not a rap scholar, but the flow is good on their verses, and Serge has clear sax talent, but aside from Mike's choruses, you'd never guess that this was a song of his, and it ends way too abruptly, fading out during Serge's ending solo. An interesting styles clash for sure, but fans of Mike's primarily solo music may want more out of this. The other song with a guest performer is next, namely "You Are The Sun", which is one of the three advance singles that non-Frequent Flyers can hear for free. Former Gnaeus bassist Matt Fronzi appears on this track (he has been in Mike's locally based Big Finish Band since last year), and Mike was inspired to write this song after hearing a new bass line that Matt was working on. This is the most representative song on the first half of the album in regard to Mike's post-Din solo catalog, but like on the opener, it has an optimistic air to it with positive lyrics and nice casual instrumentation!
It's more reserved than "Brand New Day", but it's not a bad number at all, and the guitar work is particularly nice. Matt's bass work is definitely stellar, but I will say that it doesn't stand out the same when Mike's full instrumentation is in play. Well written across the board though! Mike next does a rare studio cover next, namely of "Echoes In Your Head" by 2016-2017 local indie/hard rock band Bizotic, who never even released this (or any) song in studio form during their short run. Mike was a big fan of Bizotic's and has covered them in concert in the past, and it's always cool seeing local musicians cover other local musicians! If you want to hear the original song, here's a live recording of Bizotic playing it in Wawa. I did hear the original first, and while Mike largely sticks to the same structure, this version has more of an atmospheric and polished feel, with sparer instrumentation early on before the full band kicks in.
The multi-tracked vocals are overdone on the verses, but this will appeal the most to Din fans so far, and it has well layered instrumentation that would never give the impression that he had a one day deadline to complete it. Definitely an album highlight for me, so don't bypass it because of the subscriber exclusivity and paywall! Next is an alternate version of "Come On Home" from Mike's 2021 album "Bridges", which has a new arrangement that was developed when Mike played this song in concert. I did listen to the original version of this low-key ballad to compare (read my original review here), and aside from being significantly shorter, the 2025 version is a little more positive with a light symphonic touch, more varied singing, a less abrupt ending, and some multi-tracked backing vocals, while still retaining its melancholy lyrics. Basically, it's the original song but tighter and more upbeat, so for me, it's an improvement!
The penultimate song here is "This Is The Moment", which Mike worked on years ago, only to "hit a wall with it" before finally completing it for this album project. This has more of a grandiose nature befitting his pre-Din local output, with a softer intro with light guitar work and orchestral backing that builds into a fuller performance with more instrumental backing. I don't know if it does date that far back for its initial conception, but Mike sings and performs well on this mini-epic across the board, and you get the sense that the lyrics and intent hold real weight. Not a rocker, so to speak, but a compositional highlight! "Frequent Flyer" closes with its longest song and final advance single that anyone can hear for free on demand, namely "Home", which is inspired by how every pilot like him wants to go home, no matter how "home" is defined for them. Like "Come On Home", this starts off as a more spare vocal/guitar-driven number.
This song speaks to a lot of optimistic longing, and Mike crafts it well to get that across, and you can picture him at the seat of an airplane with this being on his mind. It's a little drawn out, but it has the symphonic backing that works on prior songs of his here, and while I don't think that the song as recorded is a good live rock concert candidate, it's a nice closer to ease this flight to a safe landing, ideally at home!
So, what are my final thoughts on Mike Haggith's (arguably) most unique album yet? Well, you kind of have to grade it on a slightly different tract given that it's not a "mainline" album written and recorded at one time, but it's an entertaining collection of one-off songs and backlogged ideas, and an ideal subscriber bonus for his mailing list program! That's not to undersell it, as there are multiple good songs here that would fit Mike's other Thompson/Barrie-era solo albums, but you can tell from the mid-2010s-esque orchestral backing alone that some of these songs had been sitting around waiting to be completed and released. "Miles & Memories" is probably my favourite song here, but "Come On Home" was improved for this re-release, "Brand New Day" sets things off on the right foot, and we got some good variance in influences across these nine songs, while also letting Mike flex more of his always-improving vocal range.
No comments:
Post a Comment