Tag: Blinker The Star Cairo

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Blinker The Star Goes on a Cosmic Dance Off

Throughout the course of this year, I’ve managed to spill quite a bit of a virtual ink covering Blinker The Star, led by its Pembroke, Ontario-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind, Jordon Zadorozny.

As you may recall after completing a short run of live shows last fall, Zadorozny began working on new Blinker The Star material at this Skylark Park Studio. Interestingly, the solitude of his immediate environment helped informed the material, which eventually comprised his soon-to-be released ninth album Juvenile Universe. “Because the scent of my last album was still fresh in the air, I had been thinking of this album as sort of a continuation of the last one, but when I played it for friends, they all thought it was definitely a step forward,” the Pembroke-born and-based JOVM says in press notes.

So far, i’ve written about four of the album’s previously released singles: The Station to Station-era David Bowie-like “Way Off Wave,” the jangling, 70s rock-like “Only To Run Wild,” the 80s New Wave-like “Silent Types,” and the psych rock-like “Cairo,” which features a gorgeous string arrangement by Chris Church.

Building up buzz for the soon-to-be released album, Zadorozny recently released Juvenile Universe’s fifth and latest single, the brooding yet radio friendly New Wave-inspired “Terror of the Heart.” Centered around shimmering guitars, a propulsive and angular bass line and an decidedly 80s inspired drum sound, “Terror of the Heart” evokes the anxiousness and uncertainty of love — and the inevitable fear of heartbreak and rejection.

Directed by Rémi Frechette, the recently released video for “Terror of the Heart” stars Camille Cloutier as a gorgeous, sun-bather and Blinker The Star’s Jordon Zadorozny as an interstellar astronaut, who have a meet-cute and trippy cosmic dance off after Zadorozny’s spaceship crash lands. The video ends with another spaceship that comes to beam our interstellar traveler up and out.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Blinker the Star · Cairo

Over the past handful of months, I’ve written quite a bit about Jordon Zadorozny, the Pembroke, Ontario-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind behind acclaimed indie rock recording project Blinker The Star. Now, as you may recall, Zadorozny initially started the project as a solo recording project that quickly expanded into a full-fledged band for their first two albums 1995’s self-titled debut and 1996’s A Bourgeois Kitten, which were released through A&M Records. And during those first few years, Zadorozny and company built up a national profile through steady touring.

Back in 1997, Zadorozny relocated from Montreal to Los Angeles, where he worked with Courtney Love, helping craft songs for Hole’s acclaimed and commercially successful album Celebrity Skin. While in Los Angeles, Zadorozny began soaking up new influences and became increasingly fascinated with production. Signing with Dreamworks in 1999, the band, which at the time featured Zadorozny, Failure’s Kelli Scott (drums), longtime bassist Pete Frolander and a rotating cast of Southern California-based session musicians recorded and released their critically applauded third album August Everywhere, which they supported with touring across North America with Our Lady Peace, Sloan, Failure and The Flaming Lips. 

Returning back to Pembroke in 2002, Zadorozny built his first commercial recording studio and began working with Sam Roberts, contributing drums and producing Roberts’ breakthrough debut EP The Inhuman Condition. Zadorozny also worked on albums by Melisa Auf der Maur, Chris Cornell, Lindsey Buckingham and others. During the Winter of 2003, Zadorozny wrote and recorded Blinker The Star’s fourth album Still In Rome as a duo with Kelli Scott. Following a brief tour to support the album, the Pembroke, Ontario-born multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter quickly settled into the production side of the things working with an electric array of artists, including collaborative projects like Digital Noise Academy, SheLoom,  The Angry Moon, and others.

2012’s fourth album, We Draw Lines was the first Blinker The Star album that Zadorozny wrote and recorded as a solo recording project since he started the project over a decade earlier.  And interestingly enough, We Draw Lines began a rather prolific period that included 2013’s Songs from Laniakea Beach, a one-off single “Future Fires,” 2015’s 11235 EP, 2017’s 8 of Hearts and last year’s Careful With Your Magic.

After completing a short run of shows last fall, Zadorozny began working working on new material at his Skylark Park Studio. The solitude of his environment helped inform his forthcoming Blinker The Star album Juvenile Universe, which is slated for release this summer. So far I’ve written about three of the album’s singles: the Station to Station-era David Bowie-like “Way Off Wave,” the jangling, 70s rock-like “Only To Run Wild,” and the 80s New Wave-like “Silent Types.” Juvenile Universe‘s fourth and latest single is the, anthemic  “Cairo.” Centered around jangling power chords, an enormous hook and a shimmering string arrangement and droning “Cairo” continues an incredible run of deliberate crafted yet ambitious material — but while arguably being the most psych leaning song of the Blinker the Star catalog.

Much like the rest of Juvenile Universe‘s material, the basic tracks were completed alone at Skylark Studio before they were sent to string arranger Chris Church. “I asked Chris if he’d ever heard any Egyptian orchestral music, like the kind you might hear in the back of a cab in Montreal at 4am. Quite virtuosic stuff. I was floored with what he came up with,” Zadorozny says in press notes. “‘Also present on the track via home studios are Bob Wilcox and The Posies‘ Ken Stringfellow on backing vocals, SheLoom bandmate Filippo Gaetani on Melotron, and Jarek Leskiewizc contributing ambient done guitar.