Nick Kizirnis is a Dayton, OH-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who has spent the past two-plus decades writing genre-twisting and genre-defying material on over ten solo albums, while also collaborating playing in bands like The Mulchmen, Tobin Sprout’s Eyesinweasel, Cage and others with a collection of up-and-coming local musicians.
During the past decade or so, Kirzrnis has focused on guitar-driven compositions; but his last solo album, The Distance saw Kizirnis returning to writing lyrics and arrangements while simultaneously being a step forward stylistically, As Kizirnis explains, he had a desire to push himself beyond anything he had previously done. “I wanted it to be new and different from what people had heard from me,” he says,
Kirzirnis’ long-time friend, Austin-based drummer Mark Patterson had just temporarily relocated to Dayton to visit family and prepare touring and recording as a member of acclaimed indie outfit Son Volt. Patterson had offered to work on the material that Kizirnis had worked on, enhancing the material’s arrangements based on his experience playing in the Austin scene. During the creative process for the Patrick Himes-produced The Distance, Kizirnis began to feel that writing for his voice was limiting the material. He recruited Cincinnati-based singer/songwriter and cellist Kate Wakefield, one-half of the duo Lung, to contribute vocals.
Wakefield’s background as an opera singer, plus her years of recording and performing helped pushed the fledgling album and recording sessions into high gear. “Kate brought a completely new dimension to the songs,” Kizirnis says. “The moment she sang them, they were transformed into something so much more.”
Kizirnis’ forthcoming album Every Moment sees the Dayton-based artist collaborating with an All-Star cast including The Breeders‘ and Guided by Voices‘ Jim Macpherson, Foxy Shazam‘s and Lung‘s Daisy Caplan, Tod Weidner and Kate Wakefield and guest spots from Trashcan Sinatras‘ Paul Livingston and Guided by Voices’ Tobin Sprout. Sonically, the album’s material reportedly builds on a range of influences including Link Wray, The National, Guided by Voices, Neko Case and others paired with Kizirnis’ probing lyrics and textured, guitar atmospherics throughout.
Every Moment‘s latest single, album title track “Every Moment” is an anthemic track hat recalls Starfish-era The Church, Reckless-era Bryan Adams-like rock featuring some big fuzz and distorted pedaled guitar riffs, a driving rhythm section, big, incredibly catchy hooks and choruses paired with Kizirnis’ easy-going yet earnest croon.
Recorded remotely during the depths of COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions and later finalized in-person with Macpherson, Caplan, Wakefield, Weidner and Kyleen Downes, “Every Moment” as Kizrnis explains is about staying present during impending existential crises and the brink of collapse, which — well, considering everything seems all too fitting, y’all.