Skip to main content

Maverick Ad

Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Cover Stories
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Legacy Awards
  • Past Covers
  • Weekly Archive
Baroque-Pop Art-Rocker GROTOKO Starkly Symbolic in New Video, “Mister”

Breadcrumb

  • Home
  • Baroque-Pop Art-Rocker GROTOKO Starkly Symbolic in New Video, “Mister”
GROTOKO
Fri May 15, 2020
Cashbox Canada

When it comes to Grotoko, the new single and video “Mister” offers a landmark in the art-rock, baroque-pop artist’s growing and ever-fluid body of work.

The brainchild of Montreal-based, Winnipeg-born multi-instrumentalist, composer and visual artist Blue McLeod, Grotoko’s sound pulls from grunge, folk, punk, and classical genres and kneads them together with the artist’s experiences and the world around. “I often use confessional, optimistic, sarcastic, or sometimes nearly nonsensical lyrics to describe various experiences and emotions,” McLeod says of the multifaceted creative outlay. “There’s also a wide variety of musical colours and textures to create a sort of collage of sounds, when words might not necessarily be enough.

“‘Mister’ was written almost entirely on the spot,” McLeod continues, adding that it was written about a highly personal experience. “Now it’s a song that seems to change tone every time I perform it.

Watch and listen to “Mister” here:

“Occasionally, the lyrics feel entirely genuine from the perspective of someone who isn’t happy about an ended relationship but is trying to see a positive side and handle it maturely. And, a lot of the time, the song is sarcastic from the perspective of someone who is happy that a controlling and emotionally exhausting relationship has ended.

“Sometimes, it feels like a bit of both.”

With a symbolic set-up too good to pass on, Grotoko’s acoustic outlay of “Mister” comes to visual life in a starkly empty apartment on a dreary, weighted-weather day.

“The video was shot in my old apartment in Winnipeg after my roommates and I had finished moving. Somehow, it seemed fitting to play the song in an empty apartment after everyone had left; the emptiness of the room seemed almost symbolic of the feeling of losing someone or something significant, and symbolic with the amount of space available for new experiences.”

“Mister” lands as a follow-up to Grotoko’s debut LP, We All Fall Down and acoustic offering, Grotoko Says Happy New Year, while serving as a precursor to its forthcoming album, Periwinkle. That said, the track’s ultimate home is saved for a fourth addition to the act’s ever-increasing and interconnected library, set for release down the line. “We All Fall Down began after a long break from writing,” McLeod recalls of the 2017 release. “My first band had broken up, which had practically destroyed me to the point where I tried to quit music.

“During that time, I didn’t really talk much and I went through a lot of bad experiences. Eventually, giving up music turned out to be incredibly difficult; I had a lot bottled up.

“The title is a reference to ‘Ring Around the Rosie’ — which is about a plague, although when I was growing up, that information seemed to be hidden. We All Fall Down is a fairly dark album, and it’s hard to talk about. The music was the easiest way to communicate about things that were just too disturbing.

“As for Periwinkle, it was a nickname one person called me in theatre school,” McLeod says of the new album’s namesake. “It seemed like a fitting word to use as a title since it was a word that was following me around during the experiences that led to writing it.

“Even though some of the songs were written so far apart, they all seemed to belong together on Periwinkle, with them all being a part of the same story.”

For more visit:
facebook.com/grotokomusic
instagram.com/grotokomusic/
twitter.com/grotokomusic
open.spotify.com/artist/0lRZQ71FlWXoJ9EAM8CeWA

Reviews
Album
Grotoko
Month: May 2021
Kele Fleming Photo Credit- Sharon Steele Folk Artist Kele Fleming Soothes & Sways with New Spin on Single, “Sea In Me”…
 Morning Trips Alt-Pop, Punk-Rock Florida-based Morning Trips Release New Single “…
Steve Marriner Steve Marriner Makes the Move to Solo Artist with “Hope Dies Last”
Steve Paul Simms Roots & Blues Artist Steve Paul Simms Goes For Broke on New Single…
The Mandevilles The Mandevilles Tune Out the BS with “Fading Colors in the Northern Lights” —…
Son Of Dave Bluesman Son Of Dave Spies the “End Of Days” with New Single Release
Cameron & Crawford Cameron & Crawford Muse Aloud in New Single “Sometimes In September”
Celogen Celogen Carves Out His Own Art Pop Path with “(Give Yourself) Ropeburns”
Chin Injeti GRAMMY and JUNO Winning Artist Chin Injeti is “Golden” with New…
Claire Whitehead You Can’t Go Wrong with “No Right Way, Louise” Country-Folk Artist…
Howard Lee Naylor Rocker Howard Lee Naylor Reflects on Easier Times with Newly…
J.C. Brae Country Artist J.C. Brae Serves Up Some Weekend Vibes with “Savin’ It Up…
Ken Tizzard And Friends Ken Tizzard And Friends – All Together Now
Marshall Potts Kamloops, BC's Country Rocker Marshall Potts Gets “Free and…
Rogue Proxy EDM Rockers Rogue Proxy Continue to Defy Genre Norms with New Single…

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹ Previous
  • …
  • Page 37
  • Page 38
  • Page 39
  • Page 40
  • Current page 41
  • Page 42
  • Page 43
  • Page 44
  • Page 45
  • …
  • Next page Next ›
  • Last page Last »

CEO/PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF
SANDY GRAHAM

email:sandygrahamemg@gmail.com 

Canadian Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Don Graham
email: dongrahamwriter@gmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Lisa Hartt
email: lisahartt87@hotmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada 
Michael Williams
email: greydread@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

International Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Malin Osth
email: malin@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Jonas Tancred
email: jonas@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - USA
Rob Durkee 
email: rockster2746@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Web Developer/Technical Support
Chris Wardman

email: info@chriswardman.com
website: chriswardman.com

Cashbox Cover Design and Graphic Artist
Jain McMillan

email: jainmcmillan@gmail.com

Contributing Photographer 
Tracey Savein - South Paw Productions
southpawproductions@rogers.com

 

 

 

Footer menu

  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Archive
  • Issue Archive
  • Past Covers