Life as an artist can be desolate and dire, but it can also come with ample moments of joy and happiness in simple things and making connections. Those thoughts about the highs and lows and rolling with the punches are perfectly captured in Winnipeg indie rock group Empaths In Retrograde's debut album The Great. It's an honest collection of genre-defying material speaking to vices and virtues using infectious, intriguing melodies and hooks, and incredibly accurate but gritty lyrical vignettes highlighted by the single "She Comes to the City."

"'She Comes to the City" is about the sacrifices one must make for the things we love," the band says of the single which brings to mind some eclectic collage of The Strokes and critically acclaimed Canadian group Constantines. "Written about a tumultuous long-distance relationship from January 2024, it was saved by guitarist Ryan Whiskey’s (Ryan Purdy's) insistence on its survival. His buzzy guitars compliment the catchy singalong hook of the chorus to create our best attempt at a song of the summer (as no one likes driving in a Winnipeg winter)."

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/album/6yGvDtK2uvXi54Av3kdrPU

Empaths in Retrograde consist of singer and acoustic guitarist Chris Kilrea, singer and electric guitarist Ryan Purdy, singer and bassist Andrew Kehler, and drummer Curtis Ullman. The quartet is fantastic on "She Comes to the City," which also featured some help from fellow Manitoba musician Kola Kola Pop. The energy and verve exemplify The Great from start to finish, an album that didn't take the group long to start once they formed. "Recorded in our basement over the course of our first eight months as a band, The Great is a tale of the artist’s journey in 10 divinely connected tracks," they write.

As solid as "She Comes to the City" is, The Great contains several other gems, including the opening "Drugs Are Fun," resembling a spacey, trippy, free form jazz-tinged gem that gets the ball rolling. Composed "over a bonfire" during the summer of 2024, the tune could be compared to Frank Zappa putting his stamp on the Queens of the Stone Age nugget "Feel Good Hit of the Summer." Meanwhile, the funky "Don't F-ck With The System" is a swampy tune the band recorded "fast and dirty" with dynamic results thanks to guest horn players Jordie Ouellet and Benny Mountain.

Fans of B.A. Johnston, The Hold Steady (or The Hold Steady lead singer Craig Finn's solo work) would lap up Empaths in Retrograde's music. The pandemic-inspired "Alright, Alt-Right" oozes power pop flavor while lyrically revisiting a time where "it seemed that everyone lost the plot" regarding objective reality. The southern-laced "Meltdown" concerns Kilrea's mental health issues in 2015 and searching for enlightenment. "This is definitely one of my more expansive songs and a personal favorite," Kilrea says.

Other highlights include "The Great (I Chased A Dream)" with its ramshackle Replacements-esque approach. Here, Empaths in Retrograde sing of dreams buskers possess. Those lofty ambitions often end up relegated to discovering hard truths. "This song captures the ego, but with the ability to stare failure in the face and say at least I tried," Kilrea says. Elsewhere, the jangled effort "Reality" reveals some orgiastic activities following an open mic night. "It was a dream, and when I finally had it in my grasp, it was nothing like I imagined it to be," Kilrea says of the song's night in question. "That is how most dreams are."

Empaths in Retrograde formed following Kilrea's two-decade quest to achieve success in the music industry. After meeting Purdy, Ullman, and Kehler, the group discovered how they could create art mirroring "the hopelessness, boredom, and disappointment inherent in the human condition." The group has performed at various Winnipeg venues including The Park Alleys, The Sidestage, The Royal Albert Arms, and The Osborne Taphouse. In 2024 the group released a Yuletide single "Holiday Hullaballoo." Empaths in Retrograde describe their style as "roots/punk/soul psychedelica" and it's hard to argue with that.

Empaths in Retrograde plan to celebrate the release of their debut album The Great with a launch concert on Feb. 28 at The Osborne Taphouse in Winnipeg. It's an album that's great thanks to excellent musicianship, finely-crafted lyrics, and tracks like "She Comes to the City," which would melt the coldest of hearts in Winterpeg, er, Winnipeg and beyond.

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