Patrick Canning

The Christmas songs you hear on the radio are usually all recorded cheap and dirty at some point in the previous summer by sad, sweaty, desperate music producers looking for a quick money cash in. I don't mind the quick, cheap and dirty part I just feel it should be done as close as possible to the day itself so you get more of that properly desperate Christmas element in there. Each year I write and record a new Christmas song in the last couple weeks before Christmas, each ...with their own accompanying music video also done within a week or so before the 25th of December. Oftentimes this harsh deadline creates some real inspiration, although it's almost always more than a little janky (especially the video part). This years song is a pretty topical and lyrically bleak song about injustices of prison labour, border militias, refugee concentration camps, etc... The reason I enjoy writing Christmas songs is that I like writing tragedies and if you contrast anything awful against the banal sentimentality of Christmas it immediately becomes three times as tragic. I’m quite happy with the song this year, the progression is quite satisfying to play and the vocal harmonies in particular really work well I think. The video is okay, I kinda ran dry on ideas for the music video that I could do in three days, so I just set up the green screen with a couple coloured lights and did a bunch of lip syncing takes with my nylon stringed guitar. It could've been worse. Merry Christmas! See more

You won't find respite from the endless parade of crass holiday music schlock in my household, I only remove the part where it's supposed to make you feel nice. The subject matter of the holiday song I'm working on this December is pretty bleak even by my standards, but I haven't finished recording it yet so here's one from a few years back that sounds pleasant enough until you read the lyrics.

I'm doing some capitalism here before Christmas. By popular demand I got some prints made of the illustration I did for the cover of the current issue of Newfoundland Quarterly I titled it "Benevolent Cryptid Society NL". I got multiple sizes printed, I got it in 8"x10", 11"x14" or 16"x20" for the prices of $12, $22 or $45 respectively. If you live in the St. John's area and want a print or three just DM me to arrange a pick up and save a few bucks. If you live out of town yo...u can go to one of the three bandcamp links here and order it that way. The 16"x20" here: https://patrickcanning.bandcamp.com//benevolent-cryptid-so The 11"x14" here: https://patrickcanning.bandcamp.com//benevolent-cryptid-so The 8"x10" here: https://patrickcanning.bandcamp.com//benevolent-cryptid-so Capitalism! Physical art objects! A little patience might be needed until I figure out the best ways to ship art prints, anybody got good tips on how to best do that? See more

Here's a coat of arms I designed for the incomparable AE Bridger for the website for his top-down-transcendental-improvisational-quarantine-drone-project https://calmedtransmissions.online/ which he has launched today. It's got most of everything significant in the world included in there, a true gesamtkunstwerk if there ever was one.