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HOLLOW TREE DIGITAL LINER NOTES

Aidan Goheen: acoustic and electric bass, vocals 
Ben Kelly: drums, percussion, vocals 
Gabriel Dubreuil: Violin, Cello, vocals, *lead vocals on Trous Noir
J. Knutson: Vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bouzouki

Recorded and mixed at Monarch Studios by Tom Dobrzanski 
Track 1 recorded and mixed at 12th St Sound by Anthony Cenerini
All songs arranged by Early Spirit
Original artwork by Mark Francis
Design and layout by Mary Kletchko

Guests: 
Andy Hillhouse - guitar track 7

Geoffrey Kelly - whistle track 10
Michelle Campagne - vocals tracks 3,5,6,8,
Francois Houle - clarinet tracks 5,12
William Chernoff - bass tracks 1,6,11

Tracklist
1. We’ve Seen This Film  Before (Knutson/Dubreuil)
2. Above The Clouds  (Knutson)
3. Screen Door  (Knutson)
4. Burnt Toast (Dubreuil)
5. That’s Right  (Knutson)
6. Trou Noir  (Knutson & L. Grandmaison)
7. Gabe’s Jig Set (Dubreuil)
8. Irreversible Trend  (Knutson)
9. Couldn’t I Change Your Mind  (Knutson)
10. The Treehouse (Dubreuil)
11. The Hollow Tree (Knutson)
12. Mark My Words  (Knutson) / Two More Bridges Home  (Knutson/Dubreuil)

© Early Spirit Productions, All Rights Reserved, Made in Canada, SOCAN 2022

We’ve Seen This Film Before

"We’ve Seen This Film Before, yet we continue with our heads in the clouds, sometimes “Above The Clouds”, where the sun is always shining. Below, in the world we live in, we simply keep the blinders on."

How many roads must a man drive down 
Before he actually finds what he thought he had found
there in his conscience with hardly a sound
Like so many times before 

This house is on fire
But the well has run dry
The only drops of water are the tears in our eyes
While the man at the top simply waved us  goodbye 
Like so many times before

Speak up
Let your voices be heard
Don’t let the rattle 
drown out your words
Let the curtains fall
On this mask of the absurd
We’ve seen this film before

Our home is on fire, but
the alarm doesn’t sound
There’s just too many people 
chasing money down
The Tsunami is rising
But we like to hang around

Speak up
Let your voices be heard
Don’t let the droning
Drown out your words
Don’t believe it’s candy
When they throw out a turd

We’ve seen this film
So many times 
We’ve had it play out
For All of our lives
Watched it unfold
Right before our eyes
We’ve seen this film… before

​Knutson/2020 - Robert’s Creek, B.C.

Screen Door

"A man with a garden hose, pointed at the horizon, desperately trying to end the endless    
Winter. He retreats to his room, and lifts his dreams “above the clouds” to the warmth and 
light, where his family awaits."


Dark, it's getting dark again
I've opened up the doors and windows
But still no light is getting in

Cold,I'm cold and shivering 
I pull the blanket up
But my hands  won't stop quivering 
I put the kettle on and watch it boil
As the steam begins, the dream begins

Home is where I long to be
I see me on the back porch together with my family
A screen door slams, the vision ends
And the kettle's all that's in front of me

I can't stand to be alone
Can't handle things all by myself
But if I can't stand my own company
How could I expect that of someone else?
Ain’t got no self respect these days
I don't work for my own benefit 
I can't be left in sole possession 
Because my heart’s not into it


Time, has no relevance 
The minutes turn to hours
Turn to days without consequence

Blue, the ceiling's like the sky
As I lay here on my bed at night
I hear the cars go rushing  by
Like a river, like an ocean
Like my tears as I begin to cry

Dark, Cold, Blue, Home

​
Knutson/2012- Winnipeg, Manitoba

That's Right

"Through another’s eyes what is right, what is just, what is faith, what is fate, maybe diametrically opposed to all we believe. Perspective is paramount."
​ 

All that’s left, is left
Nothing coming from the right
The GPS is set
No patrol in sight, 
That’s right, that’s right  

I’ve said all that I can say
But you don’t understand 
If you take this knife away
There’s still something in my hands
That’s right, that’s right

I’ve said all that I can say
That’s right, that’s right

Knutson/ 2020- Inuvik, NWT

Trou Noir

"A song written in Gatineau Quebec in the 1990’s by Luc Grandmaison. Jay arranged and added the music. Originally performed and recorded with Jose LaJoie."

J’ai d’la misère
À y voir clair
Quand tu me dit que j’tai rien donné
J’ai d’la misère
À y voir clair
Quand que tu me dis que tu dois t’en aller
Y fais bien noir
Bien noir. Noir. Noir.
 
Ta tout vidé tes armoirs
Ta tout vidé tes tirois
Apres la guerre il y as plain blessés
Ta tout cassé tes miroirs
Fenêtres de nos espoirs
Plein de chose on ne peut pas oublier
 
Y fais bien noir
Bien noir. Noir. Noir.

C’est plein de trous noirs sur le bord du trottoir
C’est plein de trous noirs à réparer
C’est plein de trous noirs sur le bord du trottoir 
 
J’ai d’la misère
À y voir clair
Quand tu me dit que j’tai rien donné
J’ai d’la misère
À y voir clair
Quand que tu me dis que tu dois t’en aller
 
Y fais bien noir
Bien noir. Noir. Noir.                                 

Grandmaison/Knutson - Gatineau, Quebec

Irreversible Trend

"A reunion of sorts, our mortal coils may alter, our souls remain the same. …write your names in the sand, cheat the tide."

A bird in the hand , just this once
So death defying
At least that’s how it feels on the inside
Write my name in the sand, ah just this once
So satisfying
C’mon cheat the tide

I feel like I just got in
And now I know the end
This might just be an irreversible trend.

The floodgates opened and all at once
It was terrifying
But it’s warm and safe on the inside
As we stare into the sun
Oh so mesmerizing 
Exposed with no place to hide

I feel like I just got caught
Now I’m at rope’s end
Another victim of an irreversible trend

Write my name in the sand
Just this once so satisfying
C’mon let’s cheat the tide

What we thought we left behind
It all comes back again
We’re just followers, it’s irreversible

Knutson/1998 - Ottawa, Ontario



Couldn’t I Change Your Mind

"Truth through black eyes, even if it’s written on the walls, can be so hard to reconcile"

Couldn’t I Change Your MindYou just stole the wind from my sails
You just stole the wind from my sails
And blew it to distant skies
The gravity of truth reveals
There’s no light in your eyes

Cause that truth’s through black eyes
Blinded by a raptor’s tail
I’m waiting for deliverance 
Hoping that love prevails
Couldn’t I Change Your Mind

Lift me past the heavens
Cause now I speak in tongues
I’ve no more use for words you see
It’s the man that I’ve become

Just a cup of prophecy
A tribute to my state of grace
Can’t you see the compassion there
Drooling down my face

Couldn’t I Couldn’t I
Couldn’t I change Your Mind

The Canary sings a different song
A cover over it’s cage
The cat she prowls the street at night
Her heart is filled with rage

One more cup of prophecy
Aids my fall from grace
Can’t you hear my heart felt thanks, 
As you turn the page

Couldn’t I Change Your Mind

Knutson/2021-  Robert’s Creek, B.C.

The Hollow Tree

"The Hollow Tree is a winter home to the West Coast Black Bear. The Hollow Tree is also an iconic point of interest in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. A preferred photo op since 1933, The Hollow Tree has hosted prospectors, loggers, circus animals, a 1957 Ford Thunderbird, and countless wedding shots, tourists and the occasional folk/celtic/rock band.  It was also the gathering place for the formative musical revolution that was The Easter Be-Ins in the late 1960’s - early 1970’s."

Meet me at the hollow tree

we'll remember things as they used to be,
When our clothes and souls were wild and free
In our songs of life you would accompany me. 

Now there's no reflection 
Just a shadow of what had been 
And, on closer inspection 
There’s no site of the Seldom Scene

Meet me at The Hollow Tree
The one they carved out in ‘33
When the future was a mystery 
In our songs of life you would accompany me. 

The foundation’s unglued
Information’s misconstrued 
All the things that we held true
Are behind smoke and mirrors 
In this hollow Tree

- solos over “A and B”

A tiny voice inside me screams
Nothing here is what it seems
All our hopes and all our dreams
Have been left hollow. 

Now there’s no reception 
Nothing comes in very clear
And for our own protection 
No one gets out of here,
Out of this hollow tree

​Knutson/2020 - Vancouver, B.C.



Mark My Words

"And yes, it starts with words. Traditionally we place a love song on each album. This is a song of love, hope and beginnings. (of course that’s why it closes the album)"

Oh my goodness 
That is what you are
A teaspoon of heaven 
From a fallen star
1/2 a pint of laughter 
From a Mason Jar
Oh My goodness


Oh my word
That’s what I say
A thimble full of dreams
To rise and greet each day
A beacon and a stepping stone
To help me find the way
Oh my word, 


So Mark my Words
It’s better than it used to be
There’s hope for us all
If we just act peacefully 

It’s not just Words, 
That keep us strong and keep us free
But It all starts with Words

Knutson/2021- North Vancouver,B.C.

Early Spirit - Folk Rock - Vancouver, Canada


Telephone

1-604-803-8228

Email

Bookings: [email protected]
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