Canadian outfit The Tragically Hip have released a new EP titled ‘Saskadelphia’, four years since the death of frontman Gord Downie.
The new six-track EP arrived on Friday (May 21), comprising unreleased songs written in 1990, initially intended to appear on their album ‘Road Apples’. Five of the tracks were recorded that same year during their studio sessions for the record, while the sixth, ‘Montreal’, was recorded live during a 2000 concert.
Listen to ‘Saskadelphia’ below.
According to a press statement, ‘Saskadelphia’ refers to the extensive touring the outfit did in the early ’90s, and was the original working title for ‘Road Apples’, which was released in 1991.
“I went ‘Wow’ when I heard ‘Ouch’ after all this time. We were a pretty good little band,” guitarist Rob Baker said in a press statement, referring to the discovery of their old material for the EP.
“We didn’t know what was there, so this meant baking them and listening to them as they were being transferred. Hearing them for the first time in 30 years was crazy,” added drummer Johnny Fay.
Bassist Gord Sinclair also said that the six-tracker marked a closing chapter for the band.
“We are, sadly, never going to have the chance to put out new stuff,” he said. “For us, in our minds, this is new.”
The band released their last album in 2016, titled ‘Man Machine Poem’. A year later, founding frontman Gord Downie passed away at age 57 from an aggressive form of brain cancer. In 2018, the remaining members announced the outfit’s retirement.
On June 6, The Tragically Hip will receive the 2021 Humanitarian Award at the 50th Annual JUNO Awards in Toronto. As per Canada’s National Post, the band were selected for their “timeless music and philanthropic pursuits” that affected generations of people globally.
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