Michael Cloud Duguay shares new single ‘Little Seldom’
Michael Cloud Duguay by Matt Horseman
Today, producer and composer Michael Cloud Duguay shares a new single ‘Little Seldom’, the second taste of Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go, a record that documents an inspiring 900-mile journey across remote regions of Newfoundland, to preserve the unique sounds of seven organs across the province.
Listen to ‘Little Seldom’ here
‘Little Seldom’ documents the second stop on this voyage, recording the organ from Cupid's United Church in Newfoundland in the east of the province. Even with over a year of planning, each of the organs and locations provided their own logistical challenges that add to the character of the record. In Cupid's, it was an unexpected live audience.
Speaking on ‘Little Seldom’, Duguay said: "Our arrival at Cupids United Church was met with the most pronounced and also the most lovely confusion - the warden with whom I had communicated had misunderstood our plans, and a small group of congregants and community members were planning to attend what they thought would be a public performance by us. Instead of attempting to correct the misunderstanding, Andrew and I performed a set of improvised material that leaned into tonality and harmony, which we assumed would be more to the surprise audience's liking than our more avant-garde ideas. Dave and Jake recorded it, and the foundation of this piece came from that set. We recorded Jake performing flute and our friend, Newfoundland fiddler Maria Peddle, on fiddle a few days later on Fogo Island."
Central to Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go's character as a document of both organs and the communities around them are Duguay's interviews with church wardens and parish members at each location, the recordings of which are woven directly into the album.
"The interview audio is of Frank Blackmore, the church warden we met on Greenspond, talking to me about his life spent on Greenspond. Frank's warmth and dulcet manner was so congruent with the sonics of this piece that he fit right in - it was an obvious pairing. All of the tracks on this record are named directly or indirectly after communities and locations in Newfoundland that we encountered. Little Seldom is a community in the southern region of Fogo Island, and the name is so striking and evocative. It suited this piece perfectly, but also evokes so much of what I think about when I think about making this album - small, rare glimpses of lives and places I would otherwise never have known if it weren't for the friendship and creativity that drove this project."
Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go chronicles seven different church organs in seven different historic churches scattered across remote regions of Newfoundland, recorded in just nine days in July 2024, following more than a year of research and planning. Travelling over 1,500 kilometres in Jake Nicoll's mobile, solar-powered recording studio - The Scamper, built into a converted 1970s RV - Duguay and his collaborators Andrew MacKelvie and Dave Grenon traced the eastern perimeter of the island, stopping on coastal islands Greenspond and Fogo before reaching the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula and ending on Newfoundland's west coast. Each church presented its own unusual organ history: some instruments had been recently updated with digital keyboards and amplification, while others hadn't been serviced in over a century; in one extreme case, the team had to dig an organ out from beneath a pile of rubble in a decommissioned church's upper gallery. Rather than a record of organ music, the album is closer to an abstract musical documentary - one that captures not just the instruments but the communities and stories surrounding them, with Duguay's informal interviews with wardens, ministers, and congregants woven directly into its sonic fabric.
Equal parts unconventional and alluring, Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go unfolds a quietly captivating meditation on community, memory, geography, history, and spirituality, embracing aspects pulled from sacred music, free improvisation, sound art, ambient music and acousmatic techniques. Steadfastly enigmatic and inquisitive in its orientation, it also remains grounded through the powerful relationships it documents.
Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go is released on 10th July
Pre-order here
Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go tracklisting
Pond 1
River of Ponds
Greenspond Tickle
Winterhouse (feat. Scions)
Little Seldom
Pond 2
Tilting (feat. Andrew MacKelvie's Many Worlds)
Change Islands (feat. Andrew MacKelvie's Many Worlds)
Damnable Island
Settlement (feat. Georges E. Sioui)
Pond 3
More about Michael Cloud Duguay
Musician, composer, and producer Michael Cloud Duguay first gained recognition as a vital force within the early 2000s Canadian DIY music community, contributing to dozens of critically acclaimed recording and performance projects as a producer, arranger, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. Following his beloved solo debut Heavy On The Glory (2012), Duguay spent almost a decade grappling with mental illness, substance addiction, and homelessness, but his commitment to music prevailed, ushering in a new era of creativity. His newfound momentum brought on a thirst for exploration that has since led him to expand his practice well beyond his foundation, as evidenced by the present project and his involvement in projects such as Scions, Andrew MacKelvie's Many Worlds, Quinton Barnes' Black Noise, and Closed City.
Duguay's output frequently explores memory, nostalgia, and location, both metaphorical and in the more literal sense. His fascination with the particular qualities of different spaces and with different collaborative dynamics has led him to record and create music everywhere from the Yukon Territory's northernmost fly-in community to the lantern room of mainland Canada's easternmost lighthouse, and has prompted him to explore sustainable methods of recording. In 2024, he launched the new label Watch That Ends The Night with his frequent collaborator, award-winning Halifax-based musician Andrew MacKelvie (New Hermitage, Scions, Jerry Granelli). The imprint's aim is to foster a spirit of experimentalism and collaboration outside of the boundaries of style while steadfastly maintaining a community-minded business model, an ethos reflected in its eclectic catalogue.
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