Premiere: HAIR CONTROL - "Gold Reaps (ft. Tea Fannie)"
Photo by: Jared Sych
One of Canada’s finest purveyors of psychedelia is Calgary’s Ryan Bourne who may be best known for his work with Chad VanGaalen but that was then and as of now, he’s defining the prairie psych scene with his solo project (under his own name) and the electronic-disco-psych duo HAIR CONTROL, a project with fellow Calgarian Rebecca Reid.
The duo has been around for many years, gracing audiences with their live show that brings a strong visual art component to their live show. The two have extensive backgrounds in set design and visual art practices, and the project has become a performance art vehicle that features handmade props, a mock exercise segment, gongs, and a large fluorescent, hand-painted eye with neon tassels obscuring Reid’s face. It’s a wild ride that’s well worth your time if you get the chance.
Although they’ve been around for a long time, they’ve never released anything but a couple singles which is about to change.
On October 30th, HAIR CONTROL will drop their debut album, Electric Pleasure. The album began to come together during the pandemic, with little else to distract. According to Reid, sessions consisted of “sleepless stretches with Bourne working through to dawn, sometimes slipping into what felt like a looping, days-long portal, possibly creating a baseline condition that contributed to the existential expression.”
Lo-fi beats are swathed in layers of synthesizers, percussive textures, and guest contributions from Chad VanGaalen, Tea Fannie, and more. The record was written and recorded by Bourne but he turned to local legend Lorrie Matheson for his mixing expertise. Today we are very excited to deliver the third single from Electric Pleasure, a song called “Gold Reaps” which features Tea Fannie who is a well-known part of Calgary’s hip-hop communtiy.
When asked about “Gold Reaps,” Bourne stated:
“We recorded bed tracks on cassette, then flipped the tape and added synths, samples and phased out vocals to the backwards beat track. We reached out to our friend Tea Fannie, who contributed the strong, sensuous verses and a hypnotic outro vocal which we harmonized with vocoder, Lorrie Matheson spinning spells in the mix. These were often late night sessions, wrapping at 5AM alongside a cacophony of birdsong - the final ingredient in our little alchemical elixir.”
Enjoy the song below in the form of a psychedelic visualizer and keep your eyes open to HAIR CONTROL’s Bandcamp page to purchase Electric Pleasure this fall.
