Sōmaphore

Birthed from the piano and pen of Tim Friesen and Tony Hawkins, somaphore began in 2001 as a songwriting partnership between two friends about to finish high school. Their initial efforts, begun in Killarney, Manitoba, would be continued upon their subsequent move to Winnipeg to attend university. 2002 would see the release of their first album of home recorded material, entitled What We Laughingly Call the Past. Continued inspiration and late nights in the University of Manitoba music rooms lead to their sophomore full length, Typecast, the following year. After two self-recorded and released projects, they entered Private Ear Studios for the production of Something Between a Lie and a Laugh, which would see release in 2003. In addition to being their first professionally recorded effort, Something... would mark the introduction of instrumentation beyond just the piano and vocals of Tim Friesen to their recordings, with the addition of drum, bass, and even pedal steel guitar. That evolution continued and expanded on 2007's subsequent Foundations. Woodwind and string quartets brought the music into the realm of orchestral chamber pop. 2021 will bring somaphore's first new music in over a decade with the EP The Weighted Names of Our Time, and the recreation of a more fully realized Typecast. With Friesen's mastery of his craft and Hawkins' wringing of a few more drops from a dry inkwell, somaphore has demonstrated that life can always spring forth from its absence.