Westelaken

Westelaken embody the sweaty recklessness and intensity of Toronto’s hardcore punk movement through the prism of country music. They temper their rolling stabs of chaos with tenderness, playfulness, and introspection.

At their simplest, the band is a tight and twangy alt-country quartet. But they’re also prone to letting their songs open up, and following their whims beyond the confines of structure and convention, like lines of text spilling off of a page. This strength is a credit to their chemistry, which you can hear take shape on their 2018 self-titled debut album. Westelaken bounds with the energy and excitement of four people connecting for the first time.

Their second album, 2020’s The Golden Days are Hard, is a rich, ambitious, and intertextual set of songs built around the calendar year. There, the band’s flexibility is on full display as they let vocalist and guitarist Jordan Seccareccia’s freewheeling narratives guide them. On bass and drums respectively, Alex Baigent and Rob McLay epitomize what it means to be a supportive rhythm section, whether that's in the form of raw collisions of sound or patient, deliberate framing. Lucas Temor's dynamic keys add context and colour, acting as a gilded foil to Seccareccia's unstable howl.

Westelaken’s enthusiasm and questing curiosity continues to motivate their newest album, I Am Steaming Mushrooms, driving them into unexpected but thrilling territory.