Originally based out of Little Rock, Arkansas; the three piece of Cory Nelson, Alan Thomas, and Nathan Miller are Canopy Climbers, premiering “Secret” featuring Jasper. Fresh from their Blindfold EP, they shed some confessional electric soul together with a verse from Jasper to divulge how, “old truths become news lies.” With synths to shine a light on how heedless behaviors burn down the best relationships, Canopy Climbers keep the questions asking in the choruses's repeated requests of, “tell me now, tell me know, was it worth it?”
No need for a compass or force for a guide, Canopy Climbers direct a pop rhythm and blues track for directionless scenarios. The regressive and transgressive trends gets hit with those big bright keys, that break down to the clang of small wind chime bells struck by a passing breeze. As Alan, Cory and Nathan harmonize over the regrets like, “I do not what you say, I do the things I hate”, and “every word was a secret, every world was a lie”, and so on; Jasper breaks the track down to the brass and tacks of autobiographical experiences. The moral balance of “Secret” is spelled out in terms of cause and effect grounded in how these consequences affected him and his family growing up to present day. “Secrets become habits that we can't seem to get loose from, and I ain't trying to end where my parents ended, divorce happened we was all tripping, communication was non existent, so I'm going to tell you what I witnessed.” Recollecting and rebuilding up from the ashes, Canopy Climbers rise from the emotional wreckage with a words of wisdom to not just warn, but to redirect others from making the same cycle of mistakes.
Alan from Canopy Climbers talked to us about everything from secrets to Katy Perry sympathies, and more.
What is the Canopy Climbers story on how this musical vehicle came to be?
Canopy Climbers began as a side thing for Cory. He would write and program songs and have friends sing on it. I (Alan) sang and wrote one called Mute, off of our first record, and after that he asked me to be in the project. Nathan and Cory played in another band prior to this, so it was a natural add to have him join as well. We all live in three different places, so we write and record our music in the cloud. We come together to put the finishing touches on, and of course play live, but about 95% of our creative process across the internet.
What were some of the secrets and systems of semantics that inspired, “Secret”?
Simply put, we all have secrets. We all lie, hide, conceal, etc. The song is a story of some of our own struggles in that area, but also to relate to anyone who is caught up in that. We wanted to write a song that explores that a bit.
What is it about these clandestine kept items that we as people, friends, lovers, family, co-workers, etc hold tight to?
It's very human to fear the truth being exposed, especially when that truth is ugly. No one wants to deal with that guilt and shame. It's dark and scary. But there is beauty on the other side, in forgiveness and grace. That's where the light is.
Give us an exclusive secret that you all have never shared to anyone.
We all like Katy Perry. Scratch that. We all LOVE Katy Perry.
What's the word on the upcoming Canopy Climbers releases?
After we released the Blindfold EP in January, we immediately began working on our next full length. We are always writing…it never stops. We're interested to see where this next record goes. I personally think it is going to be a little more upbeat. It's funny to look back and watch the evolution between each record. We never know how it's going to turn out until we get the masters back, which is somewhat stressful, but also really fun. It's like a driving a car straight toward a cliff and last second turning the wheel over to safety. That's probably an awful analogy.
Any more collaborations in the works? Are you all and Jasper working on any other tracks, items, projects?
Yea, we are actually. Cory is right in the middle of producing Jasper's first record. It's gonna be awesome. Jasper Logan is a great artist and friend of ours from Arkansas. We are looking forward to hearing his own stuff soon.
Canopy Climbers' Blindfold EP is available now from iTunes, Soundcloud, and Spotify.
