LOVE & LEAVE YOU | VINYL RECORD (LP)

There's a poignant double meaning behind the new album Love and Leave You by the Edmonton, Canada, based folk duo 100 mile house. As on their award-winning previous work, Peter Stone and Denise MacKay seem naturally attuned to life's impermanence; the reality that we must cherish what we have, while knowing we must eventually let it go. Made with a host of guests ranging from JUNO nominee Chloe Albert to a heart-swelling string section, Love and Leave You builds on the themes of longing and love of 2016's Hiraeth, which earned 100 mile house a Western Canadian Music Award, and a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination. On Love and Leave You they have emerged-stronger, wiser, and more honest than ever before. Denise explains, "Our writing has evolved from songs about Peter moving to Canada from England and the two of us meeting each other, to songs about the struggles of starting a family, the loss of loved ones and how the visions you had for your life inevitably change. We believe our songs have grown in the same way our relationship has as we've matured. " From a sonic perspective, Peter adds, "For Love and Leave You, we decided to strip everything back, and even though there's a fair bit of instrumentation on it, I'd say it's our most bare bones recording to date. I wanted to take this approach to give the album it's own character, but also to force the songwriting and lyrics to the forefront. " As they approach two decades since their first chance meeting, both Stone and MacKay's lives and the music they make have become inseparable. It's palpable the moment you hear them sing together, and cuts even deeper as the stories they tell unfold. 100 mile house make timeless music in the truest sense; by opening themselves up in ways many of us wish we could. And on Love and Leave You, with Stone's deft production bringing the songwriting and lyrics to the fore, we share that connection, and for that reason alone it is their best work to date.