Morning Coyote really did crash his car

Photo courtesy of Morning Coyote

Edmonton based indie-scene staple, Morning Coyote, just released his new record, Lattice Climbing. Reverie chatted with Sawyer Begg, the man behind Morning Coyote, about the project. 

Begg said this record is the culmination of his previous work, making it his most mature in terms of sound and recognizable tone, but it’s also his most personal thematically. 

“It’s the most personal, even if I don’t want it to be. It was a lot of me sitting aside, thinking about how a lot of this is personal, and feeling exposed, but this is what the music is.  For the song “Pornograpy,” I didn’t want to name it that. But, it had to be that way for the metaphor. For that line in “Tacet” about moving away, I hated it and it felt so juvenile, but it had to be that way. It was the song.” 

Begg said this record was lyrically his most intentional. While there are a lot of metaphors and vague things, places, and people “shrouded in poetry,” some lines, like when he says he crashed his car, actually happened, on his birthday, and, into an ambulance. 

On his unmistakably unique sound, he said the ideas, tones, and overall feel of previous work finally came together to build it.

“I used to struggle with having all these different styles and making them fit. It’s been a struggle for all of the almost three years that Morning Coyote’s existed. But I think and I hope that this EP mixes them well. These songs are some of the most important to me and some I’m the most proud of, especially the title track, ‘Lattice Climbing,’” Begg explained. 

He said that with so much love for how “Lattice Climbing” sounds live, it’s been hard to replicate its sound on the record. But overall, he feels this new record gives those who haven’t seen them live a good example. It brings in all other elements of the project only usually seen live, like moments of shoegaze, as it ebbs and flows between slower emotional moments and hard hitting beats. What brought this record closer to the live sets was those around Begg during the recording process.  

“The people that play live with me are now on the recording. The first EP, [Morning Coyote] was me in my room playing all the instruments,” Begg explained. 

Begg, a Grant Macewan University alumnus, returned to the Macewan studio to record Lattice Climbing alongside his bandmates, who also all attended Macewan. Not only was it his first time recording with them, it was his first time bringing collaboration into the recording process.

Early on he would write everything and bring it to his live band, featuring members of Edmonton art-rock band Paro!. Braeden Detert, Ryan Simmons, Simon Semchenko of Paro! would all play live for Begg’s project and he would sometimes play for theirs. 

He originally intended to have rotating band members with different musicians playing his songs live at each show, but after playing with the guys from Paro! a few times, things clicked. “The more we play the songs, the more they can add to them. Especially the songs on the EP. They’re the ones who played these the most. [Simmons], our bassist, was a significant part of the writing process with all his bass lines. These parts they wrote became integral parts of the songs,” Begg explained. 

With Macewan’s alumni and studio making a big mark on the record, Begg credited their music program’s focus on jazz for his approach to songwriting and the stylistic layering and sounds that found their way onto the record. 

“I wasn’t interested in jazz going into the program, I just wanted to be a recording major and make stuff. I ended up learning jazz piano, kind of against my will, but I ended up loving it. I completely adopted looking at music from a jazz perspective. Even in our recording and jamming, I just give them a lead sheet, like the skeleton, and we conjure the flesh each time.”

The record has some non-conventional song structures as well. Some of the songs on the record sound almost as if it’s two songs together, and one of them actually is. “To anyone who doesn’t know what the song sounds like live, it’s lots of winding sections, and then for “Syncophant,” it has another song called “Bride” hanging off the end. I like the idea that, for someone who doesn’t know that, they’re like ‘what’s happening?’ It’s just a crazy journey of different tones,” Begg explained. 

For what’s next, Begg is looking to release music videos for the new tracks. 

Coming soon is the video for “Election Day.” He hung out with Error 66, a London filmmaking group, while he was out in London. They filmed a bunch of bits of London and Begg playing live. Begg said he’s looking to mix these clips with moments from when he was on the road in Toronto. 

Lattice Climbing is out now. Listen to it here.