It’s been nearly a decade since The Hidden Cameras blew up in Toronto with bold new music. Dubbed “gay church folk,” the band was known for its legendary live shows featuring everything from go-go dancers in balaclavas to a choir, perhaps even a string section. With founder, singer and songwriter Joel Gibb’s new album, and another on the way in 2015, The Hidden Cameras is set to make another major impact on the ears of the nation in the months to come.
The new album, Age, is a complex project Gibb says he’s been working away at for years. It’s about adolescence. It has depth, a narrative arc — more so than any of his previous albums — and it is his most personal album to date.
“It’s been a project in the back of my head since I really started writing songs and performing,” says Gibb, on the phone from his home in Berlin. “It centres around the gay goth scene. The songs have a similar vibe, all in F minor. In the back of my mind I was creating the record slowly. Some of the songs were written quite a long time ago; a couple of them are a little newer.”
The album begins with the song “Skin and Leather,” a dark and moody introduction, with Gibb’s vocals demonstrating raw power and depth. As the song slowly builds, the drumbeat kicks in and listeners are taken on a grand auditory adventure. Age obviously draws from Gibb’s own personal experiences growing up in small-town Kincardine before moving to the GTA. It’s not his life story, but his own life adds gravitas to the narrative, which listeners may find compelling. That, and it just sounds stunning.
The first single tells the story of a youth suffering from cruel bullying and contemplating suicide as a result of his struggles. It’s heartbreaking.
“As a songwriter, you put everything you have into your songs,” Gibb explains. “Nothing a good songwriter writes is not about their life.”
Gibb worked with four different people mixing the album, including Don Kerr, James Bunton (formerly of the band Ohbijou) and others.
Following the last album (Hidrogenesse vs. The Hidden Cameras, 2010), and really since the 2006 release Awoo, Gibb had been spending more time in Europe, largely in Berlin. And since The Hidden Cameras is essentially Gibb, who is supported by a rotating roster of musicians when out on tour, new material from the band has been sporadic.
The band returned with the release “Gay Goth Scene” over the summer, as a limited edition seven-inch single, and played a few shows in Ontario including a date in Toronto at Wrongbar on June 30.
It’s a great song, with a dynamic and moving video that signalled big things would surely follow. And they have. But the good news is that the grand return of The Hidden Cameras doesn’t end with Age.
Gibb is actually already working on the follow-up to Age, which will feature a number of guest artists, including Ron Sexsmith and Afie Jurvanen, a.k.a. Bahamas.
“This record is deconstructing the music of my adolescence, and the next record is a deconstruction of my heritage with a rootsy, Canadian flair, and that’ll probably be out in 2015,” says Gibb.
The Hidden Cameras’ first album, Ecce Homo, was released in 2001.
Age hits stores on Jan. 21, and the album release show is scheduled for Feb. 14 at Lee’s Palace before the band heads out on a Canadian tour.
