He grew up wanting to be an inventor. Turns out he is.

Jake Nicoll builds the places and the tools he records with right down to the microphones, compressors, and the bits in between. He moved to Newfoundland with his twin brother and one of his sisters for university and to make music, and he never stopped tinkering.

When the pandemic hit, he went to his family farm in Guelph ON for what he thought would be two weeks. It became a year and a half of sustenance farming with Dad.

Since early 2024 he’s released two albums with companion EPs — the homespun Lonely Mission and the synth-sparked Saturn Returns — jumping styles without losing the heart.

Today we talk about his time on the farm, his studio builds, his proclivity for a good dumpster dive, and, of course, the music... because there’s lots of it.

Overachiever? Maybe. Or perhaps, he's simply built for it.

Wanna get in touch?

Send an email to ⁠whenwewakeradio@gmail.com⁠

Or find me on Instagram

@whenwewakeradio & @theandrewshaver

When We Wake with Andrew Shaver is written, hosted, edited, and produced by ⁠Andrew Shaver⁠. The weekly radio broadcast is syndicated across Canada, from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

Theme song Got You by Noah Reid

A sense of home is at the heart of Ewan Currie’s songwriting, and after a lifetime of moving around, he’s landed on the East Coast, kinda like me.

But, I’ll put my cards on the table and admit that, ok, sure, folks might be a little more excited by his move than mine. I get it.

Ewan Currie is the frontman of one of Canada’s favourite Rock'n'Roll bands, The Sheepdogs, who, of course, were thrust into the spotlight in 2011 after winning Rolling Stone’s "Do You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star?" contest and becoming the first unsigned band to don the magazine's cover.

Since then, they have climbed to the top of the Canadian charts and have secured their place as one of this country’s premiere live acts. In fact, Ewan thinks their live show is the best it’s ever been.

In our chat today we talk about why Ewan is pretty sure that Rock'n'Roll may have peaked somewhere between 1968 and 1974, why Halifax might just be Canada’s Rock'n'Roll capital, and about how moving around as a kid shaped his perspective of the world. Ewan also shares how how his father influenced his love of music and ultimate his career path.

In June, Ewan released Strange Vacation, his second solo album, just in time for his move to Nova Scotia into a house up on a hill a stone's thrown from mine.

It's great to have new music from a new neighbour.

@ewanjcurrie

Wanna get in touch?

Send an email to ⁠whenwewakeradio@gmail.com⁠

Or find me on Instagram

@whenwewakeradio & @theandrewshaver

When We Wake with Andrew Shaver is written, hosted, edited, and produced by ⁠Andrew Shaver⁠. The weekly radio broadcast is syndicated across Canada, from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

Theme song Got You by Noah Reid

My guest on this episode is singer-songwriter Breagh Isabel.

From her Halifax home and basement studio, Breagh divvies up her work week co-writing with songwriters all over the world, writing music for kids' TV shows, producing for other artists, and, somehow, still finding the time to write for herself. Though, as you’ll hear in our chat today, sometimes the songs she writes for herself, are the ones left to linger forgotten on an old hard drive.

I had the pleasure of meeting Breagh earlier this summer when she came to lay down some vocals on my new Clever Hopes album, and, boy oh boy, the songs are better for it. She has a seemingly effortless ease to how she creates.

Breagh just released Things I Never Told You, her fantastic debut solo EP - yes, you read that right. After all these years, all these songs, it’s still somehow a debut, and, of course, we get into the how’s and the why’s of that surprising little nugget.

We also talk about how growing up in Cape Breton influenced her music, the producers who’ve shaped her approach, and she shares some of the stories behind the songs on this fantastic new collection.

@breaghisabel

Wanna get in touch?

Send an email to ⁠whenwewakeradio@gmail.com⁠

Or find me on Instagram

@whenwewakeradio & @theandrewshaver

When We Wake with Andrew Shaver is written, hosted, edited, and produced by ⁠Andrew Shaver⁠. The weekly radio broadcast is syndicated across Canada, from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

Theme song Got You by Noah Reid