There are few people making music in Canada as pure and inspiring as Bob Guido. The composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist based in Ontario, Canada is completely committed to the joy of discovery, and the pleasure of wandering down a road with no expectation of where it might lead.
On his new self-titled solo album, Guido followed those roads to create 12 stunning pieces that affirm his place among the leading voices within Canada’s ambient music scene. Since his first violin lessons at age 4—given by a Catholic nun who did not spare the rod—Guido has been chasing new and innovative ways to create sound and, more importantly, enhance its emotional impact.
That may be the simplest way to describe Bob Guido, but it barely scratches the surface of what the album offers in terms of Guido’s personal journey to reach this point. Having followed in the footsteps of one of his primary inspirations, Daniel Lanois, Guido crafted the album out of many sessions held in various locations ranging from churches, small theatres and an abandoned silo, to his own residence and even field recordings made in Iceland. No idea was off-limits, as long as they conveyed his unique vision.
“Music is the best way that I know how to unravel the mystery of this world,” he says. “My music seems to always sound very mysterious, and I think if it stopped sounding that way, I would lose interest. My guitar playing, for example, has become more and more about finding what is interesting and unpredictable rather than what is impressive. With this album, I would keep the weird takes and purposely trash the good ones. Eventually, I started to try to have this extra level of awareness of when something was unusual or unique and amplify that aspect of what I heard in my performance.”
Although Guido handles the bulk of the instrumentation on each piece himself, the album also includes a guest appearance from renowned Lanois collaborator Bill Dillon on guitar, along with several notable drummers. Mixes were divided between Guido, Warne Livesey (Midnight Oil, The The, Matthew Good Band) and Julian Kindred (Hammock, Ellie Goulding, Aimee Mann), with mastering handled by Australian sonic wizard William Bowden (Gotye, The Church). Added up, Bob Guido tells his story in vivid detail, whether through words, or simply through sound.
It begins with “Astra Eterna,” written following a brush with death, which caused Guido to question the nature of existence and his contributions to the world. His conclusion was to dedicate himself to making music in a completely intuitive manner, and the notion of the impermanence of all things is at the heart of this piece.
Building on that theme, the song “Mooregate” draws from Guido’s experiences growing up in a dangerous neighbourhood. Forced to become acclimated to drugs, domestic violence and murder at a young age, he channels those memories in an attempt to affect the listener with the same overwhelming sadness and sense of fragility one feels when visiting Mooregate, where today police are still on alert 24/7.
Even more powerful is “Leaving The World Behind,” which Guido spontaneously recorded immediately upon returning from his sister’s funeral. The piece stands as a tribute not only to her, but also to Guido’s late brother who, like his sister, died unexpectedly. Similarly, “Noor Kadiwala” was inspired by Guido’s unlikely friendship with a young man from Mumbai by that name who, with only a laptop and a blazing passion for undiscovered ambient music, produced several compilation albums that helped further the careers of artists from all parts of the world. His passing was yet another personal blow to Guido, but the song he wrote for Noor in many ways encapsulates Bob Guido’s overarching theme that music can be uplifting, while simultaneously reflecting personal pain.
Although it is true that Guido has relied on music for therapy, he views his craft as simply his life’s mission. After building his skills with a 4-track while in high school, he studied jazz composition and performance in Toronto. His free time was spent at the library learning about Stockhausen, which led to the theories of Brian Eno. Unsure about a career path, Guido approached one of Toronto’s established recording studios, and offered to take on any task.
This intense six months of on-the-job training led to Guido engineering several Gold and Platinum-selling projects, but his work took on a new perspective when his brother’s death occurred during this time. “I started to feel that success was more about being useful to others,” Guido says. “I kept producing independent artists for a few years but eventually felt a calling back to my roots of creating my own music with the intention of having no agenda other than discovery and sharing my discoveries.”
From a purely musical standpoint, these revelations also solidified Guido’s strict adherence to live performances instead of programming when recording his own work. In many ways, it sets him apart from other ambient artists, and is something he takes great pride in. “For me, using real instruments doesn’t make me a traditionalist, or being out of touch with the modern world,” he explains. “I am intimately familiar with the latest technologies but I simply choose to use the best tools available to me to create music that channels my experience.”
He adds, “Real instruments have a soul, a voice that is uniquely their own. It changes over time depending on what vibrations are sent into that instrument from human hands. I feel that writing and performing music in this way is rare, and I eschew anything that removes the human element from recorded sound. Art is a reflection of life, not just the consequence of disposable and addictive technologies.”
Living in the moment. We hear it all the time as the key to life, but it is often easier said than done. Sometimes it takes great personal loss for the meaning to be revealed. Bob Guido has a better grasp of that meaning than most of us and puts it on full display throughout Bob Guido, an album that is reminder of how inextricably linked music is to all aspects of our past, present and future.
As he says, “There comes a time when not doing something causes a person to suffer greatly. When I’m not making music, I become restless, agitated, upset and even physically ill. My body tells me it’s time to get back in the studio. So, making this album was a necessity of life. Each song that I commit to working on is an opportunity for reinvention and evolution. I only stop when the music tells me to.”
- Jason Schneider (Exclaim, Paste, The Word)