Socrates may have said “The unexamined life is not worth living”, but who would have thought the scrutiny could be so fun. Doug Hoyer has dutifully decided to probe the mundane everyday through song in his indie-pop landscape. Having opened for acts like St. Vincent, Royal Canoe and Shotgun Jimmie, Hoyer is currently documenting life in Calgary with guitars, Casio keys, ukuleles and wide eyed wonder.
“This is an ode of sorts to my home province of Alberta, Canada. I wrote “Dancing By The Light Of The Refinery” as I was biking to and from work in the summer of 2020. On my mind was Alberta’s government attempting to reintroduce coal mining into protected mountain/foothill areas, which would damage water systems locally and beyond.
Growing up in “the Texas of Canada”, with such a strong focus on resource extraction, I’ve found that there can be an entitlement here, that we deserve everything the land has to offer without navigating how to do so safely and within reason. It’s complicated, but a song came out of it.”