Closed For The Festival

Description

« Closed For The Festival » is the fourth album by MIDI Janitor and follows « Holy To Dogs », originally released on cassette in 2024 on the legendary Vancouver label Hotham Sound, then on vinyl on the Toronto label We Are Busy Bodies. This new opus is a biography of Jonathan Orr's shadow. Born from memories of his childhood spent wandering the Irish countryside in Ballymore (Donegal), within his grandmother's Christian community, « Closed For The Festival » oscillates brilliantly between a distorted joy and an unsettling naivety. As Orr states, "the songs always seek to recreate that moment when someone takes your hand and leads you into the woods on a beautiful spring afternoon, then abandons you there, leaving you to wonder how you'll find your way out." Closed For The Festival evokes the off-kilter electronica of Boards Of Canada, the hazy syncopations of Heathered Pearls, and the long-buried treasures unearthed by the Sublime Frequencies label, without ever falling into forced nostalgia. Each track is an incantation in honor of these "suspended places," where the presence of an eternal moment blends with the present — a strange sensation that has accompanied The Midi Janitor throughout his life and work. - Steve Ramsay : Young Galaxy, Stars