The Bearer of Bad News

There’s an innate stillness and depth to Shauf and his music – a quiet, riveting strength that subtly steals its way into a listener’s bones. He’s a storyteller: a singer of heartbreak and regrets, isolation and loneliness, small-town heroes and smaller-town killers. Throughout the album, Shauf studies the universal through two to five-minute microcosms, spinning tales as few others can where accidental, redemptive victories (the jaunty charmer “Hometown Hero”) stir alongside evocative, heartrending tales of self-doubt and lost loves (“I’m Not Falling Asleep,” the achingly beautiful “Covered In Dust,” “You’re Out Wasting”). There’s not one, but three cinematic murder ballads that slowly unfold like the greatest of tragedies: “Wendell Walker,” an epic eight-plus minute account of adultery and betrayal, as well as “Jerry Was A Clerk” and “My Dear Helen,” sister songs that skillfully tell two sides of one unintended death. Shauf’s tender, singular tenor guides the way over muted instrumentation of softly-strummed guitars, dampened drums, weathered piano, and a clarinet, which lends its unique timbre to frequently brighten – or hauntingly underscore – the songs’ darker undercurrents. Meticulously written over four years and recorded over one in a makeshift studio set up in his parent’s basement, Shauf plays every instrument himself on The Bearer of Bad News save for one drum track. The album was crafted on his grandfather’s timeworn guitar and heavily influenced by the aforementioned clarinet, which was a Christmas gift from family. In spite of his modest recording set-up, Shauf imbued The Bearer of Bad News with an enduring warmth and redolence that lingers long after the album ends, a skill which has earned him praise across Canada.