Seven years in the making: Lindsay Misiner & The 7th Mystic set to release debut album
WRITTEN BY: katie gordon // THE BOOM AT NOON
Seven years after Lindsay Misiner and the 7th Mystic broke onto the Halifax-music scene, the band is set to release their debut album next month.
A longtime musician, 7th Mystic frontwoman Lindsay has been performing since she was 10 years old and always had dreams of fronting a band. “Even though it’s great to be a solo guitarist, playing with a band gives you an edge,” said Lindsay. In 2015 she was invited to perform at the Halifax Pride Festival and knew she didn’t want to do it alone. She would turn to some of her NSCC Music Arts classmates and students from other music programs, who would not only join her on stage but would join her in writing new, original music for them to perform. “Even though it was my lifelong dream, there was never an expectation that [the band] would go beyond that, but it just did,” she added. “We were just a bunch of college kids playing Pride - and here we are today, seven years later.”
In 2017, Lindsay moved to Ontario, putting the band on an indefinite hiatus. “When I moved away, it was actually kind of rocky because we were in the middle of booking a festival tour. And I was like, sorry guys - I can't play the dates. I'm moving away,” she reminisced. “I never dreamed we’d get back together because it was such an impromptu move,” she added. But after four years, she decided to come back east and started reaching out to her former bandmates. “All nine members, including myself, came back. We all missed it even though we all do our own projects. There’s nothing like the 7th Mystic.”
Since getting back together in 2020, the band has hit the ground running and was welcomed back to the Halifax music community with open arms. “It’s been a whirlwind in the best way possible,” she exclaimed. “People were really receptive to us coming back, I couldn’t believe it,” she noted. Since re-forming, the band has played countless shows and festivals, including The Halifax Jazz Festival in 2021.
On April 12, 2023, the band will release their debut album, which predominantly features the music they wrote when the band first formed. “I was on drugs the whole time I wrote this album, so it’s really beautiful to finally get it out of my system seven years later because that’s not who I am anymore,” noted Lindsay, who has been sober for seven years. “A lot of the songs are very painful and deep, but they also have beautiful elements that make them not so depressing,” she added.
Because the band dispersed in 2017, they didn’t get a chance to record the songs. “When I came back from Ontario, I thought we could just play shows because I didn’t know how far it was going to go or how much time everyone wanted to put into it,” said Lindsay. “It’s been a long time coming!”
Last year, the band recorded the album over two days at Ocean Floor Studios with studio engineer Franc Lopes. “Every time I brought it up to someone, ‘hey, can you record a nine-piece band live off the floor?’ They were like, ‘I don't know - we might have to split it up’. But Franc was like, yeah, let's do it.’ The instruments other than the horns are recorded live off the floor,” reminisced Lindsay. “I’m really proud of that. I’ve always wanted to do it like they used to back in the 60s.”
In addition to releasing the album digitally on April 12, there will also be CDs available. “I was just gonna release this album digitally and on CD for a few family members,” she noted but ultimately decided to make more CDs, which will be available on April 12 at various stores, including Taz Records, Renegade Records and Swee Records. After announcing the album, the band received a lot of questions about also releasing it on vinyl. “We’ve had enough interest in the vinyl that I’m going to dive into it.” To help fund the expense, the band created a GoFundMe page with a $1,500 goal. Lindsay believes they’ll arrive in August or September, a few months after the CD and digital release.“They’ll be available in a bunch of stores when they come and they’ll be rich and beautiful. For vinyl lovers, it’s worth the wait,” she added.
Less than a month after the album's release, the 7th Mystic has a showcase at the 2023 ECMAs on May 4 at The Seahorse. “I’ve always wanted to be part of the ECMAs and I knew eventually, if we worked hard enough, we’d get there but I never expected them to accept us this year, I really didn’t - and it’s right after the album release, so it’s a perfect time to just throw discs to the audience,” she laughed. The 2023 festival is a special one for the band, not only because it’s their first time performing but because it’s in their hometown. “It’s a big honour. It’s nice to hear my family be like, ‘Lindsay’s playing the ECMAs this year’ - it just makes me feel like I’m doing something right.”
Lindsay Misiner & The 7th Mystic's self-titled debut album will be released on April 12, 2023.
