Nick Faye & The Deputies are stumbling distance from pop-rock greatness on new single "Told You"

27 February 2018, 14:00 | Written by Ro Cemm

(Tracks)

(Nick Faye & The Deputies)

In the rural province of Saskatchewan the winters are cold, the skies are huge and the dreams are big. Growing up in the hardcore and punk scene alongside Andy Shauf at legendary venue the Buffalo Lounge, Nick Faye & The Deputies also catalogue the minutiae of growing up in a small town, but musically take a very different approach.

Faye is often called upon by his beloved WHL Hockey Team the Regina Pats to perform the national anthem before their home games at the Brandt Centre, and will shortly be performing the anthems at The Brier, Canada's national curling tournament. It is difficult to tell if the feeling of playing in front of a packed arena fed into his writing process, but the upcoming album Stumbling Distance certainly has a sound that seeks to fill them.

Packed full of swooning pedal steels, horns, hammond organs, and big, anthemic choruses there is no lack of ambition on display on lead track 'Told You'. The band recruited Barenaked Ladies and Buffy St. Marie producer Michael Wojewoda to give things an extra pop sheen.

If former tourmate Colter Wall is a Prairies Johnny Cash, and Shauf is their Elliott Smith, then perhaps, given time, Faye could be their Tom Petty.