Abe Drennan has had a lot of time to reflect.
After a two-year long pandemic, the Inuvik-based singer/songwriter wanted to help the world heal, informing the lyrics and sound of his new single, Unknown Road, which was released Nov. 6.
“Unknown Road is my reflections on the pandemic,” he said. “The attempt was to acknowledge the hardship of it, but also to look ahead to hopefully a brighter future.
“Whenever I’m feeling something traumatic or something in my life causes me to feel a strong emotion, I have to explore that feeling through music. The pandemic certainly got me feeling a lot, so I had to write about it and this song came out.
“We went through this global trauma and now we’re coming out of it, but almost as if we’re shoved back into this world again. How do we cope now? Where do we go from here? How do we heal together and walk together in the world now? What have we learned?”
Accompanying the single is a new music video, which Drennan said he shot to reflect the questions raised in the lyrics.
The video begins with him walking alone on the ice road, but he’s eventually joined by community members walking with him.
“My goal was to depict the isolation of the pandemic through the shots on the ice road,” he said. “Then bring in the community to also represent that we’ve come back and we’re out of this isolating time, able to walk together and be together again.
“Because I’m a teacher, I wanted to bring that into my life as well and represent what teachers and students are dealing with. The challenges of that were an important aspect of the video as well.”
Two-and-a-half years in the making and funded by NWT Arts, Unknown Road is the first of a series that will culminate in a new album next year. This initial song was produced by Drennan’s close friend Jason Mann out of Los Angles and the rest of the album is being produced by Bell Rock Recording out of Fort Smith, owned by Andrew Shedden.
Drennan said he’s planning to have seven songs on the album.
With the new single available on the internet and the video playing on YouTube, Drennan is focusing on the next single to drop.
If all goes according to plan, he expects to release the next song from the album on Dec. 17 — his birthday.
“I’ve got a Christmas song almost ready to go,” he said. “It’s an upbeat, full band: electric guitar, bass and backing vocal. It’s a fun song that alludes to the fact life is way too serious and we have to lighten up.
“If things aren’t perfect at Christmas, it’s OK. It’s an opportunity to slow down, be with our families and do the things that matter.
“It’s what I needed to feel at Christmas, so that’s the message I put out there.”
Drennan added he wanted to express his gratitude to everyone who has helped him produce his latest round of music.
“Big thanks to Oryan Robert, Thomas Thrasher, Bailey Allen, Wayne Allen, NWT Arts, producer and cameraman David Stewart, drone photographer Kristian Binder,” he said. “And all my friends who walked down the road with me.”
Visit https://tinyurl.com/3nzahuja to listen to or purchase Unknown Road.