SappyFest will be presenting Vancouver artist Jay Arner at the Royal Canadian Legion on Sunday, October 27 at 9:00 p.m. Arner will be playing his last Canadian date in Sackville before heading out on an extensive coast-to-coast tour throughout the United States.

Arner is touring in support of his self-titled debut record that was released earlier this year through west coast independent label, Mint Records. Although it is his debut album, he is certainly no foreigner to the Canadian music scene. Arner has fronted bands, manned the drums and held down the bass in numerous groups, of which indie-poppers Bleating Hearts and International Falls are the most prominent. Along the way, he has also become a sought-after producer and remix artist, working out of the legendary Hive studios and recording acts like Mount Eerie, Apollo Ghosts, Rose Melberg, No Gold and many more.

With his pure talent and many years of experience, it is no surprise that Arner wrote, performed, recorded and mixed every note and sound on the record.

The opening track “Midnight on South Granville” gives the listener a sense that the record will be dark, with its coldly mechanical intro, before flourishing into a track that reflects Arner’s love of analogue electronics with its lush post-punk synthscape. Elsewhere, the bass-heavy pulses of “Broken Glass (In the Hall of Shattered Mirrors)” draws on seventies pseudo-funk, while tracks like “Don’t Remind Me” and “Wildest One” are soaring, distortion filled anthems that recall the classic Murderecords song craft. With not one acoustic guitar on the record, Arner has more space to fill with noisy pop sweetness.

Joining Arner at the Legion will be Sackville resident C.L. McLaughlin, performing experimental folk music under the name of the National Shield. McLaughlin, whose 2012 album Weird Lines is available as a “pay-what-you-can” download on Bandcamp, will be joined by a couple of backing musicians, including Sackville staple Jon McKiel. Although McLaughlin is new to the Sackville scene, he is still certainly a prominent member of the Canadian music scene, having performed with the likes of Octoberman and Sackville’s own Julie Doiron.