From: Oshawa, Ontario Genre: Rock For fans of: Greta Van Fleet, Rush, Led Zeppelin Crown Lands are born storytellers and fearless advocates for the LGBTQ+ and Indigenous communities. The powerhouse rock duo are counter-culturalists for the 21st century, informed by a cocktail of ancient voices, social injustice, science-fiction, and musical narrators from Rush to Paul Simon, Led Zeppelin to John Butler. Since meeting at a band audition in 2015, singer/drummer Bowles (a half-Mi’kmaq who identifies as Two Spirit) and guitarist/keyboardist Comeau have crafted a diverse sonic and lyrical palette. Touchstones range from the mistreatment of Canada’s indigenous population to Buddhist meditation master Chögyam Trungpa, the worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien and Dune author Frank Herbert. Before venturing into prog rock, Crown Lands made a name for themselves with with raw blues rock on their Juno-nominated, self-titled debut LP. One year later, the duo ascended to new heights with their breakthrough track “Context: Fearless Pt. 1,” which premiered on Rolling Stone. After a steady stream of new music, the band’s fresh approach and mission-driven catalogue garnered them the 2021 Juno Award for “Breakthrough Group of the Year.” This year, Crown Lands pushed the boundaries of prog rock with their sophomore LP Fearless. The nine-track album was recorded in Universal Music Canada’s 80A Studio in Toronto with producer David Bottrill (Rush, Muse, Tool, Mastodon) and came together over a six-month period in short, intense bursts between tours. Fearless is an unapologetically rich, ambitious work yet easily accessible. In the words of the duo, “Fearless is the culmination of all our years as a band. Everything we have worked on as writers and players is on full display here. I think we were both able to do what we wanted to do as artists for so long.” Rather than clobber its audience with complexity, Fearless creates a world you want to spend time in. Today, Crown Lands releases Fearless (Deluxe), which features a collection of songs performed live at the 80A Academy and instrumental versions. Listen here.
