multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency.
Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
albums under his own name.
Life and education
Shabason grew up in
Brampton
Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it ...
, Ontario. He began playing jazz music at 10 years old. After first learning to play the guitar, he took an interest in the saxophone when he enrolled in a jazz program at
Humber College
The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...
as a child. His father was a jazz pianist.
In 2006, he graduated from
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
in jazz performance.
His musical focus shifted from jazz to pop in his twenties.
Collaborations
DIANA
Shabason is one of three members of DIANA, a Toronto synth-pop band. It formed after another project fell through involving Shabason and Kieran Adams, who met during university.
Its first album, ''Perpetual Surrender'' (2013) was longlisted for the
Polaris Music Prize
The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize; the prize was incr ...
. It was followed by ''Familiar Touch'' (2016).
Destroyer
The first Destroyer album to feature Shabason was '' Kaputt'' (2010), which was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. Having toured with Destroyer in an opening band, Shabason contacted Destroyer front-man Dan Bejar in 2010 while in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
. This led to Shabason improvising a few hours on the saxophone for the album. His involvement "could not have been more casual," according to Shabason.
Shabason went on to play on '' Poison Season'' (2015) and ''
ken
Ken or KEN may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer.
* ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film.
* ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine.
* Ken Masters, a main character in ...
'' (2017), Destroyer's next two albums after ''Kaputt''.
He has toured as a member of Destroyer.
The War on Drugs
Shabason played an important role in ''
Lost in the Dream
''Lost in the Dream'' is the third studio album by American indie rock band The War on Drugs, released on March 18, 2014 through Secretly Canadian. The recording session, which took place over a two-year period, was characterized by numerous rewri ...
As a session musician, Shabason has recorded for many singers and bands — including
Born Ruffians
Born Ruffians are a Canadian indie rock band based in Toronto. Officially founded in 2004 in the Georgian Bay town of Midland, Ontario, the band is composed of frontman Luke Lalonde, bassist Mitch DeRosier, and drummer Steve Hamelin. During the ...
,
Hannah Georgas
Hannah Georgas (born 30 August 1983) is a Canadian pop/rock singer-songwriter, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was nominated in the categories of "Best New Artist of the Year" and "Songwriter of the Year" at the 2011 Juno Awards, and ...
,
Jill Barber
Jill Barber (born February 6, 1980) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Originally associated with the folk-pop genre, she has performed vocal jazz and pop music on her more recent albums.Matt Barber,
Dragonette
Dragonette is the stage name of Canadian singer-songwriter Martina Sorbara. Originally an electronic music band from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2005, the band consisted of Sorbara with her husband Dan Kurtz as bassist and producer (also in Th ...
Allie X
Alexandra Ashley Hughes (born 31 July 1985), known by her stage name Allie X, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and visual artist. She began her career as an indie pop artist in Toronto in the mid-2000s, playing with local bands and writing and ...
,
Peter Elkas
Peter Elkas (born July 24, 1976) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, signed to MapleMusic Recordings. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Elkas spent twelve years as part of the Montreal band Local Rabbits, with whom he started playing as a teenager. He rel ...
Fucked Up
Fucked Up is a Canadian hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2001. The band consists of Damian Abraham (vocals), Mike Haliechuk (guitar, vocals), Josh Zucker (guitar), Sandy Miranda (bass), and Jonah Falco (drums, vocals). From ...
.
In 2019, he released an experimental ambient album titled ''Muldrew'' with Ben Gunning.
Around 2008, Shabason and a friend started a rock band, Everything All the Time. He played keyboard and sang
backup vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...
.
Another band he played in was Bass Groove.
He collaborated with Nicholas Krgovich and Chris Harris on the 2020 album ''Philadelphia'', which was a longlisted nominee for the 2021 Polaris Music Prize.
Shabason composed the musical score of the 2021 dark comedy film '' Stanleyville''.
In 2022 Shabason and
Andre Ethier
Andre Everett Ethier (; born April 10, 1982) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2006 to 2017 and is second all-time in post-season appearances as a Do ...
released the collaborative album ''Fresh Pepper''. ''At Scaramouche'', Shabason's second collaboration with Krgovich, was released in October 2022.
Solo work
''Aytche''
''Aytche'' (2017) — pronounced like the letter "H" — was his first solo album. It was inspired by composers such as Jon Hassel and
Gigi Masin
Gigi Masin (born October 24, 1955) is an Italian composer, ambient musician and producer from Venice. He is best known for his 1986 LP ''Wind'' and as a member of Gaussian Curve, a trio with Jonny Nash and Young Marco.
A member of Italy's und ...
.
After the album was finished, Shabason realized that the album reflected the impact that
Parkinson's
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
was having in his personal life — his father-in-law was suffering from it and his mother was recently diagnosed.
Only "Westmeath" has vocals. The song features clips from an archival interview from a son of a
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
.
Though Shabason voiced some dissatisfaction with the album, suggesting there was "a lack of vision," it received positive reviews. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the album rated 82 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim."
The album was funded from a grant by the
Ontario Arts Council
The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly-funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by O ...
.
''Anne'' and ''Anne, EP''
''Anne'' (2018), Shabason's second album, is named after his mother. Focusing on his mother's Parkinson's illness, the album includes audio clips from interviews with his mother.
Shabason was determined that the album not be overly sentimental or exploitative; in his own words, "the challenge becomes how do you take that nterviewand weave it into the fabric of the composition and extract the essence of it without beating people over the head with it." His mother was pleased with the result, calling it a "beautiful album."
Critical reception was positive. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the album is rated 77 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Music critic Miles Bowe of
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
"gorgeous and empathetic ambient music."
''Anne, EP'' has five songs and was released May 10, 2019. The
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
describes it as an "afterword" to ''Anne''. Its song "I Don't Want to Be Your Love" — previously a bonus track for ''Anne —'' features vocals by Destroyer's Dan Bejar.
''The Fellowship''
Shabason's third album was released April 30, 2021.