Jim Guthrie is a Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded both as a solo artist and as a member of the bands
Islands
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
,
Royal City
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a ...
and
Human Highway
''Human Highway'' is a 1982 American comedy film starring and co-directed by Neil Young under his pseudonym Bernard Shakey. Dean Stockwell co-directed the film and acted along with Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper, and the band Devo. Included is a ...
. He has also composed music for TV ads and video games, and has scored multiple films including '' Indie Game: The Movie'', ''
A Short History of the Highrise
''Highrise'' is a multi-year, multimedia documentary project about life in residential highrises, directed by Katerina Cizek and produced by Gerry Flahive for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The project, which began in 2009, includes fi ...
'', and ''
The Bodybuilder and I
''The Bodybuilder and I'' is a 2007 feature-length documentary film written and directed by Bryan Friedman, taking viewers on a journey into the subculture of geriatric bodybuilding as the filmmaker tries to reconnect with his father. The film is ...
''.
History
He was born and raised in
Guelph
Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...
, Ontario, and currently lives in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
.
Guthrie first made a name for himself by releasing a series of self-produced cassettes, and subsequently released albums on
Three Gut Records
Three Gut Records was a Guelph, Ontario, Canada based independent record label. It was founded in 1999 by Lisa Moran and Tyler Clark Burke as a vehicle for releasing albums by their friends; it became an influential player in Canadian music with ...
. He was nominated for a
Juno Award
The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...
for 2003 album '' Now, More Than Ever''. In June 2013, his solo studio album ''Takes Time'' was longlisted for the
2013 Polaris Music Prize The 2013 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 23, 2013
. The name of the album is a nod to the delay of the album's completion and release, which he began recording in 2007. He performed at
NPR Music
NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...
as part of their ''Tiny Desk Concerts'' series in support of the album's release.
During the ten years between solo albums Guthrie worked as a composer, scoring music for television ads, films and video games, in addition to his work on the side project
Human Highway
''Human Highway'' is a 1982 American comedy film starring and co-directed by Neil Young under his pseudonym Bernard Shakey. Dean Stockwell co-directed the film and acted along with Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper, and the band Devo. Included is a ...
Islands
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
. He received acclaim for the music he composed for the 2011 computer and tablet video game, '' Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP''. The score was published as a digital and analogue (
vinyl
Vinyl may refer to:
Chemistry
* Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer
* Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation
* Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry
* Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...
) album, '' Sword & Sworcery LP: The Ballad of the Space Babies'', in April 2011. His work on the project drew the attention of filmmakers James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, who asked Guthrie to score their documentary '' Indie Game: The Movie'', using tracks from the album, as well as new original tracks. Guthrie's music has also appeared in several commercials including ads for the
ALS Society of Canada
The ALS Society of Canada is a registered, not-for-profit Canadian organization. ALS Canada, founded in 1977, is a national voluntary health organization dedicated to the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig' ...
and
Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in McLean, Virginia with operations primarily in the United States. It is on the list o ...
. On April 15, 2015, a book titled ''Jim Guthrie: Who Needs What'' was released.
Other projects
''Jim Guthrie Vs. The Haymakers'' was a limited release split EP released in 2003, featuring four songs by each artist. Jim Guthrie contributed four instrumentals, created using the Sony PlayStation MTV Music Generator, while ''Haymakers'' contributed three songs which would eventually be released on their album ''II'', and one song ("Gravy") which was exclusive to the ''Jim Guthrie Vs. The Haymakers'' release.
His song "Who Needs What", from the 1999 album ''A Thousand Songs'', was covered by the
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...
band
Tullycraft
Tullycraft is an American indie pop band from Seattle, Washington, that formed in 1995. They have been associated with the genre of twee pop; in fact, they are considered to be one of the true pioneers of the American twee pop movement. They are ...
on their 2002 album ''Beat, Surf, Fun''.
Since the 1990s he has collaborated with Guelph-based hip-hop artist
Noah23
Noah Raymond Brickley (born February 10, 1978), better known by his stage name Noah23, is a Canadian-American hip hop artist from Guelph, Ontario. He is co-founder of the Plague Language collective and record label, and has been described as "one ...
on numerous projects, including an appearance on his 2008 album ''
Rock Paper Scissors
Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each p ...
''.
In 2011 collaborated with
Sarah Harmer
Sarah Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist.
Early life
Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sis ...
and
Bry Webb
Bryan Webb (born 1977), sometimes credited as Bry Webb, is a Canadian singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for the indie rock band Constantines.
History
Webb began his musical career playing in the emo band Shoulder in 1994, re ...
for the
National Parks Project
The National Parks Project is a Canadian music and film project. Released in 2011 to mark the 100th anniversary of the creation of the National Parks of Canada system,guitar tabs for his songs through the indie tab sit Soundslice.
In 2014 it was announced that Guthrie would be contributing music to the
Harmonix
Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., doing business as Harmonix, is an American video game developer company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in May 1995 by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy. Harmonix is perhaps best known as bei ...
reboot of ''
Amplitude
The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of amplit ...
''.
Planet Coaster
''Planet Coaster'' is a construction and management simulation video game developed and published by Frontier Developments for Microsoft Windows. It was released worldwide on 17 November 2016. Frontier had previously worked in the amusement par ...
's soundtrack, composed by Guthrie and JJ Ipsen, was released simultaneously with the game in November 2016.
In 2019 the
Klei
Klei Entertainment Inc. ( ) is a Canadian video game development company located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Klei was formed in July 2005 by Jamie Cheng. Their best-known titles include '' Don't Starve'' and '' Oxygen Not Included''. On Janu ...
game
Griftlands
''Griftlands'' is a roguelike deck-building game with role-playing story elements in a science fiction setting, developed and published by Klei Entertainment. It was initially released in early access for Microsoft Windows in June 2019; the full v ...
Below
Below may refer to:
*Earth
*Ground (disambiguation)
*Soil
*Floor
*Bottom (disambiguation)
Bottom may refer to:
Anatomy and sex
* Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or ...
Moody Motorcycle
''Moody Motorcycle'' is an album by Human Highway. It was mastered by Fedge. The album's photography was done by Jaime Hogge. It was released on CD as well as root-beer brown Vinyl.
The album contains recordings of songs created by singer-songwr ...
Return to the Sea
Return may refer to:
In business, economics, and finance
* Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense.
* Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment
* Tax return, a blank document or t ...
'' (2006)
With Solid Mas
* ''One Of These Days I'll Get It Right'' (2014)
With JJ Ipsen
* ''You, Me & Gravity: The Music of Planet Coaster'' (2016)
* ''Weightless: The Ambient Music of Planet Coaster'' (2017)
* ''Reigns: Her Majesty (Original Soundtrack)'' (2017)