Postdata Record Their Dreams For Their Mom

A couple of years ago, Wintersleep guitarist/vocalist Paul Murphy and his brother, Michael, started working on a record at their parents' house Yarmouth, N.S. Armed with only a few instruments, a laptop and some scotch, they set out to make a present for their mom, who had recently lost both her parents.

Eight months later, they revisited the songs they had laid out in Yarmouth during a weekend in Halifax. They rented microphones this time around, and added a few more tracks — but the raw, live-off-the-floor immediacy of that first session remained.

The record turned out well — so well, in fact, that the brothers are releasing it on Jan. 26 as a self-titled, full-length album under the Postdata moniker.

"It just seemed like the right time and the right setting to do it in and the right person [Mike] to do it with, and it came together really quite quickly," explains Paul, via email from Glasgow, Scotland.

"At first it was just exciting recording/hanging out with Mike again. We've always done things like this together. The ideas usually end up being a bit too silly to actually really take seriously or to put out, let alone with our names attached."

This particular idea, however, was far from silly. Postdata was inspired by a series of dreams Paul had after his grandparents passed away, and is a moody collection of ink-black songs that reflect on life, death and what comes after. (Yes, it sounds like a massive downer on the surface — but Paul's playful turns-of-phase and dark humour provide some levity.)

It's also an incredibly personal record, but Paul felt compelled to share it.

"It was just something that I just felt was good and should be released," he says. "I love writing music and I think it'd be kind of weird to hold something back that I liked, to put it in a vault because it was too personal. That seemed more vain and self-serving at some level than releasing a 'solo' record like this."

Paul and Michael plan to play a few gigs in support of the album but, as far as future Postdata releases go, the future is uncertain.

"It was fun but pretty specific. I'm just excited to get it down, maybe do a few shows and to move on to the next thing, which is the Wintersleep record. Very excited about that. We're in Glasgow now finishing that up with Mix Master Tony. (We don't really call him the Mix Master, BTW.)"

The new Wintersleep record, which will serve as the follow-up to 2007's Welcome To The Night Sky, is tentatively due out in May.

Here are Paul Murphy's upcoming tour dates, all with David Bazan:

Jan. 28 Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix
Jan. 29 Utrecht, Netherlands @ Ekko
Jan. 30 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Winston
Jan. 31 Brighton, England @ The Freebutt
Feb. 1 Leeds, England @ Nation of Shopkeepers
Feb. 2 Glasgow, Scotland @ Captains Rest
Feb. 3 London, England @ Borderline
Feb. 4 Paris, France @ Point Ephemere
Feb. 5 Zurich. Switzerland @ Papiersaal
Feb. 6 Milan, Italy @ La Casa 139
Feb. 7 Karlsruhe, Germany @ Jubez
Feb. 8 Steinbruch, Germany @ Duisburg
Feb. 9 Berlin, Germany @ NBI
Feb. 10 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Din Nye Ven Cafe
Feb. 11 Dublin, Ireland @ Whelan's