{"id":11388,"date":"2019-04-15T18:22:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T23:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=11388"},"modified":"2026-05-06T19:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:12:20","slug":"blessed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2019\/04\/15\/blessed\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Kaelen Bell<\/strong>
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There are a lot of things to find fault with in 2019 – devastating climate shifts have become a reality more quickly than many expected, right-wing fascism is on the rise, and social tribalism has pushed us further and further away from existing within a collective consciousness.
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If there\u2019s a band coming up today that can understand the social isolation and anxiety that come with living in 2019, it\u2019s Blessed. The Abbotsford-based quintet has been performing together since 2015, creating music with a force and precision that feels invigorating and rare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Though he\u2019s reticent to explain the overarching political and personal themes on the band\u2019s forthcoming debut album Salt<\/em>, guitarist and lead vocalist Drew Riekman says one of the band\u2019s driving forces has always been to leave the stifling conservative environs of their hometown behind.
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\u201c[Fellow guitarist Reuben Houweling] and I have been playing together since we were 12 and 14, and I think our dream was always to travel,\u201d Riekman says. \u201cI think that\u2019s still a major operating principle for the band – getting to leave the Fraser valley and see all these places.\u201d
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Riekman tells me about a 2017 article in the Abbotsford News <\/em>about the conservative backlash to local school resources that helped teachers address issues like sexual orientation and gender identity.  
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\u201cThe idea was essentially \u2018The LGTBQ are frightening us\u2019, so you can imagine the kind of environment that Abbotsford can be,\u201d he says. \u201cIt definitely has a church on every street corner, and [this conservative pressure] is around you in weird ways.\u201d
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However, Riekman says that Abbotsford\u2019s generally conservative population has created an insular, eager and self-reliant music scene. It\u2019s a scene that Riekman says can be difficult to break out of, but he credits it with giving him the skills needed to push Blessed beyond the Fraser Valley.
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\u201cThe people that stay and participate in the local scene are some of the most passionate and driven people I know. You have no municipal support, basically no financial support, so it\u2019s up to you and your peers to make it happen,\u201d he says.
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Creating art in a place where outward conservative ideals push continuously on the small ecosystem of DIY artists has also made Blessed, in the face of their growing success, very aware of what message they\u2019re bringing to the wider world.
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\u201cI think making concise and direct albums and knowing what\u2019s worth putting into the universe has merit,\u201d Riekman says. \u201cIt\u2019s something I struggle with internally, like, do I believe that what I\u2019m saying has worth in the world? Do I need to scream into this void as well?\u201d
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This emphasis on brevity and careful consideration of what needs saying led the band to its debut\u2019s lean 10 song track list. It\u2019s a refreshing thing to see in 2019 – that in the face of bloated 21 track albums designed to pillage streaming services, bands are still capable of making a carefully considered record.
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That isn\u2019t to say that every track is a two-minute jolt like first single \u201cThought\u201d, as some tracks on Salt<\/em> near the eight-minute mark. Instead, it\u2019s an example of careful editing and an understanding of what a song or album needs. A bit of sprawl can be engaging when it\u2019s done with purpose.
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\u201cI heard this term recently – content exhaustion – that I really like. People are so pressured to keep pumping things out that it kind of compromises the balance between quantity and quality,\u201d says Riekman. \u201cAt the very least what you can do as a creator is hone in and make something you\u2019re particularly proud of.\u201d
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Riekman says Salt<\/em> covers ground previously unexplored by the band, stretching their dark post-punk to create a more varied work than fans might expect.
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\u201cI guess we don\u2019t use what we\u2019ve created in the past as a barometer for what we make in the future, and this record is what we wanted to make and what we felt represented where we\u2019re at,\u201d he says.
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He says the reaction to the singles released so far has been overwhelming, and that the band is itching to get back on the road following a much needed tour break that ended up stretching to nearly eight months spent at home.
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\u201cYou know, after three years of pretty hard touring, you want some mental space from it, but eight months might have been a little too lengthy. We\u2019re all feeling super grateful that this thing is out.\u201d
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The drive to see the world is still pushing Blessed beyond the confines of the Fraser Valley, and, with their highly anticipated debut arriving on April 5, there\u2019s little doubt their DIY roots and clear-eyed vision will only send them further and further.
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\u201cWe\u2019ve always operated on the idea that if we can release things we\u2019re proud of, fill half a venue and keep from going broke, we\u2019ll be fulfilled.\u201d
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by Kaelen Bell There are a lot of things to find fault with in 2019 – devastating climate shifts have become a reality more quickly than many expected, right-wing fascism is on the rise, and social tribalism has pushed us further and further away from existing within a collective consciousness. If there\u2019s a band coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1739],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11390,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11388\/revisions\/11390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}