{"id":12474,"date":"2023-06-06T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12474"},"modified":"2026-05-28T16:50:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T21:50:37","slug":"ep-review-noah-derksen-sanctity-of-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2023\/06\/06\/ep-review-noah-derksen-sanctity-of-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"EP Review :: Noah Derksen :: Sanctity of Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f4.bcbits.com\/img\/a2416128655_16.jpg\" alt=\"photo of Noah colour edited to look aged.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>by <\/em><strong><em>Paul Newsom<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Winnipeg singer-songwriter Noah Derksen makes strikingly earnest music. It\u2019s probably thanks to this fact that seeing his most recent album come up marked \u201cExplicit\u201d on streaming services feels momentarily surreal &#8211; if only for the presence of several pointed and beautiful breakup songs on the record.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sanctity of Silence\u2019s<\/em> tracks only occasionally resembles the sleepy, daydreaming ballads of Derksen\u2019s first EP. In line with the course charted by the two subsequent full-length albums prior to it,<em> Sanctity <\/em>feels packed; purposeful; and meticulously developed. The record is essentially personal in a manner that seems all the more compelling for Derksen\u2019s extroverted approach to song structuring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The title track is instantly memorable, bolstered by hovering organ tones and transitory electric accents; melancholic-sweet harmonies fill out the aching, acoustic love anthem.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHeaven on a Hellbound Train\u201d proves Derksen\u2019s humanist lyrical chops, musing on the power of common struggle in the song\u2019s conclusion: \u201cIt\u2019s not who you are, it\u2019s not where you\u2019ve been\u2026 We\u2019re all trying to get to heaven on a hellbound train.\u201d The song\u2019s roaming, alt-country manner embodies both the notion of a common human journey and its author\u2019s own reflective explorations of free will and pain.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne Stab at the Good Life\u201d marks a spiritual Country entry with its tragic union of mundanity, pain, and pure aspirations. It feels impossible not to find one\u2019s own tired, early-morning Winnipeg self in its weary pining.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFuck You and Fuck Your Friends Too\u201d is somehow equal parts bitter, astute, and graceful. Fleshed out by twisted idioms and an indignant guitar solo, the catharsis is nonetheless palpable: \u201cWell the devil works in awful ways\/He sometimes sends an angel face\/With beauty and a walk like grace,\u201d gives way to the title lyrics\u2019 final uttering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Derksen\u2019s record feels uniquely fascinating, Canadian, and re-listenable. Carried by a clear voice whose vibrato stresses cut with precision emphasis, this record weaves a dazzling plot from myriad personal and musical threads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Noah Derksen - Darling, Don&#039;t Tell Me What You Think of the Change (Live)\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-kozuk9itBI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Paul Newsom Winnipeg singer-songwriter Noah Derksen makes strikingly earnest music. It\u2019s probably thanks to this fact that seeing his most recent album come up marked \u201cExplicit\u201d on streaming services feels momentarily surreal &#8211; if only for the presence of several pointed and beautiful breakup songs on the record.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1484,1541,1542],"class_list":["post-12474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-ep-review","tag-noah-derksen","tag-sanctity-of-silence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12474","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=12474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12475,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12474\/revisions\/12475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}