Hinterlandband is an apt moniker for this musical force. An oxymoron ascribed to the region from which the one-man-band author Colin Wylie creates his 'Podunk dream pop'. To coin the parlance of the bygone 'Hinterland Who's Who' commercials of old, this 'hinterland man' is indigenous to the Upper Ottawa Valley ('the Valley'), Ontario, Canada, a rare and sometimes endangered specimen for this habitat. Where maple syrup and country music flows like it's abundant whitewater, as equally uncommon is the music being created within a Methodist church home built in 1892 on the plains of a tucked away farming district in the heart of 'the Valley.' Drawing influence from a host of sources, musically speaking, some are - boards of Canada, Daniel Lanois, Jonathan Wilson & Elbow to The Stanley Brothers, George Harrison, My Bloody Valentine, Mahalia Jackson, Tom Petty, & The Pixies. Somewhere in between there begins the sound of hinterlandband, who has been said to play a cool slice of cottage pop with shades of ethereal art rock. Music was always a presence in his life, but perhaps his earliest music recollections are of being six years old and asking his mom for a Joan Jett & the Blackhearts cassette (of whom he would open for at CBGBs later in life)in which she obliged, but with a Beatles Greatest Hits cassette. Colin's earliest music education came from accompanying Pentecostal church services and revivalist tent meetings on the drums to old gospel standards. This may serve to explain the love for harmony, soul, and big arrangements evident in his songs like 'Intelligent Design'. Into his teenage years, he picked up the guitar, started writing songs, renting four track machines and breaking into his church basement to record them, and putting together bands. Freshly squeezed out of high school, Colin moved to Montreal to begin touring and recording formally with childhood friend and music cohort Jordon Zadorozny in the band known as 'Blinker the Star'- which quickly became a big signing to A&M Records (US) not three months later. Indeed, at the time, this was a distinction not yet known to too many Canadian indie rock bands, save for Sloan, let alone one from a small town in Eastern Ontario. From headlining in a friends basement to opening for Oasis within a year (and subsequently stealing all their beer while on stage). For the next five years, life became analogous to a view from the back of an econoline tour van with no windows - no stake in it's direction and more than a little funky. After touring, recording and a doctorate degree in life's hard lessons, an inevitable and amicable melt down on the road home from Georgia saw Colin's departure from this project. Two more years, some musical false starts and a failed relationship in Montreal, QC marked a pivotal turning point in his life. Feeling like an old soul at the ripe old age of 27, Colin returned to the Ottawa Valley and the sancitity of a conventional life to complete a degree from the University of Waterloo, start a family, a new career, he remembered how to play hockey and ride a bike again, fell in love with bluegrass music and picked up his Valley accent where he had left it. However, despite his attempts to shake off music, invariably this was not to be. Initially, armed with a Dictaphone and his first car (an 89' Honda Prelude), he became inspired by the freedom found in the space and solitude of the Valley, the mystery of discovering nature anew and it's soundtrack (the Brian Eno ambient series & the boards of Canada catalogue). He continued writing and recording snippets of melodies, songs and lyrics that filled binders. The result was 2009's Leaving Fallowfield, a collection of songs gathered over these years. Self-released, this ethereal collection of rootsy pop songs nonetheless caught the attention of print reviewers, music bloggers and music programmers. The album received glowing reviews from the press, and songs from the album were picked up and played on CBC Radio 2's Drive with Rich Terfry, CBC Radio 3, and campus radio across Canada. In addition to t
