ST.ARNAUD
St.Arnaud Streams
INDUSTRY TEAM
North America
Manager: Liam Prost - Tamarack Records
Label: Jocelyn Greenwood - Cordova Bay Records
Publicist: Echo Myron
Europe / UK
Press: James Barker - Bark PR
Agent: Hanna Doring - Cabin Artist
highlightED performances
2025
February 8-9 - Coldsnap - Prince George, BC
July 24-28 - Calgary Folk Music Festival - Calgary, AB
2024
May 14 – Strongroom – London, UK
May 17-19 @ The Great Escape Festival – Brighton, UK
May 19 @ Lepeltje Lepeltje– Amersfoort NL
September 29 - October 2 @ BreakOut West – Saskatoon, SK
2023
May 27 @ East Town Get Down Festival – Calgary AB
July 8 @ Coke Stage Stampede – Calgary, AB
July 15-17 @ NXNE – Toronto, ON
2022
BIG Winter Classic / Winterruption – Edmonton + Calgary
May 22 @ Wise Hall – Vancouver, BC
July 15-17 @ Folk on the Rocks – Yellowknife, NWT
September 16 @ Rifflandia – Victoria, BC
September 28 - October 2 @ BreakOut West – Calgary, AB
BIOGRAPHY
St.Arnaud is the music of Ian (St.Arnaud), a project that balances buoyant, wry storytelling with roots and early indie influences, all wrapped in lively, danceable arrangements. Often described as “the goofy side of self-serious indie rock.” St.Arnaud began as a solo endeavour in the wake of the 2017 passing of close friend and musical collaborator Luke Jansen. What started as an intimate songwriting outlet has since grown into a dynamic live ensemble, featuring drums, bass, keys, electric guitar, and horns—each performance marked by a playful, improvisatory spirit. The self-titled St.Arnaud (Cordova Bay Records 2026) is the third record, but the first to really represent the spirit of a band.
The collection is to be packaged into three deluxe singles, and then released as a full album. This format of delivery is also a new development, packaging three songs as individual musical movements like in a symphonic arrangement. Each of these deluxe singles is a motley crew of songs, packaged more around a mode of production than a particular genre or feeling. Steeped in the likes of the raucous and fun-loving 70s’ folkers and power poppers like Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, the result is a larger and livelier interpretation that retains Ian’s penchant for pop hooks and sardonic lyrics. Although this is a singer-songwriter album at its core, it’s also the most collaborative St.Arnaud project to date, with each performing member shaping the arrangements and songwriting.
Lyrically this new set of songs will come from the preoccupation of finding movement in times of stillness, and “capturing snapshots of transient times when you have time to reflect on them.” This connects to the small movements of time and relationships in St.Arnaud’s own life, the nuance of which drives his lyrics, which come from an observational and keen contemporary social perspective. St.Arnaud pushes its slacker softboy rock aesthetic sonically into a combined roots and early-indie rock direction, capturing new and driving rhythms in the songwriting process, and incorporating new instrumentation including pedal steel and electric pianos.
The album and its preceding EPs are a range of material including rock songs, more folk-oriented singer-songwriter songs, danceable rock songs, and emotional ballads, such to be able to assemble an album experience with a distinct beginning and end, complete with rises and falls. St.Arnaud has played with Basia Bulat, Reuben and the Dark, and Lucy Rose among countless others and has performed at stages across the world including The Great Escape, Reeperbahn, New Colossus Festival, FOCUS Wales, and Tallinn Music Week. St.Arnaud has been featured on Exclaim!, Folk Radio UK, Indie 88, CKUA, and the CBC Radio 3 top 10.
Catching Flies
“Catching Flies is, somehow, St.Arnaud’s covid song, if there’s going to be one. Dropped into an inner monologue of feigning amusement and a sigh of complacency, a tone of equal parts smoky and cheeky set the scene of a twenty-something’s life and love on pause.”
enjoy yourself
“Written sometime in early 2020, Enjoy Yourself consists of the timeless cycle of guilt-ridden hangovers and self-soothing affirmations, laughing off the scrapes and bruises, and encouraging others to do the same when taking stock in the dreaded landscape of comparison.”
loving
“I’m really proud of this one. I wanted to take my songwriting in a more personal, story-telling direction. Once the backdrop was set with the syrupy-sweet chorus, I felt like I could colour and create contrast with scenes from my day-to-day life, including the (unfortunately true) August morning, waking up to find a stranger’s defecation by my car door.”
Praise for the cost of living
“The Cost of Living marries Graham Lessard’s rich, atmospheric production — he’s known for his work with Basia Bulat and Timber Timbre, among others — with Ian’s blunt and sardonic songwriting that lets the listener in on his mindset during an extremely turbulent time”
“Ian is reworking and rewriting the songs to honour his band and the loss of his friend in the new record. “The Introvert” is a perfect example of this, with strong, layered instrumentals featuring powerful brass lines, a driven drum beat, and rowdy guitars as the vulnerable lyricism takes the lead.”
“While St.Arnaud often comes to the studio with songs written, he’s quick to admit Lessard’s role in taking these songs and helping build them into tracks beyond what St. Arnaud had initially imagined.”