It’s one of those years. Nearing the end of March, and already we’ve had to say goodbye to Kate McGarrigle, Mark Linkous, Vic Chesnutt, and now Alex Chilton (and don’t get me started on the Oscars forgetting to mention Bea Arthur). But I’m not here to eulogize – there are far better folks at that than me (Paul Westerberg, for one). Instead, I’d rather celebrate a song that’s meant a great deal to me for a long while, and one of the first things I ever learned how to play on the guitar. (A love song so perfect that it even made its way on WP’s …A Given EP, recorded for the wedding of our dear friends Kevin and Gordon – and that’s just the way I’d like to remember a great songwriter now passed).

• Thirteen [Big Star]

So for nearly the past two years, we’ve tried getting a batch of songs together with Brooklyn folk singer Ryan Doyle, but you know how these things go — you get busy and distracted, and sometimes things take longer than you originally planned. 26 February 2010, however, we finally managed to pull it together in the lovely Buddy Project studio in Astoria, Queens, and did some joint recording that we’re both particularly proud of. We recorded one of the first ever WP songs, titled ‘By Lamplight’, which has come in and out of WP set-lists since the start. And let it be said now, Ryan Doyle’s ‘Homeless Summer 1996’ is the summer jam of 2010. (Or, considering how long it took to actually get into the same studio, maybe we should play it safe and say summer 2011). Anyway, considering how good it went this time out, you can be sure to expect more in the way of WP / RD in the future. Until then, here’s the original 2005 demo of ‘By Lamplight’. So young, so full of promise.

• By Lamplight [2005 Demo]

Each January, our intrepid Kenna Burima puts together a festival called The Midway, held adjacent to the annual High Performance Rodeo here in Calgary. Last year, Woodpigeon performed a set of Bjork tunes, and a recording has just re-surfaced, thought earlier lost due to an exploding hard-drive. While we put some pretty big arrangements together, this stripped-down version of ‘Aurora’ has always been my favourite of the night. A guitar, some voices, and a hushed theatre (and a little demo that we worked from too).

• Aurora [Bjork] (live)
• Aurora [Bjork] (demo)

Late this summer, the editors of MOJO magazine asked if WP would be up for covering a song from Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Without admitting I’d never actually listened to it, we set about re-building the track ‘Mother’ into something a little different from the original everyone seems to love. Talk about pressure, but it’s out at newsstands now, free with the December issue. (Otherwise, just take a listen to it here. We won’t tell).

• Mother [Pink Floyd]

We know we should be asleep, but sometimes you just want to stay up and sing with your friends.

• Asleep & Dreaming [The Magnetic Fields]

xox, mark + catriona sturton + shane turner

The new Woodpigeon album Die Stadt Muzikanten is available for pre-order via Boompa Records starting today. And because everyone’s all about the pre-order bonuses these days, we’ve got a few nice ones in store for you too.

First of all, all copies of Die Stadt Muzikanten released in our home and native land of Canada will receive the bonus mini-album disc BALLADEER / to all the guys i’ve loved before, a collection of new tunes recorded in Calgary and Dublin.

Secondly, the first 100 orders will receive a special Die Stadt Muzikanten poster, featuring album artwork by the amazing Jeff Kulak.

And finally, everyone who pre-orders before the 12 January 2010 release date will also receive some bonus .mp3 recordings between now and then, including (but not limited to, because who knows what will make its way to tape between now and then) some solo acoustic renditions of the songs from Die Stadt Muzikanten. These bonus .mp3s will also come with new illustrations by Mark and others, so you’ve got something to look at on your iPhone screens while the songs play.

Visit the Boompa Shop now!

Finally, it just has to be said – we spend a lot of time complaining in this part of the world about what our winters are like, but for me, there’s just nothing quite like the first snow of winter. The air is incredibly clear and crisp, everything’s covered in perfect white, and there’s no better excuse for staying inside under a warm blanket and taking it easy. I seem to get an awful lot done when it’s cold outside.

Here’s an example, a new song called ‘85’, in honour of our friends Anna and Beau. Here’s to the Canadian winter.

•  85

There’s far more to Vík í Mýrdal than just its record as the rainiest place in Iceland (the seas are so rough here, they’ve never been able to build a harbour). It’s also one of the most inspiring views one will ever see. In tribute, a new song, dedicated to Reynisdrangar, the three trolls. (Listen for the rain through the window … a bit of a theme with these recordings).

• Reynisdrangar Lullaby

xox, mark + benjamin stacey of reykjavik.

Our pal Jack Day is one of our favourite folk traditionalists. It was hard enough to get him to play into a “newfangled” recorder, and then he kept trying to throw me off by holding phrases and being difficult. So, one take. No overdubs. A song handed down for ages, and now from us to you.

• Rambler Gambler [Traditional]

xox, mark + jack day (chris dadge on beatz)

Beth Jeans Houghton is one of our musical favourites. In the entire world. Ever. Whenever we’re in Newcastle together we always record something at the Heaton Perk Cafe after closing time, and this time around, it’s Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘I’m Not Saying’ (originally re-interpreted by Nico).

• I’m Not Saying [Gordon Lightfoot]

xox, mark + beth jeans houghton (chris + dav on beatz)

..but it’s still dark inside.

• Lonely Kiss [originally by The Consonant C]

xox, mark and louise hull, rob ranger and chris dadge