Michael Saulnier, frontman of the acclaimed high-energy Acadian punk band Peanut Butter Sunday (PBS), returns to his lo-fi folk roots.

These new releases call back to Michael Saulnier’s pre-PBS solo catalogue – Smuggler’s Cove Tape (2019), Moosehorn Lake Tape (2019), “Clare” (2020) – finding him once again delivering unvarnished and intimate reflections. Channeling the influence of Shakey Graves, Nick Drake, Adrianne Lenker, and early Elliot Smith, the Baie Sainte-Marie-born songwriter revels in the raw, DIY approach to create songs that feel seemingly captured in the moment. Like field recordings of an artist thinking out loud, Saulnier’s songs are calm but alert.

Though his music circles many themes – personal spiritual journeys, restlessness and routine, love that almost works, the pull of the woods, and the strange comfort of familiar places – the songs are introspective and contemplative, yet worldly enough for any listener to find their own footing.