It’s been four years since Thornley’s Gold-certified debut album, Come Again, was released. The wait for the follow-up is nearly at an end with the announcement that Tiny Pictures (604 Records / Universal Music Canada) will be released on February 10, 2009. The album’s first single, “Make Believe”, has been serviced to radio today.
Why keep the legions of fans waiting? As Ian Thornley, previously singer/songwriter/guitarist for Big Wreck, readily admits, “It’s been too long –we could have made this record two-and-a-half years ago.” Simultaneously, he reasons, “I probably wouldn’t have been working with Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver, Rush) if there hadn’t been the wait. I got a great new friend out of it and I got a kickass record, made by a world class producer and engineer.”
Tiny Pictures was recorded in early 2008 in Toronto’s Phase 1 and Lerxst Sound studios, the latter being the production home of Rush’s guitarist, Alex Lifeson. The aim was to reach for a vintage rock sound also liberally embellished with subtle hooks and “fairy dust, bells and whistles,” as Thornley refers to them, citing Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run as an example of an album where little gifts continue to reveal themselves over repeated listens.
Thornley played nearly jack-of-all-trades on the record, laying down all the vocal, guitar, and bass parts himself, including the near-unthinkable: teaching himself pedal steel over one fevered day to record “This Is Where My Heart Is”. The thundering spine of the album was provided by Nickelback drummer, Daniel Adair, who appears on 11 of Tiny Pictures’ dozen tracks, alongside Black Crowes’ Steve Gorman, who was scooped up during a brief stint in Nashville to provide a southern beat to the power ballad “Changes”. Oakville, Ontario’s St. Andrew’s Children’s Choir even came on board to make “Under the Radar” soar.
Thornley also sought interesting partnerships for songwriting, co-penning album cuts “Your Song” with Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, “Another Memory” with Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider (Queens of the Stone Age, Eleven), and aforementioned first single “Make Believe” with Dave Genn (54-40, Matthew Good Band).
Lastly, the album gets one of music’s greatest seals of artistic pedigree through the cover artwork once again created by Storm Thorgerson, the man responsible for enduring rock images for bands from AC/DC to Led Zeppelin, The Mars Volta to Pink Floyd.
Thornley has been returning to Canadian stages this fall, on select one-off dates and recently in support of Lenny Kravitz. A full-on, cross-Canada tour is being planned early in the new year.
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