Bobby Joe Hope is the offspring of a time-transcendent jam session between songwriter Jon McKiel and an anonymous musician who once owned the same Tascam A-2340 reel-to-reel tape recorder.

Purchased from a dusty corner of the internet, the Nova Scotian singer-songwriter found that hidden within this recorder was a single tape containing mysterious samples from an unknown source, begging for new life. And with this serendipitous discovery began a magical musical union. 

The album opens with warm, glowing tracks infused with McKiel’s soft vocals and looping chords. It starts as an upbeat soundtrack to long summer evenings spent in beautiful places with beautiful people, but moves forward fluidly and effortlessly, developing in intricacy and diving into the experimental. McKeil weaves the acoustic guitar, his smooth voice, mysterious wind chimes and off-beat percussion throughout the album to create a harmonious flowing symmetry.

When he stumbled upon his unnamed musical compatriot, he began by asking a simple question: how do you speak through a stranger? However, with this beautiful album he offers a response to another question; why speak through a stranger?

Best Track: “Object Permanence” 

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