ON HOLD by Jake Nicoll

In later October 2024, Jake and his partner Pamela Mackenzie (featured on backup vocals) found themselves waiting for the birth of their first son. With no studio bookings and little to do but wait, Jake found himself inspired to write songs about the experience. Jake set out recording these tracks with the hope of capturing the urgency and excitement of that unique period of time -settled on the precipice of one of life’s great event-horizons.

The first track of the EP, Waiting Room, while cheekily referencing and reframing Fugazi’s song of the same title, gets right to the point, describing a scene of a hospital waiting-room. The retro 80’s gated drums and off-kilter synths suggest a feeling of unease, while the glitched-out phone operator reminds you that “your life is important to us.”

The second track Galloping Horses locates the listener in a more intimate setting, at home, anxious to hear the beating of the baby’s heart through the distorted speaker of a fetal doppler heart-rate monitor. The song is built around a sample of the thumping baby-to-be’s heart beat, keeping the song driving forward at a high BPM. Despite the intimate subject matter, this is a catchy synth-pop jam, like the synthy love-child of Kraftwerk and Men Without Hats.

From there, the rest of the 25 minute EP maintains its course. Pumpkin Baby speculates on a Halloween arrival, contemplating birth during the time of honouring the dead. Sabre-Toothed Tiger brings the listener into a new-aged world that simultaneously feels ancient and futuristic. Jake sings of a tiger who lurks in the forgotten forests of our minds, the primordial threat that shaped our human instincts, ignored but ever-present. The final track, Telephony, is an instrumental electronic collage that brings the EP back full-circle to where it began, waiting for that existential call to be received, to hear a new human voice on the other side of the line….

Jake Nicoll is a musician currently living in windy old St. John's Newfoundland. Jake plays drums in a number of bands in town and writes songs on piano, guitar, synthesizer and anything else that's around.