[Photo courtesy of Jake Holmes]

By Kwase Lane, Features Editor

Canadian art-rock band Blessed released their new EP, iii. The project’s four tracks are each mixed by different people to infuse the EP with an air of collaboration and community. Listen to iii below.

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“For us, working with a community is probably the best aspect of creating art outside of the art itself,” vocalist Drew Riekman said.

The group, composed of Riekman, Reuben Houweling, Jake Holmes and Mitchell Trainor, have also released the focus track, “Sign”. Blessed describes the song as one that “distills the process of trying to ground yourself after the initial rush of anxiety pangs”. 

The cover art for iii, designed by Nathan Levasseur, also incorporates themes of anxiety, depicting a wall of ill-stacked blocks waiting to topple over. Riekman cites collaboration as a way to combat these feelings, saying it gives him a “feeling of the world getting smaller.”

Blessed has only released one full-length record to date: their debut album, Salt.