Noah Derksen undeniably makes prairie music — deeply personal, lyric-heavy folk songs infused with a great deal of atmosphere and space. It's a form of music uniquely tied to its environment; it fits the feeling of standing in the great open plains and feeling utterly insignificant.
For Derksen, it's the realization of that insignificance that makes every human moment all the more precious. "I look out, and what do I see?/ Oh, what a world and what it means to be free," sings Derksen on "You Got a Hold on Me," the first track on his 2023 album Sanctity of Silence.
Sanctity of Silence came to the world at the start of March, and after giving the public time to digest the windswept susurrance of his intimate folk music, he hosted the album's release party on a chilly Friday night at Winnipeg's West End Cultural Centre.
Joined by his backing band the Overdrafts, Derksen waltzed on stage under a blanket of darkness. Lit by nothing but Edison bulbs around the perimeter of the stage, the group members plugged in their respective instruments and queued up some background ambiance. Derksen tuned his guitar in the darkness, fiddled with his pedals for what seemed like an extended period of time, and eventually took to the microphone. With the audience quiet with bated breath, he said: "I'll be right back… it seems my guitar pedal is broken, so hang in there with me." A supportive crowd cheered, and what initially felt like a thick air drifting through the venue evaporated immediately.
"I had a dream of being a rockstar where we would walk on with the lights off, and we wouldn't say anything, play the first song, and it would be awesome," said Derksen after getting new gear. "I guess not."
With that initial hiccup out of the way, the band launched into Sanctity of Silence's opener, "You Got a Hold on Me." The mid-tempo love song set the mood for an evening of easily enjoyable folk songs. A fairly diverse crowd of young and old alike filled the tables and chairs that populated the sitting-room venue, giving the whole show a small-town coffee house warmth. Now lit in bright lights, Derksen's confidence on stage was undeniable, his sultry voice chewing on every word and syllable of the opening song.
As the set progressed and Derksen continued to open up to the crowd, it became clear that the songs on Sanctity of Silence are as tied to Winnipeg's West End neighborhood — where he lived as he wrote and recorded all the songs on the album — as they are to any relationship he's singing about. It felt rather fitting that the venue, once a ramshackle old church, hosted the album's release show.
Leading sing-a-longs, giving shout-outs to friends and neighbours, and joking about a particularly offbeat Winnipeg experience called "Booty Shake Mondays" at a local nightclub all reinforced Derksen's idea of community, becoming a welcome motif of the night.
Songs like "Heaven on a Hellbound Train" and "Say It Ain't So" were fun explorations into folk-rock territory and teetered into gospel with the strong presence of organ tones on the keyboard. Dressed in all-black, the Overdrafts were as loose and carefree on stage as Derksen. Most of the songs stuck to the recorded versions, and while a touch of divergence would have been welcomed, it also proved that the strength of the songs doesn't lie in any on-stage technical wizardry.
The songs on Sanctity of Silence find Derksen flipping through love in the Rolodex of his mind. Regardless of when these songs were written, Derksen managed to tap back into that vulnerability with effortless ease during the set. He sang the disgruntled "Fuck You and Fuck Your Friends Too" with the same passion and desire as the endearing "One Stab at the Good Life." Though his cadence and tone may differ in each respective track, his sincerity remains.
Derksen finally owning his culpability felt exceptionally gratifying when he sang "Darling, Don't Tell Me What You Think of the Change" solo on stage after dismissing the band. This could be because most songs we heard in the evening fit as either cute love songs or bitter break-up tunes, but more likely because of how Derksen used the time alone on stage to show off his true strength as a songwriter. "Darling, Don't Tell Me What You Think of the Change" is a man finally accepting the weight of his actions and decisions. It's him finally looking beyond his own perspective. It's growth. It's probably one of the best songs on the album, so it was a pleasure to see it get its time in the spotlight.
With a crowd suspended on every word, Derksen sang, "I take out your number from my little black book / Wondering if I called you would you still pick up / Oh fuck, Darling, don't tell me what you think of the change / How happy you are to not say my name / How your sky has opened up and now your sun starts to shine."
After the final encore song, "Coffee Grew Cold," many audience members stood up, hugged their loved ones tightly, and with relationships brought just a touch closer with a little help from Derksen, walked arm-in-arm into the Winnipeg night.
For Derksen, it's the realization of that insignificance that makes every human moment all the more precious. "I look out, and what do I see?/ Oh, what a world and what it means to be free," sings Derksen on "You Got a Hold on Me," the first track on his 2023 album Sanctity of Silence.
Sanctity of Silence came to the world at the start of March, and after giving the public time to digest the windswept susurrance of his intimate folk music, he hosted the album's release party on a chilly Friday night at Winnipeg's West End Cultural Centre.
Joined by his backing band the Overdrafts, Derksen waltzed on stage under a blanket of darkness. Lit by nothing but Edison bulbs around the perimeter of the stage, the group members plugged in their respective instruments and queued up some background ambiance. Derksen tuned his guitar in the darkness, fiddled with his pedals for what seemed like an extended period of time, and eventually took to the microphone. With the audience quiet with bated breath, he said: "I'll be right back… it seems my guitar pedal is broken, so hang in there with me." A supportive crowd cheered, and what initially felt like a thick air drifting through the venue evaporated immediately.
"I had a dream of being a rockstar where we would walk on with the lights off, and we wouldn't say anything, play the first song, and it would be awesome," said Derksen after getting new gear. "I guess not."
With that initial hiccup out of the way, the band launched into Sanctity of Silence's opener, "You Got a Hold on Me." The mid-tempo love song set the mood for an evening of easily enjoyable folk songs. A fairly diverse crowd of young and old alike filled the tables and chairs that populated the sitting-room venue, giving the whole show a small-town coffee house warmth. Now lit in bright lights, Derksen's confidence on stage was undeniable, his sultry voice chewing on every word and syllable of the opening song.
As the set progressed and Derksen continued to open up to the crowd, it became clear that the songs on Sanctity of Silence are as tied to Winnipeg's West End neighborhood — where he lived as he wrote and recorded all the songs on the album — as they are to any relationship he's singing about. It felt rather fitting that the venue, once a ramshackle old church, hosted the album's release show.
Leading sing-a-longs, giving shout-outs to friends and neighbours, and joking about a particularly offbeat Winnipeg experience called "Booty Shake Mondays" at a local nightclub all reinforced Derksen's idea of community, becoming a welcome motif of the night.
Songs like "Heaven on a Hellbound Train" and "Say It Ain't So" were fun explorations into folk-rock territory and teetered into gospel with the strong presence of organ tones on the keyboard. Dressed in all-black, the Overdrafts were as loose and carefree on stage as Derksen. Most of the songs stuck to the recorded versions, and while a touch of divergence would have been welcomed, it also proved that the strength of the songs doesn't lie in any on-stage technical wizardry.
The songs on Sanctity of Silence find Derksen flipping through love in the Rolodex of his mind. Regardless of when these songs were written, Derksen managed to tap back into that vulnerability with effortless ease during the set. He sang the disgruntled "Fuck You and Fuck Your Friends Too" with the same passion and desire as the endearing "One Stab at the Good Life." Though his cadence and tone may differ in each respective track, his sincerity remains.
Derksen finally owning his culpability felt exceptionally gratifying when he sang "Darling, Don't Tell Me What You Think of the Change" solo on stage after dismissing the band. This could be because most songs we heard in the evening fit as either cute love songs or bitter break-up tunes, but more likely because of how Derksen used the time alone on stage to show off his true strength as a songwriter. "Darling, Don't Tell Me What You Think of the Change" is a man finally accepting the weight of his actions and decisions. It's him finally looking beyond his own perspective. It's growth. It's probably one of the best songs on the album, so it was a pleasure to see it get its time in the spotlight.
With a crowd suspended on every word, Derksen sang, "I take out your number from my little black book / Wondering if I called you would you still pick up / Oh fuck, Darling, don't tell me what you think of the change / How happy you are to not say my name / How your sky has opened up and now your sun starts to shine."
After the final encore song, "Coffee Grew Cold," many audience members stood up, hugged their loved ones tightly, and with relationships brought just a touch closer with a little help from Derksen, walked arm-in-arm into the Winnipeg night.