Late Autumn - Innisfil Beach

I remember that day vividly. I was sitting on a rock overlooking Lake Simcoe when Mary, my artist confidant, stopped for a chat. She was light-hearted and left me to my youthful sadness. I’d spent the summer in our run-down family cottage writing songs and she was my sounding board. The last leaves were falling, the waves were high, and a swallow crashed into the rocks and died. The night was approaching and I could feel winter was near. I left a part of myself back there that day. It was a time of change, a realization that life would never be the same.

Fredrick Brooks - Guitars, Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Harmonica Chris Pezzarello - Drums

Produced by Fredrick Brooks Written by Fredrick Brooks Photo by Caroline Brooks

Winter’s On The Rise

Laugh, laugh old Mary The fighter swallow’s taken his life I’ve been to the waterfront And winter’s on the rise

The wind has whipped the white crowns Pebbles argue on the shore And the sky looks sad in the pale moonlight Blow on winter wind - I hear your call

The leaves like passengers Nod their heads in slow release And I’m the poet with no words to stand This night will hold no peace

So laugh, laugh old Mary The fighter swallow’s taken his life I’ve been to the waterfront And winter’s on the rise

©Fredrick Brooks

Relationships in fiction can be as powerful and tragic as those in real life— take Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky, whose sad tale of mistrust and rejection still resonates with readers today. The pair are the inspiration for the heartbreak in Fossil and Bone. 
We did a video release of Fossil and Bone in 2018 under Eastbourne Records. We decided to re-release with Chris Pezzarello’s drums and updated sound with strings and harmonies. Fredrick Brooks - Acoustic/Bass Guitars, Piano Joy Brooks - Vocals Jeff Brackett - Electric Guitar Chris Pezzarello - Drums

Produced by Fredrick Brooks Written by Fredrick Brooks Cover Art by Joy Brooks

Nestled in a meadow at the foot of the Laurentian Mountains in rural Quebec, stands an old farmhouse. On our holidays we would pass this empty home with its Nine Empty Rooms and wonder: who lived there? Did they love or did they fear? Did they play or did they struggle? Were their dreams won or lost? Do their spirits still reside here? This song is about belief and non-belief, and the silent histories of the past.

There are so many ways to stop fake news. Consider the source and the author, and build critical-thinking skills. With our song, Leave This Blue, we’re just asking for all of us to do due diligence and move together, away from this social disease. Let our personal biases go, and embrace each other. The lyrics are straightforward, “Those hearts that lie, we’ll watch them fade away.

My Little Boat is a true story of how a refugee named Assef left his home due to war and prejudice. Assef’s story traces a journey over land and sea, his rejection of citizenship everywhere he turned, and finally, his sad journey back to his homeland, starving, a broken man.

Fredrick Brooks Writer, Guitars, Bass and Lead Vocal Chris Pezzarello - Drums, Doumbek and Percussion Joy Brooks - Backup Vocals Recorded, Mixed, Mastered by Fredrick Brooks and Chris Pezzarello at Brookfield North Studio. Cover art by Ruth Read

My Little Boat

I am on my way home Through the dark, hope marks my road Years of waiting Over sea and stone I’ve carried this load

Chorus My little boat sailed a sea of dreams Into shadow where my heart would grieve

I am barely breathing For deep in my heart lies a story untold It whispers memories As I walk in silence on my own

Chorus

Still you deny me Like I’m skin and bone left to roam Why this sorrow Where is the light without home

Chorus © Fredrick Brooks