After a twelve-year hiatus from recording, Calgary-based musician Lorrie Matheson has returned with a powerful new album titled Mission to Inglewood. This collection marks his first full-length release since 2013's Night Time is For Sleepers, drawing from a deep vault of unreleased material that has been thoughtfully recontextualized for modern listeners.
From Greyhound Inspiration to Modern Reflection
The album's opening track, Something or Someone, holds a special place in Matheson's career. He originally wrote the song in 1989 while traveling on a Greyhound bus, having decided to move from Calgary to Vernon, B.C. on a whim. At barely twenty years old, the song captured themes of escape that resonated with his youthful restlessness.
Now, nearly four decades later, Matheson finds new meaning in these old compositions. I realized while making this record that a huge theme in my life has been running away from things, Matheson said with a laugh during an interview from his Calgary studio. Thirty-five years later, there's no way it can mean the same thing that it did when I was 20. But I feel like the sentiment of the song recontextualized for 2025 really resonates with me.
Rediscovering Archives and Shifting Contexts
Surprisingly for those familiar with his impact on Calgary's music scene, Matheson hasn't written a complete song since his last album. Instead of creating new material, he curated nine tracks pulled from the vault for Mission to Inglewood. The album represents a journey through his back catalog, with songs that have taken on new significance over time.
A lot of the songs aren't even about the thing that they were originally about anymore, because I don't remember what they were originally about, Matheson admits. But the lyrics take on a different context in your current state of mind. I feel like the record is about my life now, and I feel it's about the world I live in right now.
From Political Commentary to Timeless Themes
One standout track, Anybody Got Some Relief?, demonstrates how these songs have evolved. Matheson originally wrote the moody rocker in the style of Elvis Costello about former premier Ralph Klein following his final election victory in the early 2000s. With Klein having passed away in 2013, the song has found new relevance.
It's transferable, Matheson notes. The people who are around now I find are way worse than Klein ever was. This ability for his older material to speak to contemporary issues has been a revelation during the album's creation.
The gap in Matheson's recording career wasn't due to dwindling inspiration but rather increasing demands on his time. He has become a highly sought-after producer, working behind the scenes with artists including Rae Spoon, Summer Bruises, Self-Cut Bangs, Ghostkeeper, Art Bergmann and Reuben and the Dark. Despite his success in production, his return to releasing personal work reaffirms his enduring presence in Canadian music.
