Joseph Shabason

Shabason is one of three members of DIANA, a Toronto synth-pop band.[4] It formed after another project fell through involving Shabason and Kieran Adams, who met during university.[9]

Its first album, Perpetual Surrender (2013)[10] was longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. It was followed by Familiar Touch (2016).[4]

The first Destroyer album to feature Shabason was Kaputt (2010), which was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. Having toured with Destroyer in an opening band, Shabason contacted Destroyer front-man Dan Bejar in 2010 while in Vancouver. This led to Shabason improvising a few hours on the saxophone for the album. His involvement "could not have been more casual", according to Shabason.[7]

Shabason went on to play on Poison Season (2015) and ken (2017), Destroyer's next two albums after Kaputt.[1][11]

He has toured as a member of Destroyer.[3]

Shabason played an important role in Lost in the Dream (2014) by The War on Drugs.[2]

As a session musician, Shabason has recorded for many singers and bands — including Born Ruffians, Hannah Georgas, Jill Barber, Matt Barber, Dragonette, The Operators, Allie X, Peter Elkas, The Fembots and Fucked Up.[1][3]

In 2019, he released an experimental ambient album titled Muldrew with Ben Gunning.[12]

Around 2008, Shabason and a friend started a rock band, Everything All the Time. He played keyboard and sang backup vocals.[6]

Another band he played in was Bass Groove.[6]

He collaborated with Nicholas Krgovich and Chris Harris on the 2020 album Philadelphia,[13] which was a longlisted nominee for the 2021 Polaris Music Prize.[14] They followed up in 2021 with the instrumental album Florence.[15]

Shabason composed the musical score of the 2021 dark comedy film Stanleyville.[16]

In 2022 Shabason and Andre Ethier released the collaborative album Fresh Pepper.[17] At Scaramouche, Shabason's second collaboration with Krgovich, was released in October 2022.[18]

Aytche (2017)—pronounced like the letter "H"—was his first solo album.[19] It was inspired by composers such as Jon Hassel and Gigi Masin.[3]

After the album was finished, Shabason realized that the album reflected the impact that Parkinson's was having in his personal life—his father-in-law was suffering from it and his mother was recently diagnosed.[3]

Only "Westmeath" has vocals. The song features clips from an archival interview from a son of a Holocaust survivor.[3] (Shabason's grandparent were survivors.)[2] A music video of "Westmeath" was directed by Maxwell McCabe-Lokos.[20]

Though Shabason voiced some dissatisfaction with the album, suggesting there was "a lack of vision",[3] it received positive reviews. On Metacritic, the album rated 82 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim".[21]

The album was funded from a grant by the Ontario Arts Council.[1]

Anne (2018), Shabason's second album, is named after his mother. Focusing on his mother's Parkinson's illness, the album includes audio clips from interviews with his mother.[3]

Shabason was determined that the album not be overly sentimental or exploitative; in his own words, "the challenge becomes how do you take that [interview] and weave it into the fabric of the composition and extract the essence of it without beating people over the head with it."[22] His mother was pleased with the result, calling it a "beautiful album".[22]

Critical reception was positive. On Metacritic, the album is rated 77 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[23] Music critic Miles Bowe of Pitchfork called it "gorgeous and empathetic ambient music".[2]

Anne, EP has five songs and was released May 10, 2019.[24] The record label describes it as an "afterword" to Anne.[25] Its song "I Don't Want to Be Your Love"—previously a bonus track for Anne—features vocals by Destroyer's Dan Bejar.[2]

Shabason's third album was released April 30, 2021.[26]