Ian North is lucky to be alive and celebrates the two-year anniversary of coming back from the brink of death. Two years ago, in the fall of 2022, Ian suffered a double-pulmonary embolism while living deep in the forests of Muskoka, Ontario. A string of fortunate events led North to the Bracebridge hospital in time before he collapsed. North flatlined three times through two hours of emergency resuscitation, then was airlifted from Bracebridge Hospital to Orillia. At age 70, with the support of his wife Jennifer, he had to relocate to the big city, learn how to walk, sing and play guitar again. Music helped him through a lengthy rehabilitation period and sparked a new lease on life and renewed interest in recording and releasing music again. During his time in a coma, his wife Jennifer recalls “One of the things I missed most was hearing Ian’s voice. It made me realize how we can take seemingly small things for granted. I dug into his old albums and would listen to them constantly while waiting to see if Ian would make it. During that time, I made the promise that if he did make it, we were going to make sure that his unrecorded songs would eventually see the light of day.”
Relocating to Toronto for rehabilitation was a major upheaval for the songwriter and artist duo. They had to pivot in all areas of their life and adjust to a new normal. During that time, they struck up a conversation with musician and producer Chris Gartner and the new album “Everything is Incomplete” slowly became a reality. In those early days, North had trouble singing and getting his guitar playing strength back. The life-support tubing in his throat did a number on his vocal cords, but he eventually got his voice and falsetto back. Between recording sessions, North was receiving multiple therapies, a wide range of services that would not be accessible in the remote forest village where they had been living. Between recording sessions, he progressed through physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, chiropractic treatments to get his pain under control and to get the nerves in his legs working again so that he could walk without a “foot drop”, caused by lying in bed in the ICU for so long. Eventually, once he was rehabilitated and the album was near completion, North was clear to leave Toronto at the request of his wife so they could be closer to Muskoka. In January, the pair moved to Orillia, the place where North eventually came back to life.
Though it had been almost two decades since Ian was in the studio, he never stopped playing and making music in private. Releasing the new album broke the dry spell and once again, Jennifer got involved as North’s business and marketing partner. His new album “Everything is Incomplete” marked the beginning of a new “Fallen-Angel Folk-Rock” era. His new self-proclaimed brand and genre that pays respect to many of the characters that North writes about within the context of myth making , cultural meaning and narrative style in songwriting and storytelling. As North says, “we all have a dual nature, striving for perfection but falling short.” The new album was born on August 4th in Orillia and for the first time, Ian North celebrated his first vinyl recording with a release party in Toronto in September.
During that two-year rehabilitation/recording period, the song “Beautiful City” took on new meaning. Taking stock of his music career, the near-death experience and relocation to a city where he had lived for many years provided a new perspective.
Ian North is often called a “songwriter’s songwriter” for juxtaposing familiar and off-beat references from music history, literature and pop culture. Many of his stories and images come from real life journeys and some from fictional ones. His lyrics are smart and his message is sharp and edgy at times, covering a wide range of topics, from lost love to politics to existential theory. With a scathing take on the world, tempered by occasional musings on life in utopia, Ian North offers unique perspectives and poetic insights on subjects surrounding the human condition. At the same time, he provides a measured glimpse into the nature of the man behind the poetry.
