Folk duo Michael Antelope unveils their debut album, Calls Out The Window.
Michael Antelope (Doug McBrien and Lenny McGowan), a folk duo from Hamilton, debuts their album Calls Out The Window. The album has 10 songs, full of reflective collections of songs shaped by youth, friendship, and the passing intensity of early creative life.
Therefore, the songs are harmony-driven, inspired by the natural world surrounding their hometown. The record captures years of writing; years of late night sessions, early sketches, and formative live performances across Ontario.
The album is a document of looking back. At its core, it reflects a time when music was created instinctively and collaboratively in the margins of daily life. The duo share:
It’s a reflection of a period in time when we were younger and going through all the things you experience in your teen years and early 20s. There’s a general sense of joy that comes through when we play together, even when the themes are more melancholic.
The songs are recorded across Gold Standard Recorders with Aaron Goldstein and the Dwayne Gretzky Studios with Ian Docherty. Additionally, the album is also captured over three days using a live-off-the-floor approach.
The sessions prioritized performance chemistry over isolation as well, with Doug and Lenny positioned across from each other to preserve the natural communication that defines their playing.
The album’s focus track is “The Falconer,” which expands on the duo’s storytelling lens into metaphor and character study. It was inspired by Lenny’s time working at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage, where a falcon named Tony Hawk used to deter geese.
Furthermore, the song explores the fragile balance between control and release. The figure of the falconer symbolizes someone tasked with guiding something inherently unpredictable. Lenny says:
Being a falconer is a very difficult profession. One day, they can decide to fly away and not come back. You always have to be ready to lose them without any sign.
“The Falconer” evolves across perspectives, from third person to first, to mirror the instability of the relationship at its center. Because of this, sparse instrumentation that results in giving each element more narrative weight is used. Even the briefest musical appearance acts as a character within the story.
Michael Antelope is a Canadian folk harmony duo consisting of singers and guitarists Doug McBrien and Lenny McGowan, who met while playing together in local Ontario bands. The two kept sharing new music and ideas until they started writing their own. They first played live together under the name Michael Antelope in 2023.
Michael Antelope combines thoughtful storytelling and beautiful melodies rooted in traditional folk styles. Doug McBrien’s intricate flat picking and close vocal harmonies layered on top of Lenny’s steady rhythmic guitar and catchy melodic lines create a gentle yet powerful performance that makes you want to either cuddle up or dance. Their music explores themes of longing, loss, self discovery, queer love, family, gender and a great love for the natural world.
Michael Antelope was born out of a need for storytelling. Our goal as musicians is to create something that is beautiful and entertaining but also something that speaks to people and feels personal and honest. Especially in hard times music is a way of communicating complex emotions and themes that are often very difficult to talk about. More than anything it is important to us that we are making music that is honest.
“Calls Out The Window” is both an intimate and expansive debut. It’s a collection of songs that look backward with clarity while quietly pointing forward.
Calls Out The Window is out now in all streaming platforms.
Press Release
