Northern Exposure (CMF edition): Postdata, 'Tobias Grey' -- Free MP3

Canadian Music Week / Canadian Music Fest features 700 showcasing bands at over 45 live music venues during five nights of performances in Toronto. Our exclusive Northern Exposure column highlights some great tracks by homegrown artists playing Canadian Music Week's CMF.

Fans of Canadian music will know Paul Murphy as the frontman of Halifax band Wintersleep, who continue to garner a wider fanbase with each melodic, atmospheric release. But Murphy has also been gaining attention of late for his solo sideproject Postdata, a decidedly quieter and more intimate affair.

Inspired by dreams he had after his grandparents passed away two years ago, Murphy teamed up with his brother Michael to conceive the Postdata album as a gift for their mother. Fueled by scotch, the pair recorded some rough ideas into the mic of a laptop during a visit to their parents' place in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, before regrouping eight months later in Halifax to lay the songs down properly.

The tunes on their self-titled debut still retain the informal, lo-fi quality of a demo, but with a bare-bones, stripped-down approach that suits the sombre, reflective mood of the melodies and the lyrics.

'Tobias Grey' epitomizes the album's quiet, personal nature -- the track is built around not much more than Murphy's high, tender voice that never rises above a whisper (except during a brief interlude of overlapped harmonies on the bridge), set atop a gentle finger-picked acoustic guitar melody.

The hushed tone allows the focus to remain on the lyrics, which have an almost literary bent – listening to the song unfold, it's as if Murphy is telling a particularly compelling short story. We're left wondering exactly who the mysterious titular character is, particularly when Murphy tells us, in the very last line: "At a very young age, the paramedics took [his mother] away."

At just over two minutes long, 'Tobias Grey' might be a very brief glimpse into Postdata's sound, but it's also an intriguing enough taste to make one want to hear far more.

CMF set: Postdata plays March 13 at the Rivoli, 8 p.m.