Canada’s Twilight Fields, the solo moniker of singer-songwriter Allister Thompson, has announced he will release his new album Songs from the Age of Ruin in early 2019. Ahead of this, he presents the first rather politically-charged single ‘Demagogue’, an expression of anti-populist sentiment.

Twilight Fields is truly a one-man show, with Thompson writing, playing, engineering, mixing, mastering, and designing everything himself from his home studio in North Bay, Ontario.

‘Songs from the Age of Ruin’ is a warning to the present and an apology to a possible future. While Twilight Fields is best known for his blend of ambient, dream-pop and progressive rock influences, this album pays grateful homage to such artists as Billy Bragg, New Model Army, Killing Joke, Midnight Oil, and The Levellers, as well as other artists influencing his music like Leon Rosselson, Bob Dylan, Robert Wyatt, and Phil Ochs.

Songs from the Age of Ruin is also an uneasy but compelling song cycle that begins with the bombing of Hiroshima and the absurdities of the atomic age and proceeds to tackle such difficult topics as homelessness and economic inequalities (‘Lazarus’), the evils of populism and political repression (‘Demagogue’, ‘Taken Away’), the toxicity of social media communication (‘Offended’), animal rights (‘The Animal’s Song’), and the utter stupidity of war (‘Soldier Song’). It concludes with a three-part “climate change suite” (‘Loss’, ‘Barren Planet’, ‘Why Did We Do It?’) that lays bare the tragic human consequences of catastrophic climate change.

The album also contains two cover versions, including of Bruce Cockburn’s immortal classic ‘Lovers in a Dangerous Time’ and Thin Lizzy’s ‘Holy War’.

“While growing up, certain passionate, activist musicians were very influential to me. So much so that I’d say they changed and shaped the person I would eventually become. There has never been a more crucial time for musicians to step up and add their voices to the chorus of reason necessary to take us back from the brink of total destruction,” says Allister Thompson.

“The year 2019 finds the human species standing at a crossroads, with only two possible directions: survival or extinction. Artists should contribute their strong and clear voices to dialogues that could lead to our survival and renewal.”

Allister Thompson has had a varied musical career, initially playing with Toronto-based glam-rock band Crash Kelly, together with Sean Kelly (now guitarist for Nelly Furtado), and opening for such notable artists as The Black Crowes and Alice Cooper. He later veered towards making traditional folk music, progressive rock and ambient music, recording several ambient rock albums as Twilight Fields and numerous albums of ambient/Krautrock/psychedelia under the monikers The Gateless Gate and Khan Tengri.

As of December 6th, ‘Demagogue’ will be available via online stores and streaming platforms, including Spotify and iTunes, as well as Bandcamp. The full album ‘Song From The Age of Ruin’ LP will be released on February 1, 2019.

TRACK LIST
1 Prologue: The Ruined City
2 Bomber
3 Lazarus
4 Demagogue
5 Offended
6 Taken Away
7 The Animal’s Song
8 Soldier Song
9 The Holy War
10 Maximum Darkness
11 Lovers in a Dangerous Time
12 Why Did We Do It? (The Last Ones)
13 Loss
14 Epilogue: Barren Planet

LYRICS
Here’s the new boss on the scene
Always raging, lying and mean
He knows five wrongs erase one right
Just give the masses someone to fight

Someone to hate, someone to hurt
Someone who’s different, sound the alert
Pick those traitors out of the crowd
Make an example, make us all proud

The demagogue is coming

He’ll give you riches at no expense
He’ll cut your taxes and build a fence
To keep out foreigners who’d take what’s yours
Your plastic and metal, all you adore

He’ll usher in the bright white new age
He’ll fight progress and turn back the page
To a past that never existed
A vision of glory so evil and twisted

The demagogue is coming

Take to the streets before it’s too late
You can’t beat him with status updates
His followers ride his wave of hate
This fight is eternal it never will abate

The demagogue is coming

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