Hamilton, ON Indie Folk Act Dark Mean Return With Inspired Single “Working Hard”

 

The musical project of Dark Mean refuses to slip away for good. The collective has been quietly chipping away in their Hamilton, Ontario studio. Once again they have focused their spontaneous fits of inspiration, typically captured on basic phone apps and wired between Ottawa and Hamilton, into something concrete.

Years of extended hiatuses are nothing new to the trio of Billy Holmes, Sandy Johnston and Mark Dean. That’s how they operate. Incessant file sharing and e-mails, late night Zoom calls, relentless attention to detail, unabashed honesty, and the odd show amidst chaotic life schedules, are just a few ways the band has not only hung together, but continues to release new music.

Dealing with the hurdles of such a spread out band and the march of time, they had this to speak about on their return to music as Dark Mean: In terms of what inspired the song, or the lyrics… umm probably desperation. Feeling so desperate for something to happen while full-well knowing time is not on your side and there is nothing you can do but wait. So the opening of the track begins with this sort of cathartic release “Working hard, killing time. I woke up wrong, just to feel right”.  Doing nothing is often harder than doing something, right?