By Will Yannacoulias and Aidan Grimwood
Prince Albert Lo-Fi producer Patrick Moon Bird has dazzled again with his second release of 2021, the double-EP titled Days and Nights. An ambitious concept album, the ten tracks are a musical journal of five days and five nights Bird voluntarily spent in the psychiatric ward in April. First and foremost a project to help look after his health, Bird also hopes the songs and the story behind them can raise awareness of mental health issues and lift some of the stigma associated with the subject.
Bird shared that the isolation experience coupled with other, older struggles took a toll this past spring. “I was having heavily intrusive thoughts” he remembered. “I have bi-polar, and with the depression it gets really, really heavy some days. It was weighing on me. My wife suggested it would be best if I got some help. I was struggling with addictions at that time as well.”
Together Bird and his partner decided that the safety, support and quiet peace of the ward would be beneficial. The creative outlet of producing music is an important part of Bird’s personal mental health care. The understanding hospital staff were supportive of his desire to bring a couple instruments and an iPad for his stay. The songs are an incredible chronicle of an artist’s daily emotional state, opening on a dark note, moving through lighter themes as weight lifts from his shoulders, then closing with Bird’s soulful, expressive vocals and guitar work on the last day. “I was in for five days” he shared. “Each track was a day inside the ward. Day one has a dreary, sad, sleepy ambience to it. Getting into days two, three, four you start to find more happy tones. Day five I started thinking about the long view of my mental health, the struggle from here going forward. There was another guy there who also played guitar, he was playing classic old blues in his room like BB King, beautiful expressive stuff. ‘Day V’ was in part inspired by him, it’s really guitar driven.”
The second set of songs, Nights, are the five projects Bird worked on in the evenings. One would expect that these would be dark, lonely, sad tracks but in contrast, Bird seems to have had a lot of fun during his nights in the hospital. The bouncy, irreverent tracks are the perfect snapshot of an artist clearing his mind of worry and weight, smiling and decompressing. Bird elaborated that “with Nights I wanted to express and capture having more time to really reflect on myself in the ward, be myself and not focus on everything that was happening. That led to me producing music that was a little more dance-y, EDM kinda stuff. EDM has night energy.”
At the end of five days the support received, resources accessed and time immersed in music had Bird feeling ready to leave. “After five days I felt optimistic, felt ready to go home” he recalled. “I felt that room could be used for someone who needed the help, make sure I’m not using resources for things I could do at home.”
Bird spoke glowingly of the resources available and encouraged everyone to be proactive about their mental health. “Seek therapy, reach out to a psychiatrist” he encouraged. “Do all the research you can, approach it informed. Therapy is an important part of mental health. The beginning of COVID, that isolation led to me abusing drugs again, I’ve since gotten in touch with a drug counselor and from here I’m planning to stay sober. There’s plenty of resources available in Saskatchewan for crisis, for addictions. I’m very aware and very transparent on my mental health, I don’t think it should be at all stigmatized”
Both Days and Nights are available on Youtube and all major streaming services
Photo courtesy of Contingent Colours Photography
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