By Will Yannacoulias
Saskatoon’s Ritual Rabbits have been delivering their brand of jingle-jangle alternative rock with a steady stream of releases since their formation in 2014. The band’s impressive 2018 LP Somehow Never Again will be followed with a five song effort, Middle Of Somewhere, scheduled for release in March 2021. The first single from the new EP, “Another Roll In The Hay”, was released January 31, 2020. The second single, “It Was You”, was released today on all streaming services. Singer/guitarist Clint Walper spoke with NSMZ on the eve of the single’s release about the evolving significance the song holds for him and hopefully for his audience.
“It Was You has lived two lives. In its first, it was about a girl. A girl I almost married. That girl is no longer with us (she’s not dead, just not with me anymore!), but she left a significant imprint on my life.
But one of the best things about art and time is the shifts in perspective and meaning they can bring. As I revisited the song in planning its overdue release, I saw it differently. This pandemic has given me oodles of time to reflect. That reflection spurred on several small changes that have made their way into my daily life, in a good way. They weren’t without mental resistance, but that’s how change goes and it feels good to knock your own mind to the mat.
So ‘It Was You’ is about progress. It’s about looking ahead, about finding a footing after something unsteady, about fashioning a new path. Who knows what happens next, but there’s a hint of hope in the air. The chorus goes "It was you, and now you're coming back to me." What was once about this girl, is now me coming back to me.
It’s been cool to have this song be rejuvenated in that sense, and hopefully people find a slice of themselves in it somewhere. If not, it’s still got a pretty melody, a big ol’ juicy chorus, some pedal steel and a whistle or two. What more could ya ask for?”
photo credit Colour Contingent Photography