Seven years ago my mum passed away from terminal cancer. She spent the final week of her life in a hospice not far from where we lived. On the day of her departure, she came and sat on my bed and surprised me with a short sermon on the power of love, all the more remarkable considering the heavy dose of morphine she was now taking. This piece of music is a celebration of these words and of the love she gave. It also borrows lines from two of her poems, one that charts her separation from my dad some years before, and another that describes her experience of motherhood. Like the swell of the sea, it fills the traces of the love she gave with the sound of the love I carry within me.

Written, composed and produced by Xander Simmons, mixed by Zachary Scholes and mastered by Guy Hébert. 

Starring Gabrielle Audet, accompanied by Xander Simmons on piano and synths. 

This podcast is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. 

We’ve come to the end of this short series of stories in music and sound. If you enjoyed what you heard, I’d really appreciate a short review on Apple Podcasts, it will help bring more people here and hopefully allow me to create more content like this in the future. Until next time. 

This is an episode about fetishism and BDSM. But it’s just one take on it. You can have a fetish for just about anything and it can come from pretty much anywhere. Not necessarily from trauma, not necessarily from abuse. But when it does come from these darker places, can the safe integration of a fetish into your sex life be the answer to transcending your past wounds? The main character of this next story is on a journey to find out. This story won’t be for everyone, however, as there are scenes of sexual violence that some might find disturbing.

Written, composed and produced by Xander Simmons, mixed by Zachary Scholes and mastered by Guy Hébert. 

Starring Dina Renon as the passenger, Sebree Laurie as the driver and Xander Simmons as the narrator. 

Also featuring beautiful vocals from Kate Markle. 

This podcast is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Please do take the time to like and subscribe if you enjoyed what you heard, it goes a long way. 

Meiosis is a special type of cell division that allows egg and sperm cells to reduce their chromosomes by half so they can recombine in the creation of a new human being. This piece is a stream-of-consciousness snapshot from a woman’s life. Her relationship is in crisis: the best times confined to a mythical past that her partner consoles her with less and less convincingly. This is not a traditional story with a clear direction in mind; it’s a musical representation of what it’s like to be in someone else’s head, with thoughts that break apart and recombine with fears, hopes and dreams, searching for a way forward.

Written, composed and produced by Xander Simmons, mixed by Zach Scholes and mastered by Guy Hébert. 

Starring Gabrielle Audet as the unnamed woman and Oshen Aoun as her partner. 

Piano and saxophone performed by Xander Simmons. 

This podcast is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. Please do take the time to like and subscribe if you enjoyed what you heard, it goes a long way.

When I was recording the texts for this project, I took the opportunity to ask each of the actors to tell the story of a romantic first meeting from their personal lives. As I listened back to these stories, I realized that they were all essentially telling the same story which, like a piece of music, described a flow of energy with points of tension and points of release. So I’ve woven these stories together into a sonic tapestry to celebrate one of our most cherished experiences of being human.

Written composed and produced by Xander Simmons, mixed by Zachary Scholes and mastered by Guy Hébert. 

Stories were told by Alex Villalobos, Dina Renon, Francis Audet, Jess Abrams, Laurie Sévigny-Couture, Marissa Blair, Oshen Aoun, River Guard, Scott Withers and Sebree Laurie. 

This podcast is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Please do take the time to like and subscribe if you enjoyed what you heard, it goes a long way.

Polyamory meets Peter and the Wolf.

In this episode, we’re going to hear the different kinds of music people make when their lives join together in duos, trios and quartets. Did you ever listen to Peter and the Wolf when you were a kid? The one where all the characters were represented by an instrument or section of the orchestra? Just like that, each character in this story is brought to life by a particular group of instruments.

In music, polyphony is the art of balancing multiple lines so each can be heard independently, as well as working together with the other parts to form a coherent whole. In true polyphony, each voice is as important as the next; one does not just serve as an accompaniment for another: there is no hierarchy. Most music we listen to, however, tends towards the hierarchical model, with one instrument taking the lead while the others play a supporting role. Is this also true of many of our romantic relationships? 

And what happens to the dynamic if you add multiple partners into the mix? Beautiful music or cacophony? 

I don’t know about you, but an alarming number of people I come across have a vague belief in fate. We console ourselves that our misfortunes “happen for a reason,” and the goals we don’t attain were “never meant to be”. We look back on our lives and connect up the dots with wobbly lines of cause and effect in an effort to make sense of everything. And the myriad stories we consume confirm our illusions of narrative coherence. 

This story is different, however. It’s told from three different perspectives, that’s three different sets of values, desires and beliefs. Maybe you’ll want to decide on which one you think sounds the most truthful. Just don’t come looking to me for any of the answers.

Written, composed and produced by Xander Simmons. 

Mixed by Zach Scholes and mastered by Guy Hébert. 

This episode stars Dylan Burns as Michael, River Guard as Eli, Marissa Blair as Jen and Jess Abran as Em. 

It also features three talented singers: Kate Markle, Kerry Bursey and William Kraushaar. 

This podcast is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Please do take the time to like and subscribe if you enjoyed what you heard, it goes a long way. 

In the second part of this story, we enter the world of Ayla’s teacher, Paul. What does her seductive music sound like when played back in his mind?

Written, composed and produced by Xander Simmons.

Mixed by Zachary Scholes and mastered by Guy Hébert.

Starring Scott Withers as Paul with supporting voice acting from Jess Abran, Tina Mancini and Marissa Blair.

This podcast is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Do you ever wonder what it might sound like to be in someone else’s head? The first episode of Synchrony tries to grapple with this question from a musical perspective—what might the music of your mind sound like when it’s been seduced by another human being? Like a pesky tune that you just can’t get rid of, some people can leave you obsessing over them for days, weeks or even a whole lifetime. For Ayla, the star of this week’s episode, it goes a lot further than that.

Written, composed and produced by Xander Simmons. 

Mixing by Zachary Scholes and mastering by Guy Hébert. 

Starring Tina Mancini as Ayla with supporting voice acting from Jess Abran, Scott Withers and Marissa Blair. 

This podcast is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.