respire

In the bitter early months of 2013, Darren Scarfo and Egin Kongoli began writing songs in the frigid basement of Skramden Yards, the west Toronto home and DIY venue run by Scarfo and frequent band-mate Rohan Lilauwala. After Lilauwala insisted on being involved in the project, bassist Ben Oliver, drummer Travis Dupuis, and trumpet player Emmett O’Reilly were brought into the fray to form Respire. Six members emerged from their respective backgrounds playing in various Toronto-area bands (Foxmoulder, Stuck Out Here, Homage, Tell-Tell Hearts, Pkew Pkew Pkew (Gunshots)) to create something free of the constraints felt by the boundaries of their previous projects.


After two years of careful writing, the band spent nine months with producer Paul Mack meticulously recording their debut LP, Gravity and Grace.

The result: a sprawling memoir of genre-defying soundscapes, reverb-washed tremolo harmonies, cascading arpeggios, dreamlike textures and walls of distorted guitars roaring over frantic rhythms, punctuated by tormented vocals and a near-orchestral array of instruments and contributors. Themes of loss, addiction, heartbreak, and existential anguish paint a bleak picture, but somewhere over the horizon rests a glimmering sense of hope, resolve and forgiveness.


Gravity and Grace will be released on vinyl in Summer 2016 by Zegema Beach Records (Canada), Ozona Records (US) and Dingleberry Records (Germany).