Punching above his weight

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This article was published 30/10/2021 (1448 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Michael Falk has gone to the boxing ring to duke it out with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Winnipeg singer-songwriter and local arts organizer uses a squared circle as the setting for three new videos to promote his musical concept, Touching, and its second album, littleworlds, which came out Friday.

The album focuses on relationships, family and conflict, and for Falk, the boxing ring was necessary to complete his vision for the videos.

“There’s a lyric in the song called Tony Called the Muscle, which is, ‘I’ll never fight you in the middle of the ring,’ “ he says. “That song is about a particular conflict in my life but it’s also a narrative or metaphor for broader conflicts in our lives.”

Falk and his small crew arranged for a boxing ring to be set up on the Burton Cummings Theatre stage, which — along with sweaty pugilists, smoky effects and black-and-white video — creates the look and feel of old-time prize fights.

“You know, that was way easier than I expected. Boxing Manitoba has a ring for their events, so we rented it from them,” Falk says. “They brought it to the Burt and we set it up in a few hours. That part went remarkably smooth.

“Being able to do it at the Burt gave us the ability to create a little world that was just a little bit abnormal.”

Tyler Funk, who was director of photography for videos that were a key part of Touching’s 2020 debut album, Isolation Blues, reprised his role for the four-day shoot.

While Falk is well-versed in writing, performing and recording songs, he admits he knew little about the precise structure of making film, such as creating shot lists and production plans, even for a three-minute pop song. That meant he had to stay on his toes, like a fighter trying to avoid being knocked out by a punch he doesn’t expect.

“These are the first videos that I’ve directed, so I’ve taken that on and tried to figure that out,” he says. “Working with actors was new and trying to figure out how to convey stories with them was a new challenge and it worked out well.”

Falk brought Touching to life in May 2020, during the early weeks of the pandemic, by releasing a song and video every week for 10 straight Wednesdays. The videos, which starred Winnipeg actress Ali Tataryn, were shot around the city and in the nearby countryside. He put the songs together and released Isolation Blues.

The songs, including the ones for the new album, came from hours of demo tapes he had recorded as early as 2015 and stowed away. He had put his musical career on hold at the time and focused on working with city arts organizations, including serving as Jazz Winnipeg’s artistic director.

Falk was part of a local organization in 2019 that was going to debut the Current Festival in 2020, but when the pandemic forced its cancellation, Falk had time on his hands. So he dusted off those old demos and got to work.

“As soon as the pandemic hit, I looked at this batch of songs and I figured we got about a three-month window where these might be relevant,” Falk says. “Obviously, the pandemic lasted longer than three months.”

The songs from Isolation Blues dealt with loneliness and other mental-health issues that meshed well with the emotions many have experienced during the pandemic’s lockdown. While the songs from littleworlds come from the same trove of demos, the new album focuses on Falk’s experience of being a father of a five-year-old.

“I was pretty scared before becoming a dad, and I think a lot of people are. A lot of men are,” he says. “‘How’s my life going to change? Will I make the same mistakes my parents did? I don’t want to make the same mistakes my parents did.’ At the end of the day, your kid shows up and it’s the greatest thing to ever happen to you and you’re totally in love with them.

“In a way, this record is a few little vignettes into my life. These are little corners of my world.”

Falk believes the pandemic gave him a chance to reset his artistic identity, like a boxing champ making a career comeback. Besides Friday’s release of littlewords and a new single, All I Need, he’s writing songs again and putting in the hard work to make a third Touching album become a reality.

“Coming out of it now, it’s like I’ve been able to put a bunch of wind in my sails again,” he says. “I feel like the wheels are turning at a great speed now and it’s a lot of fun.”

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@AlanDSmall