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Absent Sounds Archive
Algernon Cadwallader Interview
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On today's episode of We Built This House, we take a deep dive into the legacy of Algernon Cadwallader—a band that didn’t just play music but helped build the foundation of the emo revival. Together, Peter Helmis, Joe Reinhart, Colin Mahony and Nick Tazza all join us starting from their roots as Halfway to Holland, tracing their journey through DIY basement shows, relentless touring, and a punk ethos that defined their sound.
We attempt to walk through every room of their brief yet important discography- from the raw foundation of their debut Some Kind of Cadwallader to the complex renovation of Parrot Flies and beyond. There's a sort of Sisyphus-like struggle that comes with creating something meaningful from scratch, and if anyone in the revival knew how to do it, Algernon sure did. Without a doubt, the landscape of what we call emo today reaches back to their influence, and it's all the better because of it.
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Hannah Frances Interview
01:32:42|Hannah Frances is a composer, vocalist and guitarist, whose second album was one that has literally been spinning on repeat in our car. Spanning progressive rock, avant-folk, and jazz, the record navigates the ongoing, non-linear work of healing, with arrangements featuring contributions from Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear. Weajue spoke with Hannah at the tail end of her six-show tour, in Toronto at the Baby G. In this episode, we play the album in full and talk about uncovering what needed to be felt. Also airing in the second half of the program: Humanhood by the Weather Station, her seventh studio album, released January 2025 on Fat Possum.
Quickly Quickly Interview
01:33:02|Graham Johnson has been making music as Quickly Quickly since before most people had the language for what he was doing. When we first encountered his music, I couldn’t describe to to anyone either. This conversation catches him in reflection of figuring out what comes next. I Heard That Noise is his most distilled record yet, with beats infused acoustic songs carrying production jump scares, built almost entirely in a windowless basement with red carpet and a knockdown ceiling he eventually put his fist through. We talked about the noise you surround yourself with so you don't have to be alone with your thoughts. About spending three years and one new laptop on a single song. About what it means to finish something that started as a different version of you, and learning to let it go.Transcript available here: https://deeandjue.me/2026/03/09/quickly-quickly-interview/
John Van Deusen Interview (2026)
01:29:26|It's been four years since our first conversation with John, and this time we catch him in person during his stop in Madison Heights, MI for his Midwest tour supporting his new record.A lot has changed in four years, but the comfort his music brings his listeners has not. Unlike his other records, Joyful Noise is his most explicitly worship-focused project—yet it was the one that almost killed him to make.We talked about creative exhaustion and surrender. About the "embarrassment" of being a Christian artist. About bringing your anger and sorrow to God and a suffering savior who knows.It's a deeply honest and deeply human conversation and we're really thankful we got the chance to chat again because he is someone we look up to :)
Snowing Interview
01:33:05|It's officially December, which means its officially snowing season. So what better way to welcome in the cold than an interview with cult classic band, Snowing. We sat down with Willow Brazuk and JR back when the sun was still around at New Friends Fest in Toronto—their first time ever playing in Canada. Also joined by our friends Paul and Zac from Farron Keep, we talked about the wonder that was their debut/last record: I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted. The episode closes with music from Farron Keep's "The Weight of Rain" so tune in to hear it live on CJAM 99.1 FM Windsor-DetroitTranscript available here: deeandjue.me/absent-sounds
Soft Blue Shimmer Interview
01:39:11|Char and Meredith of Soft Blue Shimmer, along with producer Corey Coffman, join Weajue for a conversation about "They Will Leave Us With Nothing." It’s a record about capitalism, bodily grief, and what we pass between us when the system leaves us with nothing. This three-sided emotional triangle made it one of the hardest albums Corey has ever produced, and make it all the more resonant for us today. Recorded at Taylor Creek Park in Toronto (my favourite :)
Alexei Shishkin Interview
01:30:13|Alexei Shishkin makes music the same way he watches soccer: with an appreciation for improvisation. It's not often we're able to pay attention to the small moment that open into something larger but his record is all about the art of not overcomplicating it. On this episode of Absent Sounds, we have a good time playing through his debut Good Times and talk about how the album came together across a few days in Providence with producer Bradford Krieger. With a random word generator in hand, they quickly crafted a record that has squeezed much creative juice into our hearts. We also talk about his Treefort documentary, Carl Dennis, Microdisney, Pavement, and the difference between art and craft (I'm still figuring out that last piece). You can find an abridged transcript here.
Allegra Krieger Interview
01:30:27|Allegra Krieger joins Weajue for a conversation about her album Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine—a record that grapples with impermanence, and the liminal spaces of existence. We talk about the Infinity Machine as a mechanism moving through us, signs, talismans and dream. She explains the strange trinity of pain and joy and compromise, the act of absolving yourself and your body, the binary of here or not-here, and what it means to sit with the pull toward "over and out" when nothing is yours to keep. Recorded outside the Opera House in Toronto on the final night of her tour with Foxwarren. We end off the episode playing tracks from Foxwarren's latest record, 2.
John Roseboro Interview
01:01:21|On this episode of Absent Sounds, Weajue caught John Roseboro to talk through his album Fools — each track feels like a meditation on love, faith, and the strange arithmetic of becoming. Together, this quiet, searching conversation with John helps frame the album as a doorway into memory. We drift throug what does it mean to be known? To surrender? To make art that is an offering.To see more episodes, you can listen live on cjam.ca or find the archives at deeandjue.me/absent-sounds
Bloom Effect Interview
46:14|These days my brain feels like it’s tied up in a billion threads, but music has a way of loosening the knots. Bloom Effect’s oscilón has been part of that unwinding: a record that carries you out of the tangled noise and into something expansive, cosmic, and bright. The embodiment of love even. I caught up with the band (Jula Lafit, Craig Weighman, and Tom Rappa) at Sneaky Dee;s before they took to the stage.Bloom Effect is currently based in Vancouver, but are touring through the East with dates including:Guelph, Canada - Sep 30, 2025Montreal, Canada -Oct 2, 2025Ottawa, Canada -Oct 3, 2025Oct 4, 2025 - London, CanadaIf you're around and looking for the best wall of sound, you'll be sure to find it within those nights.