The sound of the summer of 2026 might very well turn out to be the new album by Cape Breton band Lookout Tower, which kicks off the conflagration on June 5 with the release of the new album Lost at Foxglove.
Named for the band’s new recording studio/jam space/hangout in Baddeck, its arrival has been heralded by the singles Old Friend, a wistful folk-pop ballad by singer/songwriter/banjoist Bethany June, and the new tune and video The Champ, a bluesy rocker with singer Rankin MacEachern portraying an aging bruiser who’s no longer the alpha dog he thought he was.
Lookout Tower had a sparring session with its recent East Coast Music Awards weekend showcase in Sydney, and comes out swinging on Friday, June 5 with an album launch show at the Brook Village Hall, nestled in the hills between Mabou and Whycocomagh, featuring special guest Garrett Mason.
The band will also trek from Mull River to the Avon River to play the Full Circle Festival in Newport Corner near Windsor on June 19 to 21 and keep an eye out for an outdoor appearance at Cape Breton’s Big Spruce Brewing in Nyanza in early July. (Potentially on Saturday, July 4, but keep an eye on Big Spruce’s website and socials closer to the end of June for confirmation.)
At any given show, you could get a slightly different version of the band, depending on the environment and which of their friends happen to be around to join in, from a pared-back acoustic unplugged set to a full-on electric rock throw-down, as evidenced by The Champ.
The new song comes from Lookout Tower’s ability to let things unfold organically, arising from the start of a jam session, when friend Brian LeBlanc threw a blanket around MacEachern like a boxer’s robe and said, “Let’s go champ!”
“It started as a joke, and we can laugh about it,” MacEachern recalls, “but we just happened to have something recording, and the lyrics, drums, bass, and guitar are almost exactly as we did it from that very first (messing) around.
“That’s The Champ. And we laughed and laughed, but then our drummer said, ‘I think this is a banger,’ and we had to change very little to get what we have now. But every now and then we have something were we go, ‘Isn’t that fun?’ and it just is what it is, and something fun happens.”
The tongue-in-cheek tone of The Champ comes across in the video, available on Lookout Tower’s YouTube channel. Filmed at the Membertou Boxing Club by director and Port Hawkesbury rocker Willie Stratton – whose fellow Boojums member and wife Sara Johnston puts in an appearance – the clip stars June as a mustachioed pugilist who has the sweet science down to a TKO.
June and MacEachern, along with bandmates Bryan Picard, bassist Franzi Habith and Matt Gallant on drums named Lost at Foxglove after their studio, which they built on guitarist and chef Picard’s property, next to his Baddeck restaurant the Bite House.
“That’s a huge game changer for us. It’s kind of amazing, and we realize how lucky we are,” MacEachern says of their creative getaway. “We’ve all been so committed, and then you get a recording space and it’s like, ‘Hey, we want to record a song. Well, let’s record a song!’”
Since the band members are scattered across the Island, and as far as Halifax for drummer Gallant – “He comes up at least once a month to jam and stuff,” MacEachern says – Foxglove Studio is like their version of the Justice League’s Hall of Justice, where they unite their superpowers to rehearse, flesh out new material, and lay down tracks.
“We’re not trying to get rich off this,” MacEachern says. “The money that we make we put back into getting recording equipment, instruments, and making albums. Being able to do that stuff and not lose your shirt on it. That’s an agreement we made a long time ago; to be creative, play good shows and make good music with good people.”
For tickets to Lookout Tower’s June 5 album launch in Brook Village, and samples of Lost at Foxglove, visit www.lookouttower.ca.
By the way, don’t skim past Full Circle while looking for early summer events to attend. The June 19 to 21 Hants County festival is a wide-ranging music celebration with a terrific lineup that also includes Halifax hip-hop/R&B maestro Aquakultre, Cara Luft (formerly of the Wailin’ Jennys), Dusted (Brian Borcherdt from Burnt Black and Holy F***), South Shore singer-songwriter Jennah Barry, groundbreaking Cape Breton folk artist Electro Jacques Therapy and much more.
For full details, visit www.fullcirclefestival.ca.