Introducing the Sunophonic Sessions

August 10, 2025

I’m excited (and, truthfully, a little nervous) to share a new chapter in the Selkirk Range project: The Sunophonic Sessions.

This collection of songs is built around something I hold sacred—words. Every lyric in this forthcoming collection of songs is my own, written by hand over many months and years. That part of the music—the storytelling, the voice behind the voice—is something I feel strongly about preserving. These are my stories, my images, my turns of phrase.

What’s new is how they’ve been brought to life in musical form.

The arrangements and performances you’ll hear weren’t created in a traditional studio. They were rendered using Suno.ai, a generative music platform that transforms lyrical and stylistic prompts into fully realized musical performances. At first, I was unsure—skeptical, even. I wondered whether it could really feel anything like music made with people in a room.

But what surprised me was just how responsive it is. Suno can infer mood, phrasing, and even expression in ways I didn’t expect. The platform—still early in its evolution—has a remarkable knack for giving voice and shape to a song. Quite frankly, it’s been a thrill to hear these words set to music like this.

Over the past decade, I’d written some two dozen songs that have been sitting in a collection of notebooks and pre-production demo recordings. As I began shaping them with Suno, they seemed to naturally split into two distinct sounds: one leaning into country traditions, the other into more adult-oriented folk-pop. The result is the Sunophonic Sessions, which will be released across a single and two albums:

  • The Ballad of the Titan is available on Bandcamp now and will be released on the other streaming platforms soon. It’s a slightly quirky take on the ill-fated OceanGate submersible, playing on the connection between the words Titan, Titanic, and Atlantic. You can read more about it in my earlier post.
  • Hired Gun, arriving on August 22 has something of a classic country feel, pairing plainspoken storytelling with easygoing melodies. I brought in Colin Noel from Electric Treehouse studio to add final polish to the mixes and mastering of this collection.
  • Duty. Courage. Truth. will follow later this year, exploring an adult contemporary sound with folk-rock at its core. Textured arrangements and reflective themes move across a range of moods, from intimate to anthemic. You can hear a pre-release version now on Bandcamp — and while you’re there, follow Selkirk Range to get updates and be the first to know when the album drops.

Above all, the greatest reward for a songwriter is finding an audience who feels the words and emotions you’ve poured into a song. In that sense, how the music was produced matters far less than whether it connects. Hearing these songs come back polished and expressive has been like hearing them for the first time — a mind-blowing experience for a songwriter working with limited resources. The tools may have changed, yet the intent remains the same: to create songs that are meaningful, and to offer them with the hope they’ll find a home in someone’s heart.

Thanks for listening.

– Gordon (Selkirk Range)

Look out for the first releases from Hired Gun and Duty Courage Truth coming soon.

The Ballad of the Titan

July 9, 2025 — 1 Comment

This song started with a simple wordplay: Atlantic, Titanic, Titan. That connection stuck with me, and I wrote the chorus months ago, long before the verses. I was drawn to the interplay of those names, their inherent rhythm, and the tragic resonance between them:

The Atlantic took Titanic-
Which lured the Titan down-
To the bottom of the sea
To the bottom of the sea

As part of my ongoing Sunophonic sessions—an artistic exploration of generative AI in songwriting—I sung the melody into Suno then pasted my lyrics, and wrote a simple prompt: “sea shanty, ballad.” It generated several versions, one of which uncannily matched my vision for the song. This is what makes working with these tools so captivating.

The result is a somber ballad in the tradition of maritime storytelling, akin to Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”—a cautionary tale for a modern tragedy.

“Those City Lights” Illuminates the Opening of “Exophoria” – A Serendipitous Connection!

April 25, 2025

I’m thrilled to share that “Those City Lights,” from my second album Seeing the Sun Again, has been chosen by the very talented directors, Mark Wolfe and Kerry McArthur, to grace the opening segment of their new indie film, Exophoria.

This marks the second time Mark and Kerry have included my music in their projects, following the inclusion of “Broken Horse” in the soundtrack of their previous film, The Orchard. It’s an honour to have my songs resonate with their artistic vision.

What makes this placement even more special is a bit of uncanny synchronicity surrounding the opening footage of Exophoria. The scene was filmed near Okotoks, Alberta, looking north towards Calgary – the very same landscape that inspired “Those City Lights” as I was writing it. When I mentioned it to Mark, he playfully attributed this coincidence to “quantum entanglement.” Talk about a full-circle moment.

I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to Mark and Kerry for the premiere of Exphoria at the Bleeding Tree Film Festival on Monday, April 27th. I have no doubt that this film will be a resounding success, and I’m so proud that “Those City Lights” gets to play a part in its journey.

Stay tuned for more updates, and be sure to check out Exophoria if you have the chance!

Sneak preview from the forthcoming album

December 21, 2022

The new album is coming soon. I’ve been working with Colin Noel at Electric Treehouse in Edmonton on a collection of 10 tracks that will be available on the streaming services in the new year.

In the meantime, here’s a sneak preview of a newly recorded version of “Wear Anything!”

This song was written several years ago for a songwriting workshop and has since become a favourite when I perform live. It’s all about different kinds of hats, which of course, are all about personality.

Coming up with a rhyming list of hats and making it work musically is the kind of creative challenge that I love taking on! For the longest time, I didn’t have a third verse for this song … but thank goodness for the Internet!

This version is now a duet featuring the incredible vocal talents of Taene Nomaowen, who joined me on a couple other tracks on the album.

I also added a new arrangement to it, while opening with a baritone ukulele made by Twisted Wood Guitars based in St. Albert near Edmonton (a very thoughtful gift from my wife).

What kind of hat are you gonna wear?

Congrats to The Orchard on its growing collection of awards

December 20, 2022

In a previous post, I mentioned that my song “Broken Horse” made it into the motion picture soundtrack for The Orchard.

Now, I’m delighted to share that the film has a growing collection of honours and is getting noticed! Congrats to Mark and Kerry, as well as the cast and crew.

Joining the soundtrack to The Orchard

October 23, 2022

I am delighted to have two songs included on the soundtrack to the motion picture The Orchard. Directed by Kerry McArthur and Mark Wolfe, the film is a psychological thriller, filmed in Creston BC. Kerry and Mark initially approached me asking if they could include Longest Night of the Year in the film (which also serves as the opening music in the trailer).

They later heard an early release of Broken Horse, which is used in the closing scene. I remixed Broken Horse for the film and have also decided to include it on my forthcoming album.

The Orchard had its debut on October 14 at the historic Tivoli theatre in Creston, BC. Congratulations to Kerry and Mark. I wish them much success with it. Click on the image to view the trailer!

New album coming soon

October 1, 2022

Working on a new crop of songs with Colin Noel at Electric Treehouse Studio in Edmonton. Among other things, I’ve had the opportunity to record my grandfather’s banjo. This instrument is probably close to 100-years old. John Gow played it in dance bands in the 1920s in Southern Ontario. This may be the first time it’s ever been recorded.

John’s banjo will make an appearance on the new album.