Darryl Kissick - Character Actor Darryl Kissick

Best known as a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in Foxwarren, Darryl Kissick has long been drawn to music that rewards patience and close listening. His new solo album, Character Actor, emerged during a period marked by both personal recovery and a growing sense of existential unease.

As Saskatchewan skies filled with wildfire smoke, political tensions mounted, and the world felt increasingly unstable, Kissick found himself compelled to create something quiet. "While feeling overwhelmed by outside forces," he says, "I felt compelled to make something sparse and quiet." Throughout the record, peaceful ambient passages are occasionally interrupted by harsher textures, mirroring the way moments of calm are disrupted by everyday life.

The album also began while Kissick recovered from a broken hip sustained in a hockey accident. Confined to bed for six weeks after surgery, he found himself making instrumental music almost by instinct. "Working on this album helped bring me calm and gave me a sense of purpose."

After returning from touring with Foxwarren, Kissick completed the record with help from his brother and bandmate Avery Kissick, who contributed drums and arrangement ideas, alongside Saskatchewan musicians Jakob Bjornson on double bass and Ian Cameron on pedal steel. The cover artwork, created by his sister Emily Hamilton, reflects the quiet existential dread that inspired the songs.

Trading lyrics for atmosphere, Character Actor unfolds through ambient textures, experimental instrumentals, and cinematic soundscapes. In an increasingly noisy world, it offers something rare: an invitation to slow down, listen closely, and find stillness amid uncertainty.