Jim Guthrie

Founded: 1995

Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Website Link(s): http://www.jimguthrie.org/

Label(s)

 * Three Gut

Genre(s)

 * Singer/Songwriter
 * Indie-Rock
 * Bedroom Pop

RIYL

 * Sufjan Stevens

Band Members

 * Jim Guthrie

Includes Members of

 * Royal City
 * Islands
 * Mandrills

Band Biography
Jim Guthrie is most notably known as guitarist for Royal City and the namesake of Canada's popular and recently defunct Three Gut Records as well as being an innovative solo artist. While Guthrie's more recent albums (2003's Now, More Than Ever) have labeled him simply as an indie-rock singer/songwriter, he spent most of his early years as a solo artist holed up in his bedroom experimenting with found sounds and lo-fi recording techniques. His early albums consisted of more random audio snippits than traditional rock instrumentation, though his songwriting ability was front and center. The most endearing quality of Guthrie maybe his slightly nasal, modest voice which seems to comfort the listener and invite them into the musical world of his imagination. His lyricism follows closely behind, comforting, questioning and slightly vague. While usually simple as far as structure is concerned, Guthrie does a good job of enlisting metaphors leaving interpretation open to the listener.

Thanks to exposure from his first two solo albums and the wide-spread popularity of Three Gut, Guthrie was able to leave lo-fi behind in 2003, going into the studio with help from members of The Hidden Cameras, The Constantines, Royal City and Rockets Red Glare to create his most ambitious and popular albums to date, Now, More Than Ever. The album showcases Guthrie's ambitious creativity as a musician and lyricist, and was heralded by reviewers, though it took a while for people to catch on.

Guthrie has been somewhat quiet since the release of Now, More Than Ever, concentrating more on Three Gut. But the label shut it's doors in the summer of 2005, much to the dismay of indie-rock fans. Guthrie has recently created a new website and is working on his next album.

=Discography=

Albums

 * Home is Where the Rock Is 1995
 * Victim of Lo Fi 1996
 * Documenting Perks Part 1 1997
 * Somethings You Should Know About Sound and Hearing 1998
 * A Thousand Songs 1999 (Three Gut)
 * Population Me 2001
 * Morning Noon Night 2002 (Three Gut)
 * Now, More Than Ever 2003 (Three Gut)

EPs

 * Haymakers vs. Jim Guthrie 2004 split EP with Haymakers

Compilations

 * How We Get Old on The Goods 1997
 * My Generation on Spring Children 1998
 * Burden of Achievement on 60 Second Songs 2002
 * Where Have All the Heors Gones? on Snowsuit on and Heading North:Out of Sound:Snowsuit on and Heading North 2003 (Out of Sound)
 * I Ain't Got No/I Got Life on Meanwhile in the Meantime Vol. 12 2004 (CD available with Comes with a Smile #16)
 * Nighttime/Anytime (it's Alright) cover of The Constantines on 2005 Believer CD 2005 available with Believer Magazine June/July 2005