Alex Nicol / Downey Chase (of Brazen Youth)

If Been A Long Year Volume One by Montreal-based singer/songwriter Alex Nicol was drawn
from his internal world, Volume Two finds him looking outside of himself to address more
wide-reaching issues. With a slightly lighter application of the nuanced folk-rock style he’s been
growing into over his past few releases, Nicol uses Been A Long Year Vol. 2 to journey outward,
moving past the grief and sorrow happening in his own head to explore bigger picture feelings of
frustration, joy, fear, and hope. While the second volume is less internally-derived than its
predecessor, the two chapters come together as complimentary hemispheres of an album-length
statement. The way Nicol intermingles the personal and the universal showcases his versatility
as a songwriter, one unafraid of taking on bigger topics, but equally fearless of the vulnerability
required to share his own deepest truths.