Sunday 03th May 2026
Location: SET THEATRE (Roots Festival 2026)
HORSEBATH are a band open to serendipity, always searching for that spark of creation that allows them to express something they couldn’t otherwise put into words. That’s exactly what happened one morning when they started jamming together during sessions for their much-anticipated debut album. After a few moments of aimless playing, they stumbled onto an idea, which they allowed to grow into a song none of them could have written by themselves. “It started out as this Tex-Mex-style tune and evolved from there, but it always had a cool energy,” says Keast Mutter, one of the band’s three lead singers and four multi-instrumentalists. That energy thrummed even as they devised excited harmonies, gave it the title “Hard to Love,” and wrote lyrics about a very particular kind of restlessness. “It turned into a song about staying in one place for too long and knowing you’re going to leave, even if you’re not sure when. The result is a lot of pain in your relationships.” Despite its crackling guitars, piano gymnastics, and rambunctious vocals, “Hard to Love” has a deep melancholy at its core, as HORSEBATH balances excitement and emotion, joy and doubt, the lure of both home and the road. These four musicians are intimately connected to various rural corners of Canada, yet they are all drawn to the places in the between, driven by the constant motion of touring in an electrifying country-rock band and nourished by all the new sounds and ideas they find along the way. Another Farewell is, perhaps inevitably, an album full of sad departures, but there are just as many exciting arrivals. “Canada is so spread out,” says Dagen Mutter. “We spent a lot of time driving all night just for the sake of adventure. Honestly, that’s where a lot of the songs start. You’re in your own thoughts with your eyes on the road, and you just start humming.” Fittingly, the band sprouted from a chance meeting. It was mere coincidence that Mutter and Connolly ended up in the same drugstore parking lot waiting for the same rideshare in 2018. Small talk quickly faded as they realized they share a deep appreciation for music and a deep respect for the people who made it. They’ve been sharing rides ever since, first in a Honda CR-V with a giant piece of driftwood strapped to the roof and finally in a tour van barreling through the plains and mountains of Canada. About that driftwood: They drove that rig all over the country and interviewed artists, poets and characters along the way, all as the foundation for an eccentric series of short films about their home country. “By doing the documentary and being on the road, we became friends first and were able to let our music develop afterwards,” says Daniel. “It ended up as a research trip. Themes would present themselves as we crossed the land, and subjects like alternative schooling and sustainable, off-the-grid living kept coming up.” (The films are still being worked on by writer and artist Enora Sanschagrin.) Another bit of good fo
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