Bookie Baker’s creative and musical journey, punctuated by an arrest and interrogation in China, is just part of the alt-folk duo’s story. The duo, consisting of Irishman Caolan O’Neill-Forde and Canadian Alex Montyro, has been fuelled by a sense of adventure, entrepreneurial spirit, and wanderlust from the beginning.
The collaboration began after Montyro opened a music venue in the Liaoning province of China, and O’Neill-Forde wandered to look for musical compatriots in a faraway land. Soon packing in large crowds to the ire of local communist party officials, the duo found themselves enduring multiple interrogations by local police after an arrest during a live performance. Released after being warned never to play music in the country again, they opened a map and considered options across the globe. One city became a clear standout due to its thriving renaissance of creativity, culture, and commerce: Prague.
Bookie Baker have lived a thousand lives in their time on earth, and those experiences come alive in their songwriting and refreshingly dark take on modern folk. Their new single, “The Ideal Expiration of a Stubborn Man (A Summer Song),” is a hauntingly bouncy storytelling track that hints at the otherworldly direction the duo is taking the genre. The acoustic guitars glisten underneath the toe-tapping vocals as the band spins an enticing tale that rivals the writing in your favorite novel. While the lyrics tell a fantastic tale, the instrumentation lends as much to the narrative as the vocals. The simplistic yet infectious arrangement bends at the story’s will, pushing and pulling the listener into an emotional bout. Underneath the concept of the single, Bookie Baker’s musical prowess shines. The hard-hitting drums collide with thudding piano melodies, transporting the listener into the world the duo has built and launching the listener into a whimsical frenzy. “Expiration of a Stubborn Man (A Summer Song)” is a blockbuster of a single that showcases the nuances that help the duo stand out in the busy genre, placing them in a world of their own to roam free and carefully craft their already exciting sound.
