Locomotive Ghost are just about to release the last installment of their vinyl Ep / digital download series based on the seasons.
“Winter” was officially released March 1 at the Big Secret Theatre in their home town of Calgary. 
The indie folk rock quartet, who describe themseves as “indie-folk rock for nerds and lovers,” will follow that show with a brief Alberta tour including stops in Red Deer and Coleman which comes to Lethbridge, March 8 when they play the Slice with the Void.
“Winter” was actually the first of the seasons Eps which inspired the band to embark on the “Seasons” project, which involved the band releasing a series of Ep inspired by each season. It features layers of different instruments and lyrics examining themes of science and love and winter.
“We re-recorded the whole album with different members than we had when we started it,” said guitarist/ pianist/ vocalist Mike Buckley who started Locomotive Ghost back in 2010 with Ben Nixon ( bass, ukulele, vocals, engineering) while atrending the music program at Selkirk College in Nelson.
“ We re-recorded ‘Bye Bye Higgs Boson’ in a completely different key and changed the arrangements on others. And Paul sings lead vocals and plays lead guitar instead of violin on another,” he said.
The current line up also includes Paul Orton (guitar, keyboards and vocals and drummer/ percussionist Mac McDougall. They are adding a saxophonist and a violinist for the EP release party, though they won’t be bringing them to Lethbridge.
“It is a challenge to learn the songs as a four piece. I’ve been learning the saxophone lines on the guitar,” he said.
He is happy the project is completed. The next step is to re-release all four seasons on a 16-track CD.
“It was pretty stressful releasing it on vinyl. A week ago, we weren’t sure if we’d have them in time for the release party. But we have them now. And a lot of people either don’t want to download, or they don’t own a record player. They still want the CD,” he said.
The rest of the year will be touring in support of that.
“ We probably won’t record again until winter 2015,” he said.
They are looking forward to returning to Lethbridge as it has been almost a year since they were last here.
“We’re looking forward to playing with the Void. We’ve never heard them before. So we’re excited about that. Our set will be pretty faithful recreations of the songs with a lot of instrument swapping because people really seem to like seeing that,” he said.
The show begins at 9 p.m., the Slice, March 8.
