Ian MacDougall at the Thirsty Hiker

Ian MacDougall holds a strange and unassuming presence on the East Coast musical landscape. Fronting his internationally acclaimed, musically obese, Cape Breton institution The Tom Fun Orchestra, Ian has spent years touring around the world bringing epic anthems and odes to packed clubs, massive festivals and empty taverns. He has shared the stage with a curious array of musicians ranging from Primus to Fred Eaglesmith; Sloan to The Men of the Deeps. Outside of the successes and excesses of Tom Fun, Ian has developed a catalogue of songs that read like a hazy surrealist commentary of life and lure on Cape Breton Island. By himself, these songs stand truly engaging. His complicated musical lulls of ennui and frustration find solace in triumphant melodies of reckless elation. Sometimes. Sometimes it’s something else altogether.