Tales from the Human Highway

For some musicians, the daily grind of touring in a small van with the same sweaty guys turns them off writing for months, but not Jim Guthrie. The ex-Islands guitarist not only jammed with his former band night after night, he teamed up with the group’s lead singer, Nick Thorburn, to start a whole other group.

“Nick had been writing the song My Beach while we were on tour and he came up to my hotel room and asked if I wanted to record it,” says Guthrie, explaining how Human Highway, his new laid-back Toronto-based duo, was formed. “We didn’t actually have all the instruments you hear on the track so we did the rest of it back in my house.”

Most of Moody Motorcycle, the twosome’s debut disc, was conceived in Guthrie’s house. While it’s definitely a collaboration  — many of the songs feature both musicians on vocals — the project came together mostly as a result of Thorburn’s desire to work with his bandmate in an non-Islands setting.

“Nick really wanted to write songs with me,” says Guthrie. “He was like, ‘I’m going to come to Toronto and sleep on your couch.’ If it wasn’t for Nick it probably wouldn’t have happened.”

It’s not that Guthrie was opposed to taking on a new musical endeavour; he’s just not as motivated as his partner. The Guelph-born singer-songwriter admits that he can sit on songs for months, while Thorburn forges ahead to get things done. “He’s willing to commit to a song. He doesn’t hold back,” explains Guthrie, who adds that his followup to his 2003 solo album is still in the works. “I’m more, ‘Is this a good idea? A bad idea? Maybe I’ll stew over it for the next year.’”

Luckily, Guthrie didn’t wait to sort out his parts on Moody Motorcycle. In fact, the songs sound closer to his own soft-spoken acoustic work than the grandiose arrangements that Thorburn created on Arm’s Way, the most recent Islands disc.
Although it was recorded in about two weeks, Human Highway’s disc is a sophisticated collection of rootsy pop tunes that recall the Everly Brothers or the Traveling Wilburys. The harmonies are easily the best part, but the calm, thoughtful songwriting is what really drives this disc.

With good reviews coming in from fans and critics alike, what was supposed to be a side-project looks like it could be something more. “We were talking of maybe doing a sporadic show or two before the year is out,” says Guthrie. “But maybe this has more to give than we originally thought.

“I do stuff for me and if there’s an audience, great,” he adds. “We were just leaving ourselves an out. What we’ve done is just write a bunch of songs we both really love, and it turns out other people hear something in them as well.”