Toronto-based singer and producer Mike Papaloni quit his corporate job during the COVID shutdown to move with his wife and two cats to the City of Nanaimo in British Columbia, which, in case you’re not familiar with Canadian geography, means they relocated from the East to the West coast—where he came up with the idea for Calm Canopy.
Papaloni said he first learned how to play the riff to “Seven Nation Army” when he was 10, and within a few years, he was making tracks on Windows 98 with a webcam mic and an electric guitar.
“Fast-forward through many years of countless bands and solo project rebrands to 2020 — I was working a corporate sales job, and cold calling was not feeding my soul. I could rarely find time and energy to capture my musical ideas and publish them as a solo artist. When the pandemic hit, I quit my job to pursue freelance voiceover work and music,” he said in an interview with Sofar Sounds Toronto. “This is where I really made time for music and decided to start fresh as Calm Canopy.”
Inspired by the deep state of peace and tranquility that he found after immersing himself in nature—particularly the silent, sullen moments where he could look up and glare at the sun through a canopy of tall trees—Papaloni performs what he refers to as “optimist-core.”
It’s a fitting name. His latest single, “Waiting Wrong,” more than lives up to what you might expect with its clever wordplay and bright, jangly pop sound.
“What if I wait it out? / Will I ever carry on? / ‘Cause if the world’s not changing right, then I’m waiting wrong.”
The song is a feel-good romp, expertly blending the uplifting strum of the ukulele with layers of horns to give the song a real, unbridled sense of joy and enthusiasm.
Papaloni said “Waiting Wrong” was inspired by his attempt at simultaneously balancing “the art of getting shit done” and “the art of smelling the roses.”
“As you’ll hear,” he jokes, “it’s not going well. Thanks for listening.”
It’s a cleverly sarcastic song about our own perceptions of the world and learning to accept what we can’t control with a jaunty indie-folk “stomp clap hey” vibe.
Written by Dan Offner
