ARTWORK COLLAGE BY BROOKE TUTTY

Peter Landi is a multi-instrumentalist hailing from the East End of Long Island, New York. Currently living in Canada, he has called Toronto home for the better part of a decade. From the start, he’s had a singular drive: make great music. From his formative years in hometown basements, to gigging on the Lower East Side, to now touring the globe with a myriad of artists, he does just that.   

Shortly after moving to Toronto, Landi joined forces with Canadian punks, Single Mothers, and has since become an in-demand touring and studio drummer for artists like Julianna Riolino, Espanola, Eamon McGrath, The Drew Thomson Foundation, and many more. Like his peers, Landi was uncertain about his future during March of 2020. Canceled tours gave him time to comb through his demos, sparking a new phase in his songwriting. The result was a collection of singles that were lyrically personal in a new sonic landscape. His first single, “High,” was featured in this year’s critically acclaimed IFC Canadian slasher film, In A Violent Nature. 

The latest offering from that collection, “Somewhere,” is about the unknown. It was a very unstable time for both Landi and his partner – and for the entire world – when he wrote this song. Displaced from regular life, staying with their families and at times living in separate countries. The couple didn’t know what was going to happen that day, let alone later that month or year, but as long as they were able to be together, it was okay. They would go on long daily walks with no place in mind, so their daily adventures and the greater journey of what they were going through is what inspired Landi.

PHOTO BY BROOKE TUTTY

I had been writing and recording “Somewhere” on my own before I started working with (co-producer/recording/mixing engineer) Tyler Semrick-Palmateer. I thought the song was finished, so I played it for him and he said “This is great, but I think we should send it through my console to warm it up a bit.” It sounded way better, so we ended up doing some more work to it, essentially revamping my polished demo. We re-tracked the vocals at Tyler’s studio, the drums at my studio, and kept all of the guitars I had recorded and the bass part that Ross Miller had sent over. Tyler comes from a heavier musical background, which made my Oasis-inspired song sound like ‘Down on the Upside’ era Soundgarden. Peter Landi

“Somewhere” continues to showcase Peter Landi‘s ability to write songs full of catchy hooks and melodies that stay stuck in your head. Drawing inspiration from giants like Tom Petty, Oasis and Queens of the Stone Age, he still manages to sound uniquely like himself.

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