Matteo Pauselli Photo courtesy John Terpstra

Dryden ex-patriate Matteo Pauselli finds himself at a very interesting point in his life. An imminent graduate of Ryerson University’s finance program, many years of nose firmly pressed to grindstone have suddenly abated, leaving Pauselli free to let the music in his soul take the wheel for a while.

At the moment his story plays out on the 4,500 kilometres that lie between his most recent home in Vancouver and a date with a cap and gown in Toronto. Uncharacteristically organized for a musician, Pauselli left Vancouver with a trunk full of freshly pressed CDs and his acoustic guitar, making a tour of it.

He lands in Dryden for a CD release concert, Saturday, June 25 at The Centre. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a big night of local music with special guests Laura and Andrew Cortens, Chris Froome and Erik Bleich.

Pauselli and fellow Drydenite Blain McKim (percussion) recorded the six-song Timbre Kin EP, titled The Great Western Migration in Vancouver in a single week in early April.

Pauselli says the acoustic guitar-based songs, weaving through folk and rock influences, will be new to Dryden ears and developed through various flashes of inspiration.

Pauselli says the name Timbre Kin, contrived partly as a means to avoid most people ‘butchering’ his name’s pronunciation, is also a bit of a nod to his hometown.

“I tell people my name and they have trouble repeating it back to me. The one that comes back the most frequently for some reason, and I don’t know why, is ‘Ma-tay-uss’. So I thought I’d make a little easier stage name and I struggled with it for close to six months. Timbre Kin came to me in the idea that my age group was kind of the last children of the big booming paper industry in Dryden. Our town has changed and evolved and we all saw it affecting people we know, our family and friends. It made for some good song material.”

That generation of Dryden performers who emerged from Dryden High School in the mid-to-late 2000s bore plenty of musical fruit — some of which Pauselli hopes to showcase in Cortens, Froome and Bleich.

“I’d like to showcase them as well,” said Pauselli. “Laura’s going to do her set with her brother Andrew Cortens. I’d like Chris Froome to show Dryden that he’s been doing some good stuff in music as well. Erik Bleich says he has some new material which I’m excited to hear. Then I’ll finish the night.”

By Chris Marchand