Seeking to find a place between what can sometimes feel like opposing worlds, singer/songwriter Erik Bleich creates street-lit lullabies & manic, rambling romps that wander the side streets between rural isolation and metropolitan congestion. From humble origins in a small Northwestern Ontario mill town, to life in his adopted city of Toronto, Bleich’s work reflects his own lived experience. Personal narratives of Canadians seeking identity and autonomy in an increasingly global community. It’s his vision of folk music for the Internet Age.

“It should have came as no surprise to learn that Erik Bleich released his sophomore album More Than Anything You’ve Feared on Valentines Day,” says Douglas McLean of Great Dark Wonder. “For love in its deepest yearning beats alone in the heart of this wondrous music.”

“More Than Anything You’ve Feared” is a vulnerable song cycle built around the rises and falls, mental instability and quiet bliss of domestic partnership. Written and recorded in the Pre-Pandemic “Before Times” this vulnerable offering is perhaps more relevant now than ever. From shared loss to personal triumphs, Bleich's intimate writing is swathed at times in murky strings, familiar waltzes and eerie soundscapes. The latter giving way to kaleidoscopic waves of chiming glockenspiel, trumpet fanfare and lush swells of accordion, violin, and battered guitar.

Whether weaving his way through shy-witted banter in a quiet living room or commanding a crowd from a low lit stage, Bleich’s vulnerability and playfulness shine, like a beacon toward the similarly afflicted.