Monarch (2017)
01. I'd Burn it All Down (For You)
02. You're Killing My Love
03. Slow Moving Train
04. Gold Star
05. The Monarch and the Wrecking Ball
06. Love, Bettike
07. Forgiveness is Free
08. The Art of Letting Go
09. All Our Days
10. New Religion
11. Hungry Ghost
12. A Slip in the Rain
13. Everywhere I Go
Monarch
What does it take to forgive? When is it time to let go and let live? The answers to these questions are always found in deeply personal, closely guarded corners of every heart and mind. Until we shine a light to explore those corners, we just might be driving blind on a collision course with heartbreak.
We can all suffer setbacks in life, but it is in the aftermath where the heart and soul can find healing. While creating his third album Monarch, critically-acclaimed guitarist/singer/songwriter, and Maple Blues Award-nominee Chris Antonik focused inward on his own deeply personal corners, against the backdrop of a marriage coming to an end.
Following up Chris Antonik (2010) and Better For You (2013, named Blues-Rock Album of the Year by Canada’s Blues Underground Network), Monarch closes a trilogy of self-expression. Traveling from an earnest desire to give more and make things better to a destination of peace and forgiveness, Monarch embodies an artist moving on with newfound energy, momentum and an understanding of the past.
While forgiveness is free, there are most certainly tolls to pay along the journey. The songs on Monarch cover every mile of that emotional terrain as they ride through a rich and varied blues landscape punctuated by Antonik's searing guitar work.
Joining Antonik are Chuck Keeping (Big Wreck) on drums, Guenther Kapelle (Wild T and the Spirit) on bass, Jesse O’Brien (Colin James) on keyboards, Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar on harmony vocals, and many others. Monarch was recorded by multiple Grammy and Juno award-nominated engineer Jeremy Darby (U2, Pink Floyd), and co-produced by Antonik and Ted Onyszczak (Better For You).
While Kris Kristofferson may have surmised that “freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,” then perhaps forgiveness is just another word for everything to gain. As we all face increasingly uncertain and unforgiving times, it is Chris Antonik's sincere hope that Monarch can provide something personally valuable for everyone to gain from the music.
Better For You (2013)
01: Long Way To Go (Featuring Steve Marriner)
02: Turn To Shine
03: Come From A Good Place (Featuring Shakura S'Aida)
04: Broken Man (Featuring Mike Mattison)
05: Have A Good Time (Featuring Josh Williams)
06: Shake Me Down
07: Better For You
08: Nothing I Can Do
09: Tell Me What You Need
10: So Tired
11: I'll Help You Through
Chris Antonik (2010)
01. More To Give
02. Roll With It
03. The King of Infidelity
04. If We Start From Here
05. Dhyana
06. She's a Burglar
07. Almost Free
08. Double Trouble
09. Reap What You Sow
10. Persevering Kind