Hellenica’s newest album, set to release on Somewherecold Records, invites the listener on an audio journey that is inspired by and intended as an imaginary soundtrack to accompany the 1985 barbaric western novel Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.

These eleven, bite-sized ambient instrumentals pull the listener into a world of death, hallucinations, blood and guns, creating a surreal backdrop that accentuates not only the book’s gothic-western qualities but the character’s introspective journeys through the desert, using twangy electric guitars, tape machines, synthesizers, and drum machines instead of banjos and harmonicas.

Jim Demos grew up in the west-end’s industrial part of Winnipeg among rusted train yards and crumbling storage facilities. He started playing guitar at the age of 12 and joining bands at the age of 16. By the age of 21 Jim became a multi instrumentalist playing in several different bands in the Winnipeg experimental/art rock scene and touring around Canada.

In 2009 Jim moved to Montreal and started releasing solo albums and performing under the name Hellenica in 2012. Many years of writing and performing in Montreal he decided it was time to bring his music to europe. In 2016 Hellenica toured in Europe and then again in 2018 performing in Berlin, Groningen, Prague, Kassel, Bamberg, Leipzig, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Rotterdam.  After returning from the 2018 tour Jim started writing Blood Meridian.

Hellenica: Blood Meridian – An Imagined Soundtrack is Jim Demos‘ first solo release on Somewherecold Records. It comes out November 15th on CD in limited wallet and on all digital formats. Get all those pre-orders in as the label rounds out the year with some exceptional releases!