“I think musically, we’re the best in the world.”
Alex Ernewein has good reason to proclaim Toronto as a top destination for musical exports. He cites hip-hop superstar Drake as the biggest example of a successful artist putting the Canadian city on the global map, but that fortune runs all the way down to someone like Ernewein – a musician and producer who has also flourished in recent years, by making “the weirdest chord progressions and textures, and still have them slap and get streams.”
Most may recognize Ernewein as a touring member of R&B star Daniel Caesar’s band, but he’s also performed with Charlotte Day Wilson, co-produced records for both (Caesar’s Freudian and Wilson’s Stone Woman EP), and surrounded himself with some of the city’s most promising talent (Sean Leon, Liza Yohannes, Dylan Sinclair). Most recently, he took a massive step outside of his sphere, contributing samples to Kanye West’s album Jesus is King.
He also makes music under his own name, where he strives to go “even weirder” by exploring odd chord progressions. (He admittedly grew up on a lot of jazz music.) “People know me for R&B,” he acknowledges, “but I’ve worked on so many different projects now that it’s more diverse than that.
“I think in the next 10 years, the sound is just going to get even better, and more sophisticated,” Ernewein says of Toronto’s sonic identity. “There’s too many great minds for it not to.” While he may not have reached the upper echelon of the city’s most prominent acts just yet, Ernewein – who says he’s still “showing and proving” his skills to others – is well on his way to becoming one of those great minds.