The last time Classic Rock chatted with Andy Curran and Alex Lifeson about the future of their new musical venture, the bassist and guitarist were non-committal, almost shy in addressing the notion, and labelling it “a project”.
That was in the spring of 2022, though, and the affirmation that they’d created something special was just around the corner. That year their dark, dreamy self-titled debut album hit some serious milestones, among them No.1 in Billboard’s New Artist and Alternative Artist lists, No.6 in the Canadian Alternative chart, and a trio of Top 10 places in the UK. Not that sales positions are everything, but, alongside positive feedback in the media, the four-piece had certainly found an appreciative audience.
Leaping forward to 2025, Envy Of None are now releasing album number two, Stygian Wavz, a record in keeping with its predecessor’s gothic-rock imaging, and the dark, dreamy sonic picture now expanded psychedelically. And Lifeson tells us the plan fell into place quickly.
“I think we started working on the record about twenty minutes after the release of the first,” he says, grinning, on a video call with Classic Rock and EON vocalist Maiah Wynne. “We had little bits of ideas lingering. But once we committed to doing a second LP, we threw those aside and started with fresher, newer ones. And it was really exciting, because we’d had this great time making [the debut], and nobody wanted to stop.”
There was a short pause, however, as Wynne completed her introspective solo album, Out Of The Dark, on which the 28-year-old confronted childhood trauma and mental health issues. Ten years in the making, it has assistance from, among many others, Envy Of None bandmates Lifeson and Alf Annibalini.
“I think a lot of us were also going through personal kind of journeys,” Wynne says. “For me, the years after the first [EON] album release were really challenging. I was going through a lot of growth and difficult moments.
“In some ways I think the music was a way for us to channel that, lyrically,” she elaborates. “The first album’s lyrics have a lot of self-reflection, a lot of pain, and that’s in Stygian Wavz too. But then there’s a lot of hope and a feeling of movement. I put a lot of my personal self into these lyrics.”
Envy Of None began as the duo of Canadian producer/engineer/guitarist/programmer Annibalini and his long-time creative partner Andy Curran, a key member of Toronto hard rockers Coney Hatch and an industry high flier. Curran’s CV includes A&R work at the Anthem label, owned by Rush, where he became friends with the band.
Curran met Wynne when she won a radio talent contest in 2016. Part of her prize was a mentorship with him via Zoom. His head turned by an industrial-style song she had, Curran encouraged Wynne to keep up what she was doing, to meet more musicians and to develop herself. To his surprise, Wynne asked if they could write together, offering vocals for a song he had in a similar industrial, and cinematic, vein. She was soon told that Rush guitarist Lifeson was on board. Working with Lifeson was an important step for Wynne, and not just musically.
“My parents had been to a few Rush concerts together,” she says. “Having this association was really special for me, because I think it’s every parent’s worst nightmare when your child pursues music as a career [laughs]. It was a really great turning point for me, and special to be able to connect with them in that way. But they didn’t believe me at all when I first told them, they thought I was being scammed!”
But no, it was all true. Today Lifeson is keen to cheerlead for Wynne, telling Classic Rock: “I found her delivery, voice and the thoughtfulness that went into her arrangements really impressive.
“I seldom really commit to developing a song fully, because I’m waiting to hear what Maiah does, and this informs me so much about where I can take the guitar,” he says of their ‘process’. “I weave in and out of what she’s created harmonically, and the symbiotic result is that we sort of dance together. I always say that Maiah’s my muse. There’s something about her that’s really affected me and the way I produce music.”
As for the new record’s tracklist, “a lot of the material is coming from Andy, Alf and Maiah,” Lifeson says. “I love to enhance somebody else’s music, because quite often it’s not what people expect to hear from me. They think it’s the guy from Rush and he’s going to do this, but I usually end up doing something that’s not recognisable as ‘Alex Lifeson’. That’s key for me in this band, because I want to expand my horizons, creating guitar sounds that don’t sound like guitar, and have rhythm, tone, colour and all of this emotional content.”
In between the debut and Stygian Wavz, Wynne worked on “little projects here and there”, she says. “I’ve been working on an animated feature film, studying some online classes in production… and I did a month-long trip to India.” You can hear that spiritual influence in Stygian Wavz, as well as a Balkan/Anatolian imprint.
“My family are from Serbia,” Lifeson says. “That music was always playing when I was growing up. It’s definitely in my style.”
This next phase of Envy Of None makes Wynne beam. “I’m doing something exciting with my career, but beyond that I have a large amount of respect for my Envy Of None brothers, such talented and just kind human beings. I’ve loved becoming friends with them. And I honestly woke up this morning and I was like: ‘I’m so excited I get to see Alex again!’ It’s such a joy getting to work with them.”
Lifeson is enthusiastic too. “When I finally listened to the mastered record from top to bottom, I felt: ‘This is a band,’” he says, smiling. “The first record was a union of four musicians writing music to create an album, but with this second one we really connected as bandmates.”
Stygian Wavz is out now via K Scope.
