After the urgency of their 2021 album, Emergency to Emergency, and its pandemic-soaked mania, indie-folkestra, The Gertrudes (Kingston, ON) have mellowed. Somewhat. The band’s 2023 release, Just to Please You, (August 18th, Outside Music Canada / Wolfe Island Records) is their first full length album collaboration with Neptune’s Machine Producer Jason Mercer (ani di franco, Ron Sexsmith). Mercer taped his minimalist sensitivities onto The Gertrudes’ high-octane thunderstorm that results in blending the band’s classic indie-folk-rock-experimental vibe into a soundscape that’s more of a refined martini than craft beer, more organic farm than community garden. Equal parts silly and serious, this band (including next generation Gertrudes: Arden Rogalsky (drums), George Tilson (vocals), August Erb (electric guitar) and Astrid Erb (vocals) — Matt, Greg & Annnie, and Jason’s kids respectively) continues to write hopeful and hyper-local songs for and about their community.