As I found out in summer 2008, Travis singer Fran Healy is incredibly genuine and forthright with fans. So I guess it wasn’t surprising to see him on Twitter announce a new Web site, where I discovered he’s working on a solo album and has posted a demo of one of the tracks.

The album is called Wreckorder and Healy offered some insight on his thought process and motivation to record it:

“I love making demos. I would bring them to the band and we would re-record them and make them sound better/more professional but the thing which made the demo magic would always be lost in the final recordings. We would have demo-itis early on, trying to recapture that “thing”. It took a while to realise our time would be better spent trying to make new moments. I suppose that “thing” is just connected to the first time you do something. There is a certain cool carelessness which comes from not knowing where something is leading you. The usual procedure would be write songs-make demos-take demos to band-make album. Taking Travis out of the flow chart meant the recording process would stop at demo stage. But it would have to sound good too.

So I bought a nice old 10 channel recording desk and some beautiful microphones and began making new demos. Writing for something other than Travis was a great release. There was no baggage. No map. When I had enough cool moments, I asked the producer, Emery Dobyns, to come out to Berlin and we finished them together, adding overdubs and embellishing.”

He also spoke of recording demos with Neko Case (!) and getting Paul McCartney (!!!) to play bass on one track. That’s what’s known as a “good get.” If you’re a gear nerd, Healy also posted pics of what he’s using in the studio.

More important, he graciously shared a demo of a new song called Holiday, a song that seems to capture his feelings of a rocky point in Travis’ recent re-emergence. The lyrics are cathartic, if not dripping in self-pity: “Don’t be fooled cause you could do without me / I think I need a holiday / Another time another place / To disappear without a trace / When I return throw me away.”

• Fran Healy | Holiday (demo)

A new Born Ruffians release is one of many albums I’m looking forward to in 2010. (It’s called Say It and it’s due out early in the year, by the way.)

In the meantime, Ruffians singer/guitarist Luke Lalonde has new material out in the form of a side project called Novels, a collaboration among five Toronto musicians — Lalonde, Graham Wright (Tokyo Police Club), Will Currie (Will Currie & the Country French), Dean Marino (Ex~Po) and Jason Sadlowski — whose goal was to write/arrange/record a five-song EP in a 24-hour period.

Here’s what the band had to say about the project:

In January of 2009, five of us locked ourselves away in Chemical Sound Studios in Toronto with the goal of writing, arranging, and recording an EP from scratch in one marathon session. When we stumbled out the door in the wee hours of the next morning, we found ourselves with what we’re now calling NOVELS.

NOVELS won’t be sold in CD stores, on the internet, or anywhere else. Instead, we’ll give them away, or put them places. Maybe you’ll find a copy sitting on a park bench. Maybe a masked man will hand you one as he passes you on the street. Maybe none of these things will happen. But we’ll make sure that everyone gets a chance to listen if they want to.

As such, they are offering a free download of the EP and an inside look at the process via video shot by documentary filmmaker Wade Vroom and photos from the studio.

• Novels | This Wouldn’t Be the Last Time

The Stateside Presents spring concert calendar is filling up faster than I can possibly ask for all these days off from work.

One of the newest additions surely will please the beard lover in all of us: Megafaun, who won over a packed house at Mesa Arts Center in September as the opener for Bon Iver, is coming back to the Valley for the third time in less than 10 months when they play the Sail Inn in Tempe on April 23. The guys seemed truly appreciative of the attentive crowd in Mesa, so it’s nice to see a return visit as a reward.

My wife swears the Bowerbirds/Megafaun pairing at Rhythm Room in August was the show of the year, and she still hasn’t stopped talking about Megafaun. It’s easy to see why, though: Aside from their kind/grateful on-stage demeanor, the guys put an intriguing experimental spin on their Southern-bred folk picking.

Tickets for the 21-and-over show are $10 and available here. Breathe Owl Breathe opens.

• Megafaun | The Fade
• Megafaun | Kaufman’s Ballad

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In more concert news, Stateside Presents used Twitter to tease to a major show announcement on Monday:

“Shhh it’s a secret…a huge show will be announced on Monday!!! I’ll give you a hint…they are in Pitchfok’s top 10 albums of 09′! ;)”

That leaves us with nine educated guesses because I think we can logically take Raekwon out of the equation. Our remaining options are: Girls, Fever Ray, Phoenix, Bat for Lashes, Grizzly Bear, The Flaming Lips, The xx, Dirty Projectors or Animal Collective.

I’m going to eliminate Dirty Projectors because they were just here a couple months ago. The Flaming Lips, who performed at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival in April, would qualify as a “huge show,” but so, too, would Grizzly Bear, Phoenix or Animal Collective. Both Grizzly Bear and AC played in Tucson in 2009 but not Phoenix (the city). Phoenix (the band) hasn’t been here in at least two or three years. Guess we’ll have to wait til Monday to find out.

I just spent the past three days traveling to and from New York, so I’m catching up on some e-mail, the most intriguing of which is one from Sub Pop offering an mp3 from Retribution Gospel Choir’s forthcoming sophomore album 2, due for release on Jan. 26 (the same date for new Spoon … 2010 is gonna be good).

Led by Low frontman Alan Sparhawk, Retribution Gospel Choir also includes bassist Steve Garrington from Low and drummer Eric Pollard. But RGC is hardly the second coming of the slowcore stylings of Low. RGC is bigger and louder, an outlet for Sparhawk to push the volume and extend his range.

2 is available for pre-order on CD and LP at Sub Pop.

• Retribution Gospel Choir | Hide it Away

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ALSO: We have winners in the Port O’Brien vinyl giveaway. They are: Hubert S., Shawn A., Kathryn M., Jeremy I. and Gabe S., all of whom have been contacted. Thanks to everyone else who entered.