Hangin’ with buddies and puffin’ on doobies

Ezi Margolis pens youthful folk tunes on new EP

Ezi Margolis

Omar Mohamed

If you’re looking for some new folk jams then Ezi Margolis might be a good bet.

The local songwriter has been playing guitar for the last 10 years and writing his own material for five, but it wasn’t until 2014 that he started putting his songs on the Internet and taking his music
more seriously.

“I always liked music, and in elementary school I had to pick an instrument so I ended up choosing guitar,” Margolis says.

“It was either that or drums or piano. I guess I just liked the look and idea of playing the guitar.”

The music he writes is acoustic and folk based, and he cites Jason Mraz and Tracy Chapman as some of his influences.

“Honestly, I don’t listen to that much music, which is kind of funny because I play a lot of music. I’m more focused on writing my own stuff and I don’t have a lot of free time on the side,” he says.

Margolis recorded and released an EP called With or Without Me last November, which can be found on his Bandcamp page.

Like many up-and-coming musicians, he chose to do a home recording instead of visiting a studio. He ended up enlisting the help of his friend Brayden Castles, who has some recording equipment set up at his place. The duo started recording last summer and spent four months working away at the songs.

“The hardest thing was probably mastering the EP and getting all the levels equal, but that didn’t really involve me so I guess I’d say the timing. I’m usually playing by myself so I don’t usually have to worry about making sure the notes are on point with the recording,” Margolis says.

The EP contains three songs that are about puffing on doobies with your friends, coping with heartbreak and dealing with what it means to grow up.

“I’m only 20 years old so I’ve still got a lot more to live through and I’m still learning things right now so I think a lot of my songs are about my experience and dealing with getting older,” he says.

“I’d say ‘Jelly Jammer’ is my favourite because it’s the most recent song I’ve been working on. I wrote it alongside another friend of mine that isn’t a musician at all and he helped me with the lyrics when we were hanging out one day.”

Margolis played his first real gig at the Fox and Fiddle last November after spending a few years entertaining residents at seniors’ homes in his spare time. 

His set lists are comprised of his own material, but he also tosses in some covers by the Beatles, Ben Harper, The Fray and a few others.

For the rest of the year Margolis wants to keep writing and he’s even thinking of adding an actual band into the mix.

“I have a lot of friends who play music so that might be cool. I just want to keep busy because I think the music scene here in Winnipeg is pretty good.”

Published in Volume 69, Number 22 of The Uniter (February 25, 2015)

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