The Churchill folk-rock band Days on Land launched its debut album, Tales from the Shallows, on Oct. 24, releasing nine tracks that tell stories from the polar bear capital of the world. 

Roy Mexted, singer-songwriter and bandleader, was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia. He travelled all over the world playing music in cafés and restaurants before settling in Churchill with his girlfriend.

Mexted explained that he had already been travelling in Canada for a year before landing a job in Churchill as a cook in 2017. However, what was meant to be the last leg of his Canadian adventure turned into something more permanent.

“The train line was actually washed out during that time, so there was no access by train. I had to be flown in, and all of the guests for that season were flown in,” he said. “The whole town had a sense of sorrow because their only lifeline to the rest of the world was gone, and it was gone for a year and a half. And that’s the time where I decided to stay in this town, when I felt the community spirit here, and I was welcomed, and I was able to give back to this community.”

That was when Mexted wrote his first song about the town, “When the Train Comes Back to Churchill,” which appears on his 2020 solo album, Smiling Like a Sundog. 

He later wrote a new album, this time bringing in local musicians to form Days on Land. The band currently consists of Joe Stover, Jeremi Lesage and Eric Robb in addition to Mexted. According to Mexted, “days on land” is a scientific phrase used to measure the health of polar bears. 

“The more days on land they spend, the worse it is for them in the long run, the harder it is for them to survive […] It’s crucial that we keep an eye on that metric. So [the name of our band] speaks about the culture here, the importance of this place and of the polar bears,” he remarked. 

Unsurprisingly, the songs in Tales from the Shallows prominently feature life in the north. Mexted emphasized that he wanted to tell stories that can only be experienced by living there and being a part of the community. 

“Everybody who comes to Churchill is going to be taken to the Ithaka shipwreck and the Miss Piggy plane wreck, and they’ll go dog mushing, so these are the subjects that we pick up,” said Mexted. “We know the people who do the dog mushing. We know the history of the places here, so we write songs about them, just to give people a soundtrack of their time here [and give them] something to take away.”

One of the tracks, “Bear 33,” is based on a true story of a rogue polar bear. Mexted pointed out that polar bears in Churchill used to be spray-painted with black numbers for identification, and Bear 33 was infamous for causing a commotion in town. The band has since posted a music video on YouTube with the band’s drummer, Eric Robb, dressed as Bear 33.

The band’s music can be described be as folk-rock due to its commitment to storytelling. Mexted cited influences from John Williamson, an Australian country music star, The Tragically Hip and Stan Rogers. In addition to traditional instruments like the piano, accordion and harmonica, their songs feature more “hard-hitting” sounds from electric guitar and drums. 

The band only came together last year, but they have already performed at the Harvest Moon Festival in Clearwater, Manitoba and are set to tour the province in May 2026 with shows in Churchill, Thompson, The Pas, Flin Flon and possibly Winnipeg. The tour is also supported by imagiNorthern, a project that aims to amplify creative voices in northern Manitoba. 

“We are […] very excited to hopefully go down to Winnipeg and play a couple of big shows down there to show people down south what we’ve got up here, up in the north,” Mexted concluded.

Tales from the Shallows is now available to stream on various platforms. Follow Days on Land on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @daysonland.