Stefan Gnyś (pronounced G’neesh) recorded what would have been his first album Horizoning, at Heidebrecht Recording Services in St. Catherine, Ontario, Canada on April 21st 1969. Ten tracks were cut in a day-long session that Stefan had perfected over the previous 12 months, with the songs Horizoning and English Oaks having been inspired by a trip to the UK and Europe during the eventful summer of 1968. Twelve acetate copies were ordered, of which Stefan kept two, the rest given to family or sold at gigs. Subsequently, 300 copies of a self-financed vinyl 45 pairing Horizoning and Evangeline were pressed by RCA Custom Record Division and duly sent to radio and sold at concerts, which went down extremely well and led to more live dates. Needless to say the 45 soon sold out but this was as far as his recorded legacy went, as in 1970 Stefan went to university, then got married and started a family while he embarked on a life-long career as a teacher. Music however remained a constant in his life.
With contemporary musical influences ranging from country, rock ‘n’ roll and pop, it was the advent of the folk boom in the early 60’s and artists such as Glen Campbell, Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Peter, Paul & Mary, and later fellow Canadians Ian & Sylvia and Gordon Lightfoot, as well as Dylan, The Beatles and the British Beat invasion that inspired the (then) 24 year old Stefan Gnyś to write and record his own compositions. So after intensive rehearsals on his own, Stefan entered the studio with his friend David Van Duzen, ran through each song once and then recorded it, with Van Duzen accompanying him on guitar or bass, displaying remarkable confidence and musical ability.
Horizoning was recorded at Heidebrecht Recording Services, a studio run by radio technician John Heidebrecht, who mainly recorded jingles and used fairly primitive reel-to-reel technology. He offered a cutting service to commit recordings to acetate, then routinely erased the tape used to record the next project; therefore there is no master tape. This release should really be regarded as a ‘found’ sound recording as it is only because Stefan retained two personal acetate copies that it exists at all. Those two copies were used as the audio sources for this release.