Today, Zachary Lucky quietly revealed the four-track-recorded demos for last year’s “Saskatchewan.” The songs are familiar, paying a lyrical debt to his home province, Saskatchewan: the previously unreleased “Leaving pt. 2″ pays similar homage.

The recordings are warm and soft, imbued with the comfort of practice; these songs serve long tours of duty as Lucky traces a lattice across Canada, always on the road. I have seen Zachary play many times, and the aesthetic of the demos perhaps best captures the way you are drawn into his longing, the way his songs hover in the air as the loud bar goes silent. Zachary is a folk historian in the vein of Stan Rogers; he makes every effort to understand and convey the lives of those who occupy the places he loves.

“Back in the Fall” is a standout track — one I feel is best captured in simplicity, stripped of even the album version’s subtle arrangement. Occasionally, I expect and lament the loss of Carly Maicher‘s harmonies. But hey, that just means I get to sing along a little louder.