Information/Write-up
This is, in my view, the greatest electrified folk-psych album ever recorded by a Canadian—and recorded in Canada. Issued by Columbia in 1973, By Turning a Knob stands entirely on its own. It’s haunting, spiritual, raw, sometimes oddly playful, but always emotionally gripping. After hearing tens of thousands of Canadian records over the years, this is the one I keep returning to.
From the moment the needle drops, you’re pulled into Peter Tessier’s strange and beautiful sonic universe. Stark acoustic guitar passages unravel into buzzing electric sections; surreal tape effects drift in and out of the mix; lyrical motifs reappear in unexpected places. There’s a subtle conceptual thread running through the record—bits of songs are repeated across different tracks, creating a feeling of memory, loss, or spiritual reflection. It's a deeply personal and immersive listen.
The packaging sets the tone: a mysterious gatefold cover with minimal text, album design by Bart Schoales, and a portrait sketch of Tessier on the back by Christine Middleton. Tessier wrote and arranged all of the music, and co-produced the album alongside Ben Kaye, with John Williams credited as executive producer. Though released on Columbia, the album received almost no promotion and disappeared quickly. Today, it remains one of the rarest Canadian major-label LPs of the 1970s.
There’s an element of pastoral psychedelia that runs throughout the album—earthy, introspective, and subtly warped. Pounding organ and occasional female backing vocals rise and fall across the record, creating an atmosphere that often feels like a stream of consciousness set to tape. The mood is fluid, shifting from moments of serene calm to sudden, disorienting intensity, capturing a sense of inner turmoil that runs just beneath the surface. Tessier moves between acoustic warmth, spiritual reflection, and subtle studio experimentation, shaping an experience that’s eclectic in sound but unified in emotional tone. This is not a collection of songs—it’s a continuous, immersive album meant to be taken in as a whole.
Once nearly forgotten, By Turning a Knob has since gained a devoted following. In 2023, the Canadian label Return To Analog officially reissued the album on vinyl, complete with a limited gatefold LP pressing—bringing long-overdue attention to one of Canada’s most compelling psychedelic recordings.
Peter Tessier had a remarkable musical background. Before stepping into the spotlight, he engineered several important Canadian albums: Melchior Alias (Capitol, 1969), Sebastian – Rays of the Sun (MCA, 1969), Life (Polydor, 1970), and Sheila Graham (CBC, 1970). After releasing By Turning a Knob, he continued behind the scenes—engineering Procréation by Morse Code (Capitol, 1975) and producing Neige by André Gagnon (London, 1975), which became one of the most commercially successful instrumental albums in Canadian history.
By the late 1970s, Tessier had become a prominent figure in the Montréal studio scene, producing and arranging for a wide range of disco and pop acts including Chatelaine, Ron Richardson, Black Light Orchestra, Sophie Stanke, Voggue, Space Project, Kaméléon, Danny V, and Patrick Norman, among others. His fingerprints are found across a wide spectrum of Quebec’s studio output from that period.
To this day, By Turning a Knob remains one of the most singular albums I’ve ever encountered. It’s a record that offers no easy answers—only atmosphere, fragments, echoes. And for those who find a copy and listen deeply, it leaves a lasting impression that few albums ever do.
-Robert Williston
All words and music by Peter Tessier
Arranged by Peter Tessier
Produced by Ben Kaye and Peter Tessier
Executive producer: John Williams
Album design and direction by Bart Schoales
Back cover drawing by Christine Middleton
... mellow / ominous [=funk?] deep bass w/ skillful use of reverb -- more toward the Dark Side of the Moon flavo[u]r than the Jeffersonian Airplane musically. Has that genuine spacey sound tho...