It takes time for people to process the aftermath of their first love, but for Victoria musician Rob Nesbitt, it took a little longer than most B次元官网网址� more than two decades.

A 25-year labour of love and passion, NesbittB次元官网网址檚 first solo record, Mine Would be the Sun, was released this year. Under the artist title The SuiteSixteen, the record is full of the searing anguish, desperation and desolation of heartbreak at any age.

From a military family, Nesbitt moved around B次元官网网址� doing a good portion of his growing up in Maple Ridge and Sidney before moving to Victoria in 1984.

B次元官网网址淚 actually credit Victoria with saving me in some ways because I was an extremely emotionally troubled kid, IB次元官网网址檇 been through some drug problems when I was quite young,B次元官网网址� he said.

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Nesbitt started his music career as a co-lead singer and guitarist for Bum, a four-person, Victoria-based pop-rock band which gained an usually heavy and ongoing fan base in Spain. BumB次元官网网址檚 first album, Wanna Smash Sensation, came out in 1993, but Nesbitt suddenly felt lost in a money-fueled industry opposite from the anti-establishment punk he craved.

B次元官网网址淚 found that rock and roll didnB次元官网网址檛 live up to what I thought it was going to be,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲hen you get in the music business itB次元官网网址檚 all about deals, and who you gotta please and you got to grease this guy.B次元官网网址�

After a two-year break from music, Nesbitt came back to songwriting and began working on music about his first girlfriend, who he met growing up in Maple Ridge. Their relationship was on and off and lasted briefly into his time in Victoria.

B次元官网网址淪he was a person I hung a lot of ideals on that werenB次元官网网址檛 maybe realistic,B次元官网网址� Nesbitt said. B次元官网网址淚 live very intensely in anything IB次元官网网址檓 doing, and I put every romantic hope and dream I had ever thought of or heard of in a song or seen in a movie on this girl.B次元官网网址�

By now they are both married B次元官网网址� to different people B次元官网网址� but his wife supports his musical venture into the ghost of a girlfriend past. The album, and the hundreds of hours put into it, is as much an exploration of NesbittB次元官网网址檚 selfhood and wordy, passionate intensity for life and love B次元官网网址� as it is into the girl he once loved.

B次元官网网址淚t started out as almost a clinical examination of myself and why I am the way I am,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲hat does this actually mean? Is emotion just a chemical reaction?B次元官网网址�

Nesbitt spent countless hours in a record-filled second bedroom turned studio, developing the words and chords to perfectly express his message, fine-tuning the songs for his love story.

B次元官网网址淚 grew up loving these really highly-polished records by Def Leppard and Fleetwood Mac. I dreamed of being able to spend the amount of time it took for me to make exactly what I wanted B次元官网网址� and thatB次元官网网址檚 what I did,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚 just kept going at it until it was exactly what I wanted.B次元官网网址�

The details of the music, album sleeve and included book are emblematic of lost love B次元官网网址� the minute phrases, moments and symbols of a relationship past are framed next to NesbittB次元官网网址檚 wifeB次元官网网址檚 photography of empty spaces from his youth B次元官网网址� an empty swing set, dirt road, tree-lined street B次元官网网址� brimming with nostalgia and heartache.

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A hand-drawn sea turtle by Nesbitt himself represents a desperate attempt to win back his girlfriend through witchcraft. A young Nesbitt borrowed a library book of love spells that advised its reader to put a picture of a sea turtle beneath their pillow in a bid for reciprocated infatuation.

B次元官网网址淭here are things about emotion that cannot be explained B次元官网网址� I felt those feelings and it was important,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚t was beautiful and I donB次元官网网址檛 regret a single second of it.B次元官网网址�

Mine Would be the Sun is also, in part, a love letter to the intensity of youth.

Nesbitt rejects a common adult notion that teenagers only have B次元官网网址減uppy love.B次元官网网址� For him, that love B次元官网网址� and the lessons it taught him over the following 25 years B次元官网网址� was one of the most real things heB次元官网网址檚 ever experienced.

B次元官网网址淚 think young peopleB次元官网网址檚 lives are way more deep than we give them credit for,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not puppy love. ThatB次元官网网址檚 an easy way to dismiss something thatB次元官网网址檚 really powerful.B次元官网网址�

Mine Would be the Sun is available for purchase online only on The SuiteSixteenB次元官网网址檚 or page.