Two Hours Traffic was a Canadian indie rock band active from 2000 to 2013. Hailing from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, the group were performers of power-pop songs. Core members included Liam Corcoran, Alec O’Hanley, Andrew MacDonald, and Derek Ellis, with Nathan Gill replacing O’Hanley in 2011. Their fourth album, Little Jabs, was short-listed for the Polaris Music Prize. The band held a farewell tour before disbanding in 2013. Since then, the group has reunited occasionally. Each of the band members has since moved on to other musical projects: Corcoran pursues a solo career and plays with The Express; O’Hanley is part of Alvvays; Gill is part of North Lakes and Baby God; and MacDonald and Ellis are part of Golden Cinema.
The Express
The Express is a side project of cousins Liam Corcoran and former Hey Rosetta! member Kinley Dowling. Beginning in 2010, the duo began as an outlet for the artists to explore their songwriting. During this time, Corcoran developed a different compositional voice while Dowling started songwriting. The group is described as both folk and pop, with their debut self-titled album being heavily acousticー Dowling wrote three tracks while Corcoran wrote the rest. The album explores transitions, honesty, youth, new relationships, and experiences, while Corcoran's acoustic guitar and Dowling's violin and viola serve as bedrocks. Cuff the Duke member Dale Murray is featured much in this work, not only producing, but also playing frequently. He is sometimes cited as a core member of the Express in his own right. The self-titled album was described by the Graypoint Owl as "one part Two Hours Traffic catchiness, one part Hey Rosetta! sensitivity and one part Cuff the Duke earthiness", receiving the rating of "Proud Hoot + *swoop*". After this release, the Express went on hiatus as Corcoran and Dowling established their solo careers, but as of February 2020 the group has reconnected and performed.
Solo career
Following his ensemble experiences with Two Hours Traffic and The Express, Corcoran has developed his career as a solo artist. Although his material continues to exhibit the catchiness of pop, it has grown in other different directions. His debut EPRom-Drom can be neatly categorized as alt-country, but Nevahland, his first LP, is a stylistically-complex blend of rock, pop, indie, hip-hop, and alt-country. In March 2020, Corcoran released his latest album, Giving Tree and Other Songs ー an album split into two parts: simple acoustic songs and more elaborately-orchestrated songs, each with their own flavour including punk, rock, alt-country, lo-fi, and indie-pop. His first two releases also feature extra-musical themes: Rom-Drom explores separation from a distance, and Nevahland tells the story of three couples fleeing an oncoming disaster.
Personal life
Liam Corcoran works as the Program Manager for Holland College’s School of Performing Arts. He has also worked in other branches of education, notably co-writing a song with students from Prince StreetElementary School. In recent years, Corcoran has become a father and husband; this is encapsulated in his album Giving Tree and Other Songs which reflects ideas of domesticity and fatherhood. Corcoran is a cousin of songwriter and former Hey Rosetta! member Kinley Dowling.
