He returned to Canada in the mid-'80s, and began playing clubs and festivals in the area. Fearing self-released his debut album Stephen Fearing (The Yellow Tape) in 1986, and signed with Canadian label Aural Tradition for a second album, 1988's Out to Sea. The LP also appeared in the U.K. on Black Crow Records. Though he recorded the album Blue Line in 1989, Fearing spent most of that year and the next touring the U.S. and Europe on a Celtic bill that played at Peter Gabriel's WOMAD Festival and the Reading Festival. Canada's True North signed him in 1991 and reissued Out to Sea and Blue Line before releasing his major-label debut The Assassin's Apprentice in 1994. It featured appearances from Sarah McLachlan and longtime friend Richard Thompson. The album was also Fearing's U.S. debut, on Cooking Vinyl Records. Industrial Lullaby followed in 1998 and So Many Miles followed two years later. ~ John Bush