Sound Salvation Army

The motivation behind a solo record is different for every artist who splinters off from the confines of their established band to go it alone. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke felt there wasn’t enough jittery, spastic electronic music in the world; Edwin left I Mother Earth to make sure teenage girls had enough schmaltzy life-affirming MAPL-eligible anthems.

As far as I can tell John K. Samson hasn’t really stated publicly his own reasons for leaving his bandmates in The Weakerthans and going solo (the group hasn’t been entirely dormant in the four years since they released their last album; they recorded the resplendent Falcon Lake Incident with Jim Bryson in the interim). When he began releasing what was originally described as a “series” of 7″ EPs in 2009 they were described as sets of songs inspired by prominent roads in Manitoba (City Route 85 is Portage Avenue, one of the main roads through Winnipeg). That source of inspiration carries through to Provincial, Samson’s first solo long-player — especially the half-dozen songs that were already released on those 7″ singles. But he’s also finding more to write about in the land and people that dwell within those grids and highways.

Provincial is the very definition of a concept album, structured in a very rigidly-thematic way that actually becomes somewhat detrimental. Because the songs are so anchored in the actual, physical space of Manitoba “Highway 1 East” and “Highway 1 West” serve as the entry and exit points of the record with the songs in between tied to specific locales and regions. While it makes perfect sense on paper it also makes the sequencing a bit jarring, as some stretches of songs don’t flow well or transition smoothly from one to the next. A minor quibble, but one that could potentially take the listener out of the moment if they aren’t invested in the artist or the larger idea.

Sequencing aside the songs collected here are typical Samson: evocative, emotionally rich, and detail-oriented.

As mentioned “Highway 1 East” is the entrance music, of sorts, echoing tracks like “(Manifesto)” from Reconstruction Site in it’s brief, almost introduction-like length. Instead of the galloping drums or bursting horns it has a much quieter arrangement of muted brass and distant guitar that carry an absolutely beautiful minor key melody through a brief 84 seconds to a surprisingly abrupt end. There’s virtually no indication that the song is over until the next begins, the last note left hanging as the listener waits for another to arrive. It’s awkward and almost feels unfinished.

The remainder of the songs generally fall into two categories that will be familiar to fans of The Weakerthans: gentler finger-picked acoustic numbers and “Aside”-style rockers. Previously-released “Heart Of The Continent” is in the former category, the cadence of its guitar work very reminiscent of “One Great City,” “Psalm For The Elk’s Lodge Last Call,” or even “Left and Leaving.” “Letter In Icelandic From Ninette San” and “Stop Error” are similarly structured. “Longitudinal Centre” is a full-out rocker that features some of the gnarliest guitar tone of Samson’s career and “Highway 1 West” has crunchy power chords and HUGE, stomping drums that cannot be denied.

“The Last And” is the highlight for me, a brilliant divergence from expectation. The bulk of the re-recorded song is built from brushed drums, double-bass that’s as slow and robust as molasses, piano, cello and plucked strings (maybe even ukulele). The song sees Samson writing from the presumably-female perspective of a teacher spending some lonesome free time at school. The last lines of the song reveal she’s pining after another faculty member, maybe even the principal, that she’s apparently had an affair with. “Sometimes in the staff room I catch your eye,” he softly sighs. “But why’d it have to end? I know from how you worry at your wedding band that I’m just your little ampersand.” It’s the kind of story-song Samson is so adept at, singing about emotions that have been sung about a million times before in a wholly unique way. Using language as a metaphor or a tableau from a school lunch room fixes the story in a direct way to a real, relatable world that we have all experienced before.

That’s the genius of Samson as a songwriter: he’s primarily a gifted storyteller who also knows how to create a captivating melody. He understands that the devil is in the details and he makes sure there’s no shortage of them. At the same time, however, he’s conscientious about overburdening the listener and deftly chooses the language or imagery that provides the most impactful emotional connection.

Consider “Cruise Night” and its vivid retelling of weekends spent as a teenager cruising the main drag; it’s inspired by Winnipeg’s Portage Avenue but it’s also about Regina’s Albert Street and every other prairie town where kids fought boredom by wasting fossil fuels, only stopping to turn in the other direction or pick a soda up from the Dairy Queen. Less universal but equally vivid are songs like “Heart Of The Continent,” which describes the oppressive conditions of the more desolate and Arctic parts of the province, and “Letter In Icelandic From Ninette San,” one of two songs that centers around Manitoba’s Ninette Sanitarium. It is a now-abandoned tuberculosis hospital that is credited with doing much of the work that would eventually help end the persistent spread of TB. Samson is concerned with telling the story from the inside, chronicling the grim acceptance of eventual death and perpetual agony of a patient confined to the hospital. “In another year I’ll be buried or shivering here, coughing at the grey spittoon painted orange by the harvest moon….Go stand up straight in the place you’re longing for and don’t write to me anymore,” the protagonist insists in his last letter home.

As melodically rich as these songs are Samson’s work always proves most rewarding to those that are willing to dig deeper into the meaning of the songs. Provincial is no exception. His obsession with roads, how they both feed and siphon prairie communities and inform every step of their resident’s lives from birth to death, is poignant at a time when rural populations are dwindling and urban centers are almost uniformly proving that they’re unsure or unable to deal with the inevitable growth that comes along with those shifting demographics. It’s simultaneously timely and timeless, a collection of stories that express the universality of the human experience despite the fact that they’re intensely specific, even provincial, in nature (pardon the pun).

Perhaps more importantly: as terrific as the record is it also gives fans hope for the future. Regardless of the reasons for Samson going solo he’s proven that he’s more than capable when left to his own devices. The sonics of Provincial run parallel enough to the group’s work that, should the unfortunate day come when The Weakerthans’ disband, we can rest easy knowing that the architect of their sound will still be able to provide us a sufficient approximation in it’s wake.

 

 John K. Samson - The Last And: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Samson music, merch, and copies of his upcoming book can be found through Anti-Records’ on-line store or the venerable iTunes. Canadian tour dates are listed below!

3/7 Kingston, ON at The Grad Club
3/8 Ottawa, ON at Mavericks Bar
3/9 Montreal, QC at La Sala Rossa
3/18 Hamilton, ON at The Casbah
3/20 London, ON at The Aeolian Hall
3/21 Guelph, ON at E-Bar
3/22 Toronto, ON at Great Hall
3/27 Winnipeg, MB at West End Cultural Centre
3/28 Regina, SK at The Exchange
3/29 Edmonton, AB at The Royal Alberta Museum Theater
3/31 Vancouver, BC at The Biltmore
4/13 Calgary, AB at The Palomino
4/12 Kamloops, BC at Hero’s Pub
4/14 Saskatoon, SK at Amigos Cantina

Pat entries acoustic, Anti- Records, Canadian content, Epitaph Records, indie folk, indie rock, John K. Samson, Manitoba, rock, the Weakerthans

Said The Whale could be coasting right now. Coming off a phenomenally well-received full-length album in 2009 the BC band has been pushing through several cross-Canada tours, dropped into the States for an extensive sojourn that included an appearance at SXSW, and won a Juno for New Group Of The Year. And while it hasn’t been without it’s low points, that’s a pretty good year or two, you guys!

Regardless, it appears the band’s creative streak is also in full effect. Today marks the release of a new EP called New Brighton, the precursor to another full-length album set to come out in the new year. In just four songs it’s readily apparent they’re moving on to bigger and better things. Things being songs.

“Camilo (The Magician)” was the break-out single from their first record, Islands Disappear, but I always felt like “Out On The Shield” was a better representation of what Said The Whale is capable of. In under three minutes it speaks to Canadian geography, the legacy of remote territories, and the workers and jobs that are tied to them. It also does it with a brisk tempo, upbeat choral vocals, and a flawless, cascading melody. It’s all the band’s potential rolled into one.

New Brighton succeeds because it parses out each of the elements that made that song work, puts them into four new songs, and expands on them.

Single “Lines” boasts a terrifically bouncy backbeat, driving along a pure pop melody that is brilliantly reinforced with jaunty keyboards. Call it a power-pop number with a little less power, the cooing “ooh-la-la-la” background vocals reminiscent of a purer era of pop music that feels right at home alongside the group’s modern sound. The gentle grace of the song dovetails delightfully with the EP’s closer, “Little Bird.” It’s a slow and easy folk song comprised of a patiently-strummed acoustic guitar, strings, and the band’s beloved glockenspiel that gives the brief album a sense of finality that brings the whole package to a close.

In my mind though the money track here is “Sandy Bay Fishing Song,” a song that echoes “Out On The Shield”’s Canadiana storytelling, a title that technically could refer to specific locations in Saskatchewan or Manitoba but, I’m sure, actually pertains to Nova Scotia. The actual setting of the song itself appears to be Halkett Bay in BC, which would be closer to the band’s Vancouver home. Regardless, it’s a virtuosic tale of a young man kissing his mother goodbye and venturing out under the cover of dark to go after the sea’s largest catchable foes, carrying on a legacy created by his father. It’s a tale that anyone who’s ever worked a rod and reel can relate to but it’s rendered as high-drama thanks to a heavily-percussive arrangement filled with calculating drum fills, punctuated guitar stabs, and some slinky bass slides. The vocals on the chorus also soar to nearly rhapsodic heights, particularly leading into a brilliant beat-shifting bridge.

In my mind, while all the songs of New Brighton are memorable in their own way, Said The Whale continues to be at it’s most effective when it’s capturing these tableaus of Canadiana, rendering them vivid as a vision and real as a spray of sea foam in the Howe Sound.

Here’s hoping with Little Mountain, a 15-song affair on the way in March, they continue to push that unique vision. If the track “Big Sky, MT” is any indication they might even be expanding it.

America should be so lucky.

 

 Said The Whale - Lines: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Said The Whale - Out On The Shield [2:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

New Brighton can be purchased through iTunes so far but I know there are CDs that exist because I got sent one in advance.

Pat entries Canadian content, EPs, Hidden Pony Records, indie rock, pop, rock, Said The Whale, teasers

Bruce Peninsula’s new record represents a new lease on life, literally, even if it wasn’t entirely intentional.

The “alt-choral” group has returned with its second full-length album, but it wasn’t easy to come by. The group, helmed by lead singer Neil Haverty, made a concerted effort in mid-2010 to work up a group of songs that added more detailed musical elements to their unmistakable sound. According to press materials and interviews, the group wrote quickly, embracing its instincts and not over-working the songs. Open Flames, the result of those sessions, was originally ready to go for spring of this year. But Haverty was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in December and the record was put on hold while he received treatment. When the leukemia went into remission Haverty emerged from potential tragedy armed with a newly-assembled group of singers and released the album.

While there’s nothing in the press materials that indicates Haverty was aware of or anticipating any kind of medical distress the lyrics of Open Flames certainly reflect the undeniable fragility of life. The group’s first record was sprinkled with apocalyptic lyrical tableaus, Haverty’s words portraying mountains as mouths eating the sky and bodies of water actively working to overwhelm the land. The implication of inevitable decay is here in spades once again, but turned inward. “As Long As I Live” starts the album as a bold statement; the thunderingly percussive track is as mighty a musical arrangement as Haverty has produced. His gruff singing tells the story of an overgrown, crumbling earth calling his name. He admits that, “my hand was a hammer and my heart was a stone…my heavy heart now a phantom limb for as long as I live.” A primarily-female choral vocal persists throughout the song’s remainder, insisting, “You can’t hide what you are.”

The troubled sentiment persists, through the next song and beyond. “What am I if not just dust?” he wonders during “In Your Light,” a song whose bright, polyrhythmic guitar figures and convoluted bass line betray the underlying worry of that question. “Pull Me Under” is an obvious one, as Haverty laments, “I can’t keep my head above the water.” “Say Yeah” sees Haverty’s voice return after several numbers carried by female singers. He sounds wearier and more drawn than before as he sings, “What has come to collect you soon will come to protect you.” He sounds more than ever like he needs that protection. “Open Flame” is a cry for purification, a plea for something to burn away the darkness, “if only your body can stand for you.” “Cliffs and Coves” reflects the earthly imagery of the first album, imploring “Oh mountain, resist,” even as the waves of a great body of water unyieldingly slam against its base, slowly eroding that which makes it whole (a more apt cancer metaphor I have yet to find). The album ends with “Chupacabra,” in which Haverty concedes, “I don’t know where my body goes.”

It’s an overarching tenor that would seem prescient if the music hadn’t come before the illness. The idea of a heart as a phantom limb (a syndrome where someone who has lost an arm or leg feels in their mind that the limb is still there) is, in particular, an incredible metaphor, suggesting a kind of impossible loneliness or isolation. Still, Haverty and The Bruce Peninsula aren’t overcome by the dour nature of some of their words. The defining elements of their music ensure that simply cannot happen.

For the uninitiated, their music is generally constructed around a varying degree of minimalist folk and/or rock instrumentation, but impeccably-layered vocal arrangements and a big-tent, choral atmosphere give them a unique kind of immensity that pushes each song into it’s own brand of maximalism. Think of the arrangements of a band like Explosions In The Sky but instead of the consistent, building intensity being generated by the instruments an ever-swelling tsunami of human voices layered and piled on top of one another is responsible for creating the dramatic peaks and valleys. To a person, every voice you’ll hear on this record is imbued with a remarkable kind of passion, their tenor and tone conveying the emotional edge of the song one syllable at a time. Haverty’s sandpapery lead vocals serve as counterpoint to the inevitable tenor of polish a choral arrangement demands, lending an incredible character to each number.

Haverty also knows when to give up the reigns. His new choir, which has been in the past as high as ten people during live performances (one imagines there’s no cap on that number when they’re working in the studio), is anchored by strong female vocalists like Daniela Gesundheit (better known as Snowblink) and Tamara Lindeman, whose own “band” The Weather Station is gaining a lot of steam right now. Haverty surrenders or shares the lead with these powerful, expressive singers on most of the record’s middle half; the fantastically-constructed “Say Yeah” sees them harmonizing throughout. The song’s dynamic melodicism benefits not only from their performances but also a series of rhythmic shifts that run counter to the preciousness of the verses. It’s something altogether new for Bruce Peninsula, the vulnerability of those verses betraying the electric guitar and pounding drums that finish out the song in a punishing fashion.

It’s those signs of growth that help Open Flames succeed. It’s the inherent power of Haverty’s lyricism, the unequivocal feeling and passion in the singing that is the defining characteristic of the band, and the unique approach to rock music that continues to allow it to stand alone in it’s own corner of the music world. It’s an undeniably powerful record that never seems repetitive, routine, or rehashed.

But Open Flames is not an album about death; that would be too simple. It’s an album about life, about honesty, about embracing that which makes us human. Even with a dark cloud hanging overhead it’s about as joyous a cautionary tale as you’ll ever hear and it’s a stand-out record in a year that threatens to overflow with them.

 

 Bruce Peninsula - As Long As I Live: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Bruce Peninsula - In Your Light: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pat entries alt choral, Bruce Peninsula, Canadian content, indie rock, rock, vocal

It’s that magical Regina Folk Festival time of year again!

We’ve done some cursory coverage of the festival in previous years but we’re going full-tilt this time around, as the kind folks in the front office have decided our site is an “approved and well-established website” and thus is worthy of media accreditation. That means I’ll be down in Victoria Park all weekend long taking in the sights and songs for the entire festival.

There’s a lot that I’m looking forward to, although some people are saying this year lacks the punch of a really big name to draw a sizeable crowd. That might be borne out by the fact that none of the day’s passes have been sold out yet.

However, if you can’t get excited about K.D. Lang’s return to the crown jewel of Regina then you’re a damn fool. Festival artistic director Sandra Butel told the media earlier this year when the line-up was announced that there are some festival die-hards that still talk about her breakout set at the festival in 1985 and what an incredible revelation it was. That sounds like a show worth seeing, never mind the fact that she’s had 26 years to polish her show. Her new album Sing It Loud (which comes on the heels of a two-disc greatest hits package issued last year) finds her reinvigorated by her new backing band, The Siss Boom Bang (a name, I admit, I hate). It’ll be a tough set to beat, I’m quite sure.

Closing out Sunday night is Hawksley Workman, a performer with no shortage of stage presence or desire to wow a crowd. He’s also in a creative peak, having released two complete albums in the span of about a year and a half. There’s no way he’ll play the song I’ve posted below but by god that would be something, wouldn’t it? Having never seen him perform live it will be interesting to see what kind and how fervent an audience he’ll draw on the last night of the show (which, by the way, could have rain if the forecast holds true).

Let’s not forget the artist with the most pedigree in the bunch. Taj Mahal is most often described as a blues artist but he is also known for folding world music elements into his guitar-driven numbers. I’m not sure if or how often he’s been in Saskatchewan but I’d be surprised if it hasn’t called to him in the past; the American singer has a serious passion for farming. As a younger man he was forced to choose between his two passions, having graduated with two agricultural degrees before going into music full-time. He’s a classic of the genre that I can’t wait to see.

International flavour is always a big draw at the RFF as well, and this year is no exception. Butel explained that she worked with artistic directors of other western Canadian folk festivals to ensure that acts like Etran Finatawa, a group of musicians from two separate African tribes that joined together in unity to promote peace among their people, had a string of dates across the country that would ensure it would be fiscally viable for them to come to the country. Quebec resident Marco Calliari has deep Italian roots and accesses them in his solo work, which has been compared to the high-energy melodic frenzy of Gogol Bordello. Honduran Aurelio Martinez plays a variation on the percussion-driven Paranda style of Garifuna music (in addition to being an incredibly-captivating singer.

Hip indie kids will have their run of great acts too. Vancouver’s laid-back acoustic song-slinger Dan Mangan, violinist and whistler extraordinaire Andrew Bird, french-speaking QC piano ingenue and tattoo maven Béatrice Martin (aka Coeur de Pirate, represented below with a track by her side project Armistice, which sees her singing in English for the first time), east coast quirk-rocker Shotgun Jimmie, indie rock upstarts Braids, and the newly-revitalized children’s songsmith Fred Penner will all take the main stage. All have their own uniquely melodic styles and I’m dying to see all of them.

And that’s just the main stage. The free daytime “workshops” on Saturday and Sunday are always a big reason to head back to the park outside the headliner hours. Local/provincial superstars like Library Voices, Slow Down Molasses, Jeffrey Straker, Zachary Lucky, Rah Rah, and the Hard Ramblers are all involved in the free day events, in addition to main stage appearances.

And the beer gardens last ALL DAY now! All day! Amazing!

 

 Armistice - Mission Bells: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Dan Mangan - Robots: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Etran Finatawa - Kel Tamasheck: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Hawksley Workman - Warhol's Portrait Of Gretzky: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Rah Rah - Fuck NAFTA: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Taj Mahal - Fishin' Blues: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s all so much to take in! You can get the full details from http://www.reginafolkfestival.com and tickets can be bought from the festival site starting on Friday. DON’T MISS IT!

Pat entries Andrew Bird, Aurelio Martinez, blues, Braids, Canadian content, Coeur de Pirate, Dan Mangan, Etran Finatawa, folk, Fred Penner, Hawksley Workman, indie rock, Jeffrey Straker, k.d. lang, Library Voices, Marco Calliari, Rah Rah, Regina Folk Festival, rock, Shotgun Jimmie, Slow Down Molasses, The Hard Ramblers, world music, Zachary Lucky

I’m sure going solo is a harrowing experience for band members. Stepping away from your comfort zone to do something very different from what your audience is used to/expects from you must be a difficult decision. That’s why Graham Wright’s new solo record is kind of a pleasant surprise: it isn’t all about willfully subverting expectation. It feels more like having some extra songs and not knowing what to do with them.

The keyboardist and vocalist with the acclaimed fuzz-pop combo Tokyo Police Club doesn’t make a point of casting off his full-time band’s youthful exuberence or the sense of joy that permeates their songs. It’s more a shifting of gears, a chance for Wright to showcase his guitar-centric compositions instead of hiding behind his Roland.

The songs run the gamut, with driving pop-rock numbers that aren’t terribly far removed from TPC’s usual fare popping up every few tracks. Wright also hits a few melancholy notes as well, leaning on his acoustic guitar on a majority of these numbers.

But if you’re worried it’s more of the tired, mopey acoustic singer-songwriter fare that two out of every three rockers who put out solo albums these days are throwing at us, take heart! Wright hews closer to a Jonathan Richman than a Greg Graffin. “Something Stupid” is the opposite of the old standard break-up song, with Wright not wanting to hear the uncomfortable details of how his brand new ex-girlfriend has been getting around since they broke up. Colourful details about how it’s “raining cats and dogs” and his former lady getting drunk and falling down on the grass outside a bar flesh out the story as cathartic banjo and double-bass betray the slightly melancholy tenor of the song with a bluegrassy backbeat. It helps to downplay the sadness while maintaining the emotion.

Wright’s quirk goes a long way, with the very next track showcasing his sense of humour. The 50’s-rock sax underpinnings and distorted power chords of “Potassium Blast” fade into the background when he starts singing about his various women and their various maladies. “My baby’s a gimp, oh yeah/she walks with a limp,” the song begins, Wright flirting with the PC police. “My girlfriend’s so hip/you know she talks with a lisp/she makes a real mess of her words,” he continues later in the song. It’s the playful descriptions of his quirky ladies and the irrepressibly-catchy synth flourishes that take the dark edge off his admission that, “I’m sick of drinking my breakfast, baby.”

Indeed, the poppiest tracks here are also the ones that make your eyebrows go up. Brilliant single “Soviet Race” is the most immediate example. It’s dynamic drum beat, insistent rock guitar, and a vocal melody a young Elvis Costello would be proud of make it easily the catchiest song here. A tale of a young boy witnessing his father’s Cold War paranoia spins into…I don’t know, a story of star-crossed lovers? It doesn’t really matter, this song is too fucking catchy. I just lost my train of thought. What were we talking about again?

Right, love songs. There are some of those, like “Leftovers.” On the surface, it’s roughly the sweetest little love song this side of The Beatles catalogue, at least until Wright admits at the end that he doesn’t know if the girl actually likes him.

Anyway, there’s a lot going on here. Wright brings everything from found sounds to ukulele to glockenspiel to a fragile falsetto into these tracks. One might consider that unnecessary, given the fact that these 12 songs clock in at just 27 minutes. It’s a collection of adorable, amiable pop songs that seems to be over almost immediately after it starts. That might suggest a bare-bones approach or — heaven forbid — imply that the songs on Shirts vs Skins are more like sketches than fully fleshed-out tunes. But that’s simply not the case.

In the end it’s Wright’s adventurous spirit, his willingness to throw whatever he can at the wall to see what works, that gives the album its spirit and verve. It’s how often it all works that makes the album a success.

 

 Graham Wright - Soviet Race [2:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Graham Wright - Birds of a Feather: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Check out Wright’s website for links to purchase Shirts vs Skins and more info and stuff.

Pat entries Canadian content, going solo, Graham Wright, indie rock, pop rock, Tokyo Police Club, Toronto

While it might not make or break the sales of a record, it never hurts when an artist has a really good back-story for a new album release. We’ve seen it time and time again, even recently, whether it’s Bon Iver’s “heartbroken, ill mid-westerner ensconces himself in a cabin to write miserable break-up songs” or Kanye West’s search for redemption leading him to write a total freak-out rap masterpiece. Well, Winnipeg indie rockers The Details have a pretty good story behind their new full-length Lost Art too. The funny thing is they really don’t need it. Back story becomes irrelevant with an album as carefully written, recorded, and mixed as Lost Art.

The 11-track record is lush and layered, containing an almost magisterial sound that lays out how detail-oriented The Details are as songwriters and musicians. The songs on Lost Art generally revolve around guitarist and singer Joel Plett’s rhythmic guitar playing, which takes an insistent finger-picked form on a lot of the numbers here. Not unlike fellow Winnipeggers The Weakerthans (apologies to both bands for the easy/lazy comparison) it’s that bedrock that serves as the base for a set of mostly-delicate songs that leap back and forth across the bridge between folk pop and indie rock. The most outright rock and roll numbers here, like “Vulture Mechanics” and “Surface Breaks,” bring the power chords but it’s hardly amps-to-11 territory. Subtelty and dynamics go a long way here.

Part of what makes this album such a sheer delight to listen to (and it is, I assure you) is that nothing happens by accident. Everything hits in the right spot at the right tempo with the right emphasis. That seems to be the result of two important factors: first, the band spent no less than three years writing the 11 songs and a full year perfecting every last note. Second, the band enlisted some fairly heavy-hitters to man the boards in the studio: Stephen Carroll, guitarist for the aforementioned Weakerthans, and Brandon Reid, the engineer who makes The National’s records sound simultaneously, huge, intimate, dense, and dynamic.

Should anyone try to tell you that attention to detail doesn’t go a long way simply play them the album’s wondrous highlight and first-half centerpiece “The Original Mark.” A relatively quiet triumph, the song is captivatingly melodic, all yearning vocals, brushed drums, layered guitars, and textured piano, building to an emotional conclusion. That climax also illustrates the intricacies happening on both sides of the recording studio as Plett’s guitar tones change and intensify along with his singing. It adds a deft element to the proceedings that occurs so organically you might not even realize how involved it really is until a half-dozen or more listens. The guitars, piano, and tense strings all bubble to the surface of the mix at the perfect points. It is a literally perfect song, so good that despite having listened to it literally hundreds of times since it was issued last October on a teaser EP I still get a giddy rush every time I hear it.

It makes perfect sense that “Weightless In The Dark” serves as the first single, it’s rock-but-not-too-rock edge and longing vocals forming a perfectly accessible number. The story-song lyrics betray the comfortable groove of the song when you realize Plett has switched from the tale of a pair of former lovers trapped in an elevator to a tale of an impending 100-storey elevator crash that is about to kill said pair of former lovers. “You had tears in your eyes,” Plett declares several times, practically whispering it one final time before the song ends. A somewhat fantastical story, perhaps, but the bait-and-switch happens so naturally it doesn’t come across as cloying. Plett isn’t straining to be clever or cinematic; he’s earnest enough that he doesn’t have to be.

Plett’s storytelling intertwines with the deftly-arranged songs throughout the remainder of the album as well. “Lazy Activists” could be the spiritual cousin of The Weakerthans’ “Pamphleteer” with its tale of disaffected, bored suburban folk who search for a cause just to fill their time, who insist their time spent getting signatures on a petition and listening to Bob Dylan help affect real change. Opener “Satellite” finds its narrator taking comfort in interplanetary bodies of varying sizes and scopes as Plett coos one of the record’s prettiest, albeit briefest, melodies. The mournful “Gravesend Funerals” is the band’s most heartbreaking effort, lamenting the over-medication of a loved one at the end of their life and how the drugs that strive to make that person more comfortable in their last moments, that try futilely to help save them, alter that persons state of being to the point they no longer even seem like the same person. It’s a poignant lyric that becomes even more striking when you realize it’s not the sort of thing someone can write without having the accompanying experience.

I’ve read a number of reviews for Lost Art since it’s release and most of the people that have written about it like it. Even still, plenty of them almost seem like they can’t even say what it is about it that has won them over, referring more to the general mood or sound than anything else. I guess sometimes you just know you like something when you hear it.

It’s a feeling I had late last year when Jim Bryson’s latest effort was released. The Details have helped me realize that the ineffable quality that had me so frazzled, flailing around for the words to describe why I liked that album so damn much, is quite simply quality. The band has made a concentrated effort to craft songs that aren’t compressed to within an inch of their life, that don’t rely on having the loudest hook or the harshest dynamics. They’ve created melodically complex compositions on a large canvas that are at once instantly engrossing and detailed enough to keep you coming back for a second look.

 

 The Details - Weightless In The Dark: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Details - Original Mark: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Details - Uniform: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Buy this album! Get it on CD here or on iTunes here.

Pat entries brushes with fame, Canadian content, folk pop, guitar pop, indie rock, the Details, Winnipeg

Laura Stevenson sings like she’s exorcising demons.

It’s an inexplicable fact that can’t be ignored: she can have all the backing band she wants, but me? I’m showing up for that voice. That incredible, soaring, searing, voice, that voice that can do anything it’s told.

On their first full-length record Stevenson truly becomes one iwth her backing band The Cans, and long-time listeners and new fans alike reap some incredible benefits from that meeting of the minds. Fans of their previous releases get eased into what is ultimately and undoubtedly one of the top records of 2011. The opening track, “Halloweens Pt. 1 and 2″ came across as painfully lo-fi on the Bomb The Music Industry split 7″ that came out last year. Like all the songs on Sit Resist it has a comparatively glossy studio sheen that is enhanced by an impeccable mix and mastering. Where the lows on the 7″ were so low as to require one to crank the volume only to have the speakers burst when the full band comes in on the back half. The new cut has a bit of a smoother transition, not entirely sacrificing dynamics but making it a lot easier to listen to.

Now, nitpicking aside, let’s talk about the songs.

I wrote rather enthusiastically about “Master of Art” and it’s wily “Be My Baby”-aping opening drum beat a couple months ago, but it’s remarkable how stirring that song remains after a LOT of repeated listens. The best way to describe the multi-tracked vocals on the song’s back end might be to quote the immortal words of Garth Algar: they wail.

The song also represents a few thematic and lyrical examples that carry themselves all the way through the record. One of the last phrases in the song is, “The wait is just a little longer,” a word and concept that comes back in spades on two tracks at the album’s end (companion pieces “The Wait” and “The Weight”). Time appears to be something that weighs heavily on Stevenson, showcased in the next song “Caretaker” as well, in which she implores herself to write down her childhood memories before leaving the home she grew up in behind for good. The future looks bleak in “The Healthy One” as well; while it’s one of the jauntiest numbers (thanks to playful accordion and xylophone) it’s also an incredibly bleak tale of an entire family being decimated by disease, leaving just one little child behind to spend the rest of their life alone.

On the other hand is “Red Clay Roots,” a song that transcends time itself. Stevenson explained in a recent interview with AMP magazine.

I wrote that song after I found my grandma’s unfinished manuscripts. She was writing her memoirs before she died and she told me she was going to name it “Red Clay Roots” when she was finished, but she never did finish it. It’s about her growing up in Greenville, South Carolina. Her mother was a bottle smasher during the temperance movement, and her father and three brothers all drank themselves to death, but she pulled herself out and moved to New York to sing with Benny Goodman. I wrote the song to sort of celebrate her story because she didn’t live long enough to tell it herself.

The song is an eery, tin can-sounding recording that features a dusty distortion on a spare acoustic guitar part and several vocal tracks. The layered singing and humming that make up the bulk of the track create an incredibly subtle but moving effect. The lyrics hew closely to the description you see above, creating a whole package that would be perfectly comfortable on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

For me the album culminates with the final three songs. “The Wait” is the perfect embodiment of how timely yet out-of-their-time Stevenson and the Cans are. It’s pretty rare that you hear someone who is only 27 sing about their “life’s work” and “waiting for a train to come” and actually BELIEVE it. The band builds to it’s most raucous moment yet, electric guitar, trumpet, and drums all chiming in a melodically cacophonous coda that wanes into “The Weight.” Its finger-picked acoustic guitar and strings provide a temperate, gentle denoument to that moment of passion and fury while the repeated lyrics and withering tone of Stevenson’s voice emphasize the point: the wait is killing her.

Even more disarming is the record closer, “I See Dark,” a track that re-establishes the band’s penchant for experimenting within a familiar sound (something Stevenson did in spades on her first 8-song album, A Record). While it opens with some waltzing accordion, there are a few breaks of discordant distortion that might sound more at home on an Explosions In The Sky record. It works its way out with singing so pained and vulnerable it has to be genuine; Stevenson has revealed in some interviews that when the band raised the idea of changing the song from its recorded form she broke down in tears. She says it’s the most personal song she’s ever written.

The songs on Sit Resist aren’t upbeat summer jams. Stevenson writes from an extremely personal place and more often than not the subject matter, if not the backing music, is undeniably bleak. But for my money you won’t hear another record like this all year. It’s modern but respective of musical history, it’s powerful without resorting to power chords and screaming, it’s personal without being overly confessional. There isn’t a bad song on here and there isn’t a song you won’t find engaging on some level. As I said before, Stevenson is singing like she’s exorcising demons. I wouldn’t wish ill on anyone else but if that’s what it takes for her to keep writing songs like this then I hope she never finds salvation.

 

 Laura Stevenson & the Cans - The Healthy One: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Laura Stevenson & the Cans - The Wait: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you’re quick you can download Sit Resist for free from the LS&TC tumblr. Albums can be bought physically from that site and the album is on iTunes too.

Pat entries accordian, Don Giovanni Records, folk, indie rock, Laura Stevenson, Laura Stevenson & the Cans, Laura Stevenson and the Cans, rock, vocalists

For a band that has always asserted its punk rock spirit, the group’s new EP Peacemaker is probably the softest the City Streets have ever sounded.

That’s not a bad thing.

In fact, even if you don’t venture further into this eight-song collection than opening track “Windowpanes” you’d best consider yourself lucky. It sets a remarkable tone for the generous EP, a gorgeous opening number that really shows the depth of understanding of the human condition this band has. Still young men, the group, led by prolific songwriter Rick Reid, presents a startlingly mature and insightful perspective on life in all of their work and “Windowpanes” is just one more example. It wistfully recalls the diminished scale of adulthood, how as a child something as simple as spending a night in a hotel with nothing to do seems like an adventure; as a grown up the closest you can come is trying to recall how it felt to have that experience in your advanced years. Certain things may stay rigid and unchanged, but in the context of memory there’s something else at play: while the things we derive pleasure from are constantly shifting we don’t have to be devoid of pleasure. Reid relishes in the simple pursuit of the feeling.

While the band’s music never comes close to the kind of reckless hedonism such a philosophy might suggest, they seem to enjoy and exploit their ability to constantly change their sound in subtle ways. This record carries “Windowpanes” wistful, contemplative vibe throughout its entire running time, making it a stark contrast to the comparatively harsh punk rock tones of 2010’s The Jazz Age, one of my favourite albums of last year.

It’s easy to see how the two fit together and where the divide between them lies. Texturally, Peacemaker is closer to their previous full-length, cleanly and sharply produced; The Jazz Age was steeped in reverb, fuzzed-out bass, and furiously-strummed power chords, it’s production and arrangements giving the songs a calculated grit and danger that matched the lyrics perfectly.

The Jazz Age and its accompanying aesthetic is perhaps best summed up in the track “Irish Rose.” It’s Reid at his most damaged, a whiskey and cigarette-ravaged growl taking the place of his usual cleanly-sung vocals, standing in for the gutter heroes of punk rock’s yesteryear. References to drug use and women that are no good for you, sung from the perspective of a man that’s no good for anyone, paint the picture of a tumultuous downfall that plays its way through the album’s length before reaching a kind of redemption in the final song.

It’s a big rock record that stands as a singular feat, but one that also cries out for Peacemaker, a quiet companion piece that serves as the logical cool-down to it’s predecessor’s righteous fire. Built more around acoustic guitars and gentler rhythms, the songs here feature more stand-alone hooks and traditional song structures (choruses are back!). Even better, crossover-country sister act Myrol provide some sublime vocals that flesh out Reid’s melodies in a whole new way.

One of two tracks available on the group’s website, stand-out “Outside A Lover” could be a duet from Elvis Costello’s quieter moments, its casual pace and plucky guitars frame a sultry duet that is a perfect showcase for Reid and the Myrol’s. The lyrics are fairly surface-level but the demanding love story and folk pop backdrop makes for one of the band’s most accessible songs to date.

Perhaps it’s the Myrol influence manifesting in the music, but there are more country influences than normally manifest on the City Streets’ records. It’s most prominent on “Red Light Runner,” where shuffling drums and pedal steel guitar work alongside Reid’s vision of a dusty little town. “St. Avarice” also melds the group’s rock leanings with a shuffling old-country beat, dusting off the spirit of a ramblin’ man looking for a good woman to change his life (until he remembers that women aren’t good for him after all).

“Neon Lights” is the lone menacing piece here, the thundering toms and anxious bass compressed and high in the mix. It’s a moody piece about conflict in relationship and how a person’s identity can be affected by something that may or may not be something after all.

On The Jazz Age the group sang about, “the disappointment of imagined lives,” a narrative that allowed them to develop character pieces about people likely more damaged, dramatic, and deluded than they ever will be. Peacemaker offers a more real-life set of circumstances, hewing closer to a more relatable, everyday experience. But these songs never come off as plain or recycled. Following their muse has helped this band create some seriously interesting pieces of rock and roll and it is and always will be a treat to see where their seemingly boundless creativity takes them.

 

 The City Streets - Windowpanes: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The City Streets - Outside Of A Lover [3:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Buy Peacemaker and more at the group’s website or iTunes. Check out Myrol’s webstore as well.

Pat entries Best of, Best of 2010, Best of 2011, Canadian content, Edmonton, indie rock, Montreal, rock rock

Slow Down, Molasses is not just a clever name. To say that this band’s songs take their time to get where they’re going is more often than not an understatement. Thankfully for music fans, however, they’re not so patient when it comes to putting out new songs.

The Saskatoon group is embarking on a new journey, releasing its new album Walk Into The Sea in digital formats today (CD and vinyl will follow on the 15th). The one-time mostly-folky alt-country act has chosen the perfect title for an album that sees a shift in form that flows naturally from its earlier work. It’s also an album that sets the band apart from other collective groups, which seem to be becoming more and more prevalent in Canada’s independent music scene.

I remember seeing the band live for the first time last year. They played a typewriter on-stage, something that astounded me then and still kind of astounds me now (glad to see it’s still in the mix on the opening track, by the way). But the change in band leader Tyson McShane’s MO is clear right from the start. Lead track “Sometimes We All Fall Apart” establishes the past and the present immediately, opening with a lonesome guitar and mournful, tastefully-reverbed vocals before a hint of feedback leads builds into a full-on, heavily distorted electric guitar build. The song is a sorrowful lament about loneliness, an emotion that’s writ throughout many of the tracks on the album.

The noisy ending dovetails with second cut “Bodies,” which picks up where it’s predecessor leaves off: McShane is standing before a sprawling body of water, remembering his own death. While the band’s sound has been called “as spacious as Saskatchewan,” the vivid imagery presented here seems to suggest that this record is informed as much by all of Canada’s scenic landscapes as a whole, not just our own dusty province. The track’s languid pace is familiar for the band as well, a slow arrangement that is as much shoegaze as anything also serves as the listener’s first taste of what’s to come: gradually-sawed violins, complementary horns, and a patient build-up all lead to a squalling wall-of-sound ending that shows McShane and his large group of players aren’t afraid of venturing into a noisy mix as long as every part continues to serve the song as a whole.

The appearance of more straight-forward rock and roll comes in the form of tracks like “Late Night Radio” and the fantastic instrumental number “Wake Me Up At The Coast” (which is really the only track that justifies the inevitable Broken Social Scene comparisons). Both feature quicker tempos, fearless power chords, and fantastic auxilliary instrumentation, namely the very-welcome presence of a terrific horn section.

The remainder of the album is an incredibly lush and lovely exercise marked by gorgeous, if occasionally sombre, songs. McShane’s fantastic duet with east coast indie maven Julie Doiron is definitely a highlight as the two paint an evocative picture of fall on the prairies, fragile fallen leaves collapsing around them. Their voices are wonderful counterparts, McShane’s breathy delivery blending with Doiron’s as intimately as the trumpets and strings do in the instrumental breaks. It’s a pastoral tune that, like several songs here, brings a tangible, visceral set of images to mind.

McShane’s lyrical scene-setting, combined with the purposeful and creative instrumentation, production, and mixing of this record, creates a remarkable listen that will elicit different reactions and lyrical interpretations from every listener. That open-ended universality can and should make Walk Into The Sea one of the more notable releases from our humble province this year, if not Canada.

The band is heading out on tour soon, which is great for two reasons: you can see them live and they’re taking fellow Saskatchewanian Jeans Boots along with them.

Jeans Boots is the stage name for Jeanette Stewart, a creative rock and roller who has also just issued a new EP of her own, Txt Msgs.

Stewart’s sound could be described as a combination of Best Coast and Eric’s Trip, gritty guitars and playful, occasionally cooing vocals that shove classic pop-rock arrangements ahead full-throttle. The frequently-muscular rock sound that dominates this recording was a bit jarring at first, being that I was really only familiar with some of her older acoustic numbers, but it couldn’t suit her better. She sounds like she’s been playing this kind of music forever.

All in all, it’s shaping up to be the first can’t-miss tour of the spring. Make sure you don’t!

 

 Slow Down, Molasses - Feathers [2:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Slow Down, Molasses - As Meant To Be [5:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Jeans Boots - Dark Forces [4:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Slow Down, Molasses (yeah, I’m capitalizing all the words) albums are available at their Bandcamp page for a VERY reasonable price. If you prefer iTunes for some reason or CD Baby for some fool reason those are there too.

Jeans Boots has a shiny Bandcamp site that is even MORE affordable!

Tour dates, yo:
March 10 - Saskatoon - Caffe Sola Walk Into The Sea w/ Dreaming of Electric Sheep (All Ages album release)
March 11 - Saskatoon - Amigo’s (Walk Into The Sea album release & tour kick off)
March 12 - Edmonton - Wunderbar w/ Jeans Boots and Jessica Jalbert
March 15 - Vancouver - The Biltmore w/ Jeans Boots and Aunts & Uncles
March 17 - Calgary - Broken City w/ Deadhorse and Scars & Scarves
March 18 - Regina - O’Hanlons w/ Jeans Boots
March 19 - Winnipeg - The Lo Pub w/ Jeans Boots, The Empty Standards and The Slow Dancers
March 20 - Thunder Bay - The Apollo w/ Jeans Boots
March 22 - Toronto - The Horseshoe w/ Jeans Boots
March 24 - Halifax - Gus’ Pub w/ Jeans Boots, Dance Movie and Klarka Weinwurm
March 25 - Fredricton - The Capitol w/ Sleepless Nights and Writer’s Strike
March 26 - Sackville - The Royal Canadian Legion (Shotgun Jimmie CD release)
March 27 - Charlottetown - Baba’s w/ Jeans Boots
March 29 - Montreal - L’escogriffe w/ Jeans Boots
March 30 - Ottawa - The Raw Sugar w/ Jeans Boots and The Ethics
March 31 - Peterborough - The Cannery Arts Centre w/ Jeans Boots and Typewriter
April 1 - Toronto - The Garrison w/ Forest City Lovers and Kite Hill
April 2 - London - APK Live w/ Forest City Lovers and Olenka & the Autumn Lovers

Pat entries Canadian content, indie rock, Jeans Boots, Julie Doiron, live music, musical typewriters, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Slow Down Molasses

Pretty tough to really put into words how excited I am about this one, you guys. Laura Stevenson and the Cans are releasing a new album!

I’ve done you a disservice by not talking more about Stevenson’s debut EP. It sort of fell into the cracks after it was released in 2008, in the sense that I hadn’t heard it until early 2009 after I’d already put together my annual best-of junk. I kind of worry all of her and the Can’s future work will be overshadowed by that eight song collection, in fact.

Released under Stevenson’s name by Quote Unquote records, the donation-based download-only label run by her Bomb The Music Industry! bandmate Jeff Rosenstock, A Record is a shiver-inducingly beautiful collection of songs loosely wrapped around an incredibly unique and uniquely-powerful voice. The first sound you hear is Stevenson’s multi-tracked cooing on opener, “Baby Bones.” It’s a structure that flows through about half the songs here: her guitar and banjo are relegated to quiet accompaniment while her angelic vocals soar through every possible note in whatever key she’s singing in. Then there is “Landslide Song/The Dig,” a track with punk rock guitars and drums melding with a bright horn section. “Source and the Sound” could be a Mazzy Star track, synthesizer notes pushed to the front of the mix while distorted vocals are pushed lower. Drums and distorted guitar power chords cut in halfway through, adding to the syrupy feel of the song. With a group of contributing musicians, several of whom would go on to form her backing band The Cans, the short (23 minutes!) album cuts a wide swath through numerous sounds, textures, and genres. It feels like a full listen.

For me, the highlight comes with “A Shine To It.” Another song comprised entirely of finger-picked guitars and a mournful vocal performance, it’s a captivating contradiction. While the tenor of the song is decidedly maudlin, Stevenson’s lyrics are a testament to the power of love, or more accurately the power love can have over us. She talks about resorting to selling her own blood to buy baubles and trinkets she thinks might please her lover, who remains distant regardless. It’s a haunting, even heartbreaking song that shows the full power and majesty of her singing, let alone her guitar playing.

The same goes for her cover of BTMI!’s “It Ceases To Be ‘Whining’ If You’re Still ‘Shitting Blood’” — possibly one of the finest covers I’ve ever heard.

Which brings us to this week and the debut of the first track from Stevenson and The Can’s forthcoming album, Sit Resist, out April 26th. “Master of Art” follows the progression the band set out on with its Holy Ghost 7″, a more expansive, full-band sound that trends closer to rock than the intimate acoustics of A Record. It opens with a wink to Phil Spector’s 60’s girl groups with its kick drums and tambourines, bringing in some gentle shaker, electric guitar, and bass leading into a chorus that flexes just a bit more muscle. Stevenson’s voice hasn’t lost an ounce of its power, exploding into some impressive runs in the choruses and the lyrics pick up where the intimacy of her previous songs left off, though it isn’t without it’s own sense of melancholy.

I’ve been saying since I found out last year that this record would be coming out that it will be the best album of 2011. “Master of Art” only makes me believe that even more. Rcrd Lbl has the exclusive, get it from there below.

Stay tuned to the group’s web store for pre-order information or to get other tunes. Don Giovanni Records will be releasing it.

 

 Laura Stevenson - A Shine To It [2:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pat entries acoustic, Don Giovanni Records, indie rock, Laura Stevenson, Laura Stevenson and the Cans, rock