Sound Salvation Army

Melancholic songwriting about love gone wrong is a dime a dozen. Quality is in short supply when everyone and their kid sister is uploading a sappy ballad onto YouTube. That’s why Spring Breakup is worth a million damn dollars.

Earlier this year the duo quietly (practically silently) put out their sophomore album. You’ll recall their debut got me pretty excited. Mathais Kom is one of the most brilliant songwriters in Canada, his wit and dour world view complement each other perfectly. Kim Barlow is a delightful foil, all precious and precocious and every bit as subtly withdrawn when the moment calls for it.

It’s Not Me, It’s You fleshes out their previous recordings by adding a percussion to a number of songs. It’s a small change that yields big results right from the first track. Bongos (or hand drums, whatever you want to call them) add some playful character to the title track, shakers liven up “The Effect I Have On Women” and a full drum kit propels the group’s fastest-paced number, the absolutely perfect “Never Eat Alone.” And that’s just the first three songs.

Aside from adding the occasional rhythm section elements the music hews pretty closely to their previous work. Bright ukelele and banjo parts serve as counterpart to the down-in-the-dumps tenor of the lyrics, while acoustic guitar and even a very rare bit of electric guitar (on the super-dour “Puppy Dogs & Rainbows”) make an appearance. The songs are short and simply-crafted, catchy vessels for some very purposeful words.

As is usually the case with Kom’s work the lyrics are the focal point. The genesis of Spring Breakup is to tell stories of relationships ending. And they don’t end well. The group even brought a tape recorder on tour after putting out their debut so they could record the worst break-up stories their audience members had to tell. The intent was to write a song for each of them, although there was apparently too much material to work with.

Love songs work because they’re universal; it’s something virtually everyone everywhere can identify with. I suppose lost-love songs work for the same reason. And trust me, lost-loves songs of varying degrees of seriousness are the real winners on It’s Not You, It’s Me. “Never Eat Alone” is, as mentioned, brilliant. The upbeat track tells a heartbreaking tale of a woman on the wrong side of a break-up, one who has to deal with not being ready to say goodbye. The simple picture of someone who can’t bear to eat dinner alone and thus shares their meal time with their dog is heart-rending enough, but Barlow’s fragile alto lends the track an authentic fragility that does just as much as the words for the sentiment.

“Never Eat Alone” comes at the perfect moment in the album too. Opening with the lighter, more humorous “The Effect I Have On Women” and “It’s Not Me, It’s You” disarms the listener. The trade-offs between Barlow and Kom on those tracks paints the picture of a pair of swaggering lotharios (can ladies be considered lotharios?) who can get anyone they desire and drop them just as easily without the slightest bit of remorse. The romantic invincibility outlined on those songs makes the wounded tenor of “Never Eat Alone” hit like a ton of bricks.

Kom also brings his dark humour to the track “Mother and Wife,” on which he asks listeners to consider who they’d save from a burning building first: their dearly beloved or their dear sweet mother. If you’ve been paying attention it isn’t hard to guess which side Kom comes down on. Never resorting to cheap-shots, the songs here are more about romantics who act more like cads, but not purposefully. They just don’t know any better.

There’s definitely no sophomore slump here. Spring Breakup came out of the gate with a clear mandate and intent for their music and they’re sticking to the same basic blueprint here. But their well-written, precocious, sometimes precious, songs are also moving beyond their debut’s tentative first steps. It’s a formula that works so well it’s downright ridiculous. It’s just a shame they’ve chosen to do everything so low-key. If they were able to get some promotion behind this thing they could really have something moderately big on their hands instead of providing a ridiculous amount of joy to the small amount of people that have been lucky enough to stumble upon them.

 

 Spring Breakup - Never Eat Alone [1:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Spring Breakup - It's Not Me, It's You [3:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pat entries acoustic, Canadian content, folk, Kim Barlow, Mathais Kom, Spring Breakup, the Burning Hell

This blog is only a few years old, but if there’s one thing we’ve managed to establish it should be this: for a multitude of reasons, perhaps too many to count, we love the Burning Hell.

That’s why I’m frankly more than a little surprised that more hasn’t been made out of Mathais Kom’s latest record, released under the name Spring Breakup. That level of surprise roughly doubles when you factor in that Kim Barlow, folk darling of the frozen Yukon, is the group’s other principle member. Surely a meeting of the minds like this cannot be ignored!

The group quietly released a self-titled album in the latter half of 2009 and the muted sound of that record dropping is probably somewhat befitting of its content. I have no way of confirming this, but I have always pictured the two of them sitting in someone’s living room with a four-track recorder, facing each other, with nothing but a microphone or two between them while they pluck away at the 10 songs that make up the record. The recording is the very definition of bare bones, most often nothing but banjo, acoustic guitar, and ukulele propping up two unique Canadian singers.

Nearly every song is framed in the context of dying love or its characters working through a break-up. If you’re familiar with Kom and Barlow’s work you won’t be surprised to hear them pepper many of the tracks with subversively cynical, cutesy, or dark turns of phrase. In fact that’s where the majesty of this simple record lies, in their ability to frame a universal experience in a number of different ways. The emotional tenor alternatively carries a humorous tone (”Spring Flings”), some are emotionally fragile and unrequited (”Hummiah”), some are quietly angry and desperate (”Came Up Roses”), and some are confident torch songs (”Young Love,” “Cosmic Sea”).

I can’t speak much to Barlow’s side of the affair as I’m less familiar with her previous work, but I’m thrilled to hear Kom’s performance on this record. Where his rich, deep vocals can often take on a blanket of cynicism, sarcasm, and depression in his work with the Burning Hell his singing here is emotionally genuine, bright, and convincing. While many of these songs grapple with the dissolution of something beautiful his voice conveys the sense that he still believes in love. He and Barlow are terrific counterpoints, her sprightly alto a picture of earnestness that always has a hint of a smile peeking around the corners of her phrasing.

Anyway, it’s a simply joyous record to listen to, whether you’re lovelorn or not. A friend pointed out today on the Twitter machine that Barlow and Kom are heading out for a short, oddly-routed Western tour next week that includes stops in Regina and Saskatoon. I’m really thrilled to see them perform together. The album may be barely more than a half hour, but even that will be worth the price of admission. You should be there too.

 

 Spring Breakup - Spring Flings [3:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Spring Breakup - Young Love [3:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

They don’t seem to have a label, but their 2009 full-length is up digitally at Zunior and they’re doing a tiny tour. You can be I’ll be picking up a copy. Also, I don’t normally do this but if you’re the least bit curious check out their myspace page, where you can listen to like half the album for no dollars. It will convince you.

Tour dates are with John Wort Hannam, an old-timey Albertan .

Pat entries acoustic, Canadian content, Kim Barlow, Mathais Kom, quaintness, Spring Breakup

Black comedy is an acquired taste, and it’s probably fair to say that Mathais Kom’s tongue is acutely tuned to the flavour.

I might be getting ahead of myself. Hopefully you were paying attention the last time we talked about the Burning Hell. That’s Kom’s band. He’s a supposedly virtuosic ukulele player from Ontario (who knows how that works) that has the good sense to minimize the uke in the songs he and his band perform. He also boasts a hauntingly-deep baritone voice, frequently Leonard Cohen-like in his delivery. You might also remember them from Tanis’ entry a couple weeks ago or so.

When last we heard from the Burning Hell they’d released their debut CD for Ontario’s Weewerk Records, Happy Birthday. Its a glorious juxtaposition of dark-sounding, baroque indie/folk/rock music and Kom’s twisted tales of aged cover bands, zombie brides, possession-less minimalists, and the end of the world. But 2009 is looking to be the band’s year, as a year of constant touring has not only produced a brand new album (Baby, pictured above) but also a re-issue of the group’s first independent release, Tick Tock.

First: Baby is flawlessly produced despite being recorded in sessions all over Canada and Europe, a well-mixed record that showcases the wide range of instruments played by a roster of roughly two dozen musicians. Kom has apparently called in every favour owed to him in creating the music here and the attention to detail betrays the seemingly dashed-off recording process.

The instrumentation has a very “and the kitchen-sink” mentality much like its predecessor, but the songs also boast a solid increase in energy and tempo across the board. That’s undoubtedly a result of the rigorous touring schedule, which seems to have brought the energy and sense of fun up a considerable amount.

But as far as fun goes the Burning Hell begins and ends with Kom’s lyrics, a trip through a psyche that embraces the darkly comic side to international diplomacy, the horrors of being born, and the awesome potential in (once again) the end of the world. The sequel to a cut from their first CD (”The Things That People Make, Part 2)” bears numerous great examples in an analysis of the dichotomy of an uneven relationship: “You be the dictator, I’ll be the oppressed…You be the last giant panda bear, I’ll be the last giant panda bear’s sperm/You be the dead baby bird, I’ll be the regurgitated worm.” Later on the excellent “The Berlin Conference” (which actually is about a conference in the 1880’s that was responsible for regulating the colonization of Africa and trade within its borders) Kom unleaches the random, genius line, “You say tomato, I say dividends.” Its that knack for flipping the listener’s expectations while keeping what could be a throw-away line inside the context of the larger lyrical picture that really sets off Kom’s writing. Near the end of the record we get “When The World Ends,” a roller-coaster ride of possibilities pertaining to the ultimate undiscovered country: how the world will end and whether or not we’ll still be able to party when it all comes down.

There’s a sense of humour at play, obviously, but these aren’t throw-away words. This isn’t the Lonely Island or Tenacious D. There is substance, meaning, and insight to the lyrics that reveal themselves slowly upon repeat listens. This is music worth coming back to.

Given the progression of the last two albums Kom’s debut CD Tick Tock stands somewhere between curiosity, footnote, and blueprint. Perhaps unexpectedly, much of the album’s first half is built primarily around electric rock guitar, an unusual fit for songs written by a professional ukeleleist. There’s a definite sense of what’s to come, but in an unmistakably embryonic stage: “Municipal Monarchs” would be re-recorded for Happy Birthday, “I Love The Things That People Make” serves as the basis for a sequel on the new record, and “All The Stars and Parking Lots” sets the tone for the slower jams on future records.

Listening to the two in close quarters illustrates how far one songwriter can come in a short time when they put themselves into their craft whole-heartedly and without constraints on creativity. Kom’s playful nature and unique songwriting voice will undoubtedly carry them as far as they want to go, at least in the indie pop world.

 

 Burning Hell - Everybody Needs A Body To Be Somebody [5:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Burning Hell - Grave Situation Pt. 3: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Burning Hell - I Love The Things That People Make [3:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Burning Hell - All The Stars and Parking Lots [5:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You can pick up all three Burning Hell CDs from Weewerk Records’ website. If you want to buy more than one at a time just send them an email with payment information and hook it up. Check them out on Zunior as well.

Pat entries avant pop, baroque, Canadian content, folk, Mathais Kom, the Burning Hell