Sound Salvation Army

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 the 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