Beauty beats all.

I've had the distinct pleasure of recording Tim Crabtree - aka Paper Beat Scissors - twice at the UMFM studio. Once in our old space and again in our new band room [you can hear the latter session here] as well as seeing him perform live.

To say I was excited to hear that Crabtree had enlisted past Ear To The Sound fave Mike Feuerstack of Snailhouse to co-produce his debut full-length is an understatement - considering what I'd managed, the thought of a talent like Feuerstack drawing out the best in Crabtree seemed like a forgone conclusion. Having listened to the self-titled record that is the result of their collaboration several times over now, I can comfortably say my expectations were met. And then some.

In addition to getting Feuerstack to lend his instrumental talents, Crabtree enlisted the help of Islands' Sebastian Chow (violin), Bell Orchestre/The Luyas' Pietro Amato (French horn!), Tanya Davis and Rose Cousins (vocals). The album credits read like the line-up card for the '27 Yankees - this is a murderers' row of Canadian indie-folk artists.

As great as the help is, this is still Crabtree's show and his statement. All the ornamentation in the world couldn't prop things up if the songs are incapable of standing on their own and it's clear in listening to Paper Beat Scissors that these songs have been born out of a man alone with his thoughts and his guitar; "Folds" is beautiful without the ghostly ringing guitar tones and backing vocals, and gorgeous with them layered in.

Do yourself a favour and download the haunting first single, "Rest Your Bones" courtesy of Pigeon Row. The album is out March 6, 2012 and you can pre-order it on vinyl or CD via Forward Music Group.

Crabtree will be heading out on a national tour to coincide with the album's release and a complete list of dates can be found here. For local readers, there will be a stop in Winnipeg on March 27th and UMFM will be presenting the show so keep it tuned to 101.5 FM for further details, and be sure to visit the official Paper Beat Scissors site for all PBS news.

I'll leave you with this beautiful video by Mitch Fillion of Southern Souls, which should convince you to check out those live dates...

PAPER BEAT SCISSORS - Live at the Shivering Songs Festival from Mitch Fillion (southernsouls.ca) on Vimeo.

Posting at a Snail's pace...

Wow. It's been a while, hasn't it?
Well I apologize - I took a lengthy holiday IRL and upon returning I had an anniversary, a birthday and found out I'm going to be a dad so things have been pretty hectic of late. But the upside of my holiday is the fact that my gigantic road-trip (over 5500kms; about 3500mi.) provided me with ample opportunity to listen to new music and several of the albums that fueled my travels are primed for the Ear To The Sound spotlight.

For my first of the 'road-trip soundtrack' posts I'd like to spotlight an album that came up late in the journey but the timing was perfectly suited to driving along Lake Superior on my way from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay. The rugged terrain of the Canadian Shield has a hard beauty that isn't necessarily as imposing as the Rockies but the juxtaposition of exposed rock, pine trees and sunlight dancing off the lake is breathtaking in its own way and Lies on the Prize struck me as the perfect soundtrack to the sights.



Over nearly a decade and a half (dating back to 1994's Fine), Mike Feuerstack has been creating music under the Snailhouse moniker and I've been a fan since I first saw him play the Academy several years ago (back when it was actually on Academy). I was looking forward to Lies on the Prize, but any expectations I may have had about the album were blown away by the textured instrumentation and nuanced lyrics Feuerstack has recorded with the assistance of Jeremy Gara. [*In addition to recording and mixing the album, Gara also played drums, keyboards, percussion, guitar and bass! And if his name sounds familiar, chances are you've heard a little band Gara plays in.]

The natural world weaves its way into many Snailhouse songs and the topic of travel insinuates itself as well (though in the world weary way one expects from an independent musician who has logged a lot of miles criss-crossing a country as large as Canada). That Feuerstack chose to close the album with "Homesick" seemed especially fitting as I mentally calculated the hours left until I could sleep in my own bed. Road trips are great, but a significant part of their allure resides in heading home, renewed in your appreciation for your own space in this world. To (mis)quote the song, home "echos and murmurs" in the head of each traveler.

As fitting as I found "Homesick" the songs that I kept hitting repeat for were "Tone Deaf Birds" and "They Won't Believe You." The former is a brief and delicate song that has a peculiar message of resilience in noting that "tone deaf, tone deaf birds sing anyway." The song also features the first appearance of Pietro Amato's mellifluous French horn. It's this instrument that also makes "They Won't Believe You" one of the best songs I've heard this year. When the horn comes in at the 1:25 and 2:51 marks, the hairs on my arms stand straight up - each and every time I play the song. Gara's rolling toms add an ominous pulse to the track and Feuerstack's echo-effected guitar work is spooky as all get out. Sadly I can't find either of these two tracks to post here, but that just means you should get the album to hear them for yourself. The album is available from Unfamiliar Records and digitally at Zunior.

There are a couple Snailhouse songs available for download on Feuerstack's Myspace page, but unfortunately on his official web page, the MP3s have been removed recently. I'd still encourage you to visit both.

Thanks for reading, now start listening...
(and stay tuned for Nomo's Ghost Rock!!)