Mystical chamber folk from Central Canada

Wow. It's been nearly a month since I last posted something. This whole expectant dad thing has apparently been taking up more of my time than I realized. On the upside, l'il Cubby (as we've taken to calling the baby since we discovered it dates back to our time in Chicago...) has a shiny new Baby Bjorn to be carried around in once it's born.

Anyway, enough about the Cub-ster. On to the music.

Winnipeg has produced an overwhelming number of great bands in a variety of genres - I've always contended that this city punches above its' weight when it comes to making good music - but a few years back the 'Peg produced a great band that plays a variety of genres: Mr. Pine. Working pop, folk, chamber music, prog and more into the mix, Mr. Pine's output stands alone.

The follow-up to their debut, The Gift Of Wolves, is called Rewilding and Mr. Pine asked me to write the one-sheet that they included with the album when they sent it out to radio and press. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought I'd post the text from that one-sheet here:

When Winnipeg outfit Mr. Pine released The Gift of Wolves in 2006, that album could be viewed as the result of a project – a whimsical collaboration between Matt McLennan and Kevin Scott that drew several other musicians into their orbit. Since then Mr. Pine has moved from project to band with a filled out roster that has grown to include Leslie Oldham (vocals), Richard Caners (violin), Jason Peters (guitar), and Ken Phillips (bass). The cohesiveness of these players is largely responsible for the great leap forward that Rewilding represents for Mr. Pine.

As with The Gift of Wolves, McLennan and Scott remain the songwriters for all of the material performed by the band but their collaborations have grown with their working familiarity and Rewilding finds them incorporating new sounds – including that other four letter word; prog – into the mix. While the material still nestles comfortably alongside the folk-rock of Fairport Convention, Rewilding stakes its own far-ranging territory with pop, baroque and post-rock incorporated as well.

One of the highlights of the album is “Sleep of Ondine,” the recording of which proved notable for Mr. Pine. The song features guest vocals from Alison O’Donnell of Mellow Candle, a band McLennan and Scott share a love of. The pair never expected their homage to Mellow Candle would feature one of its vocalists.

“Streets of York” features another great collaboration, this one much closer to home. The band enlisted the help of Winnipeg indie legend Jay Churko (Chords of Canada, Transistor Sound & Lighting Co.) who somewhat surprisingly contributed banjo. The result is an obvious first single – but Mr. Pine isn’t about singles, and Rewilding should be taken as a richly rewarding whole.

You can hear some of the new material on Mr. Pine's Myspace page and if you have Flash Player there are clips here on the band's website.

That name again is Mr. Pine.

Thanks for reading, now start listening...

Canada's Treasure; Canada Is A Treasure...

I've been mulling an entry about the latest from Calgary's Woodpigeon for a while but it pushed itself to the front of my thoughts this week after I sat down for an interview with John Ralston Saul about his latest book, A Fair Country. So what's the connection with Woodpigeon's Treasury Library Canada? On the face of it, there's the strange similarity in the cover art:

On the Treasury Library Canada cover, there's a cute little village on top of a fox (or is it a fox? I'm not even sure - zoology's not my strong suit)


And on the cover of A Fair Country, Canada's parliament sits atop a turtle (which represents the aboriginal concept of Turtle Island)

I find it interesting how we (Canada, people, etc.) are supported or held aloft by the natural world in both these images and yet we may be unaware of this fact because the turtle is below the waterline and the 'fox' is hidden by the fold of the cover.

The connection between the two runs deeper than the cover art though. Saul's book is a wake-up call to Canadians to recognize that the organizational origin of our country is not Western Democratic, nor is "Order" a foundational tenet in Canada. He insists that Canada is instead a Metis nation, and that a nation of "Peace, WELFARE, and Good Government" was envisioned in our early years. But we've turned our backs on these facts and attemtped to emulate Britain and the United States out of an inferiority complex that has hampered our ability to succeed on our own terms - we need to wake up to this and embrace our true selves.

Coincidentally, Treasury Library Canada begins with a wake-up call in "Knock Knock." "Knock knock, is anyone there?" sings Mark Hamilton as the song concludes, before "Piano Pieces For Adult Beginners" touches on the topic of being true to who you really are ("Don't try to be / Something you ain't") and not settling for/succumbing to simplistic motivations ("Don't do pride, don't do fate"). For this alone I think Mr. Saul may have found a suitable soundtrack to his public lectures on the book.

Putting the links between Treasury Library Canada and A Fair Country aside, Woodpigeon's latest album is a worthy follow-up to the lovely Songbook from 2006. There is more of the fantastic layering of instrumentation used to build little walls of sound. To take my recurrent example; "Knock Knock" starts simply with guitar, then drums and voice but ultimately builds to a quiet cacaphony that includes strings, banjo and a chorus of voices.

There are also clever song titles ("In the Battle of Sun vs. Curtains, Sun Loses and We Sleep Until Noon") and superbly sketched vignettes (the aforementioned song, for one: "And on those dark days when the sun won’t shine on me / I don’t want to have to quantify the ones I love"), that are held aloft (like the town on the cover?) by the whimsical and wistful music made by the eight members of Woodpigeon. Plus "pre-requisite special guests" as the band pithily notes on Myspace.

Unfortunately [not for the band, but for people looking for a copy] Treasury Library Canada sold out in its run of 1000 copies, but if you mark your Google Calendar for February 2009, Woodpigeon will be releasing a version of the album with a bonus disc in the UK and Europe if you absolutely-positively-must have a hard copy. AND it is available as a pay-what-you-want mp3 here.

Speaking of mp3's I was fortunate enough to participate in a recording session at UMFM with Mark Hamilton last winter and he recorded a lovely, reverberating version of "I Want To See You Again."

Don't forget to visit Woodpigeon's website, Myspace page, and the CBC3 site.

Thanks for reading, now start listening...

Bowerbird much?

Bowerbird much? That's the question posed to me yesterday by a friend and the answer of late is 'indubitably.' Hymns For A Dark Horse was a slow-burner for me - requiring several listens to digest the material, but over the last month it has absolutely caught fire. I can't stop returning to this record and I can't help but believe that when the group sings "you're in our talons now / and we're never letting go," they're speaking directly to listeners.

This trio from Raleigh, North Carolina is comprised of Phil Moore (guitar, hi hat, lead vocals), Beth Tacular (accordion, autoharp, percussion, vocals) and Mark Paulson (violin, foot synth, percussion, vocals), and while it's Moore's vocals that will stand out on first listen, repeat plays reveal the complex relationship between the three that makes their material so compelling. One example: Paulson's violin echoes Moore's voice on "The Marbled Godwit" - neither possesses a traditional beauty, but the aching attempt to transcend their limits is my kind of gorgeous.

Hymns For A Dark Horse was originally released in the spring of 2007, but the fine folks at Dead Oceans came to the same conclusion John Darnielle from The Mountain Goats did: "It is beyond stunning. This band is the complete package." And if props from friggin' John Darnielle isn't enough - the band is opening for Calexico throughout November (and seriously, if you live in one of the cities this bill is playing, why don't you have tickets yet?!).

If you can get past the beautiful music this trio makes - and believe me, it may take several listens with a song like "Bur Oak" and the way their voices interplay on the chorus with Paulson and Tacular coming in above and just behind Moore to get beyond the song - close attention to the lyrics reveal some marvelous vignettes and address timely and timeless themes alike.

I'll leave you with not one, but two fantastic videos that were filmed as part of La Blogotheque's "concert a importer" series (which is FANTASTIC - check out the Bon Iver stuff if you can - but I digress). The first is "In Our Talons," the lyrics of which I quoted in that first paragraph. The latter is the indescribably beautiful "Bur Oak." It'll be lodged in your head for days and I'm not sorry for that.





Don't forget to visit their Myspace page and website.

Thanks for reading, now start listening...

This Davenport is not a small desk...

Did you know that tennis player Lindsay Davenport's father was named Wink? This is totally unrelated to the blog, but I think it's crazy/great that someone named their child Wink, though the little one that my wife and I are currently expecting will not be named Wink or Snuffles or Apple or whatever else the kids are naming their kids these days.

I discovered that little tidbit about Wink Davenport when I was google-ing my subject for this blog, Bart Davenport. There were a couple other albums in the Ear To The Sound docket that I was considering for my next post but Palaces forced its way to the top of the pile in short order and with great effusiveness. That's because I am a sucker for quality pop songcraft and succumb readily to horns, handclaps and 'ba-ba-bah's.' There's a reason Acid House Kings' Sing Along With... was my number one album a few years back (and you can bet your back-teeth that when the follow-up to that album drops you'll be reading about it here).

You might recognize Davenport's name from his other project, a pretty sweet amalgam of soul, pop and beats called Honeycut. His solo stuff finds him eschewing the beats and only dabbling in the soul while immersing himself in the pop. Which is alright by me.

Things start slowly with the title track. "Palaces" is a wistful, delicate little tune that manages to be both breezy and wrapped in ennui at the same time. After several listens I've finally placed what it reminds me of: "Swimming Suit" from Tahiti 80's fantastic Puzzle. Both strike the same note (a harmonic minor?); one that is perfect for the expectation and dread that comes with the
turning of the leaves and all the back-to-school-ness it connotes.

The 'ba-ba-bah's' arrive with full-force on "Jon Jon," which, were it not for the spelling I would swear had been written specifically for my friend John Gordon who hosts Pop Infusion and also goes ape-shit for pop goodness. It's an infectious song that has people singing along almost immediately.

"Jon Jon" is followed by "A Young One," a song that sounds like a Motown outtake with its drum and glockenspiel intro, though Davenport's croon is a little more whitebread and tongue in cheek than Smokey Robinson and the like. You can hear it for yourself in the video below Palaces is a bit front-loaded with the best material and starts to lose steam in the middle but there are still some pop gems that merit listening the whole way through.

So here's the video for "A Young One"


Palaces is out on Antenna Farm Records and is also available digitally with vinyl to follow in October.

Be sure to visit Bart's Myspace page (where "Jon Jon" is streaming) and his official website, as well as his 'other' project Honeycut.

Thanks for reading, now start listening...

Doing The Spectral Boogie...

After about hour ten of driving through middle-America, you might find yourself needing a little sonic pick-me-up. The interstate stretches on, the drive broken only by the intermittent appearance of a rest-stop Star**cks and you find yourself shaking your head and blinking rapidly to snap out of the daze that has set in. The solution? Ann Arbor, MI band Nomo and their latest release, Ghost Rock!

I went back to the well several times on this album during the gazillion mile drive and it never failed to revive me and what's more, the record held up to repeated listens and revealed new textures and elements with each successive listen. Ghost Rock is the follow-up to the equally solid New Tones (Ubiquity, 2006), though this new record finds the group exploring some new sounds and moving beyond the Afro-beat Tones to incorporate Kraut Rock and noise elements into their sound.

Led by Elliott Bergman the band has coalesced over the past few years into an octet and the firming up of the numbers has resulted in an arguably tighter unit augmented by the addition of a ninth individual who on the face of it is a surprising participant: Warn Defever. The His Name Is Alive founder/member produced Ghost Rock and Defever brought a fresh batch of ideas to the studio as Bergman related in my recent interview with him. The funk is still there and the band continues to create some of their own percussive instruments, but the way in which Defever drew out those sounds is the new element that sets Ghost Rock apart from New Tones.

Speaking of New Tones, check out this sweet video before you click on the link to my interview with Elliott Bergman.

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Then head over to Nomo's Myspace page and official website.

Thanks for reading, now start listening...

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!!)

Stop by the Azeda Booth at the music fair...

Props for this entry go to my friend Myke, the Music Director at CJSW (Calgary's finest radio station) as he's the one who first tipped me off on Azeda Booth. Considering his own taste, and the fact that he used to be in the band, I knew I had to check out their EP Mysterious Body when it arrived at the station last year. I enjoyed it, but that effort pales in comparison to what the group achieve on their full-length, In Flesh Tones, due out July 22nd on Absolutely Kosher. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about when I say 'pales,' let's say this is Mysterious Body. In Flesh Tones, in contrast, would be this. It's an immense leap forward.

The fact that In Flesh Tones is their debut full-length is a jaw-dropper as it's just so fully thought out and finds the band having thoroughly developed its own sound. There are musical signposts, certainly, but these only hint at what Azeda Booth have developed as a 'sound.' Her Space Holiday is the first that comes to mind, with the hushed vocals and dreamy, atmospheric electro-pop arrangements. All Music Guide go with Boards of Canada and The Octopus Project in their influences as well and certainly there are some ambient points that give a nod to BoC most noticeably (the opening notes of "Big Fists" for one).

But just listen to opener "Ran" (streaming on Myspace) and you'll hear how these comparisons only scratch the surface where Azeda Booth's songs are concerned. It starts with ten seconds of atmospheric keys but then the toms kick in, propelling the song with a manic energy that dispels the dreamy vibe, setting the listener up for the plaintive (and eerily panicked) opening vocals "keep me/awake/i'll stay," and later, "how can/you bring/yourself to love me."
There's a majestic desperation to these opening minutes and things only get better from there as the band experiments with claustrophobic textures and rich soundscapes, building a singular record. If this album doesn't make my Year-End "Best Of" list, I'll eat my copy.

I couldn't find a download of any of the new material, but the band has made both "Dead Girls" and "Aislinn Bos, Y" available as mp3s.

Be sure to check out the band's website, Myspace page and Facebook group, and don't forget to mark your calendars for In Flesh Tones' release date: JULY 22, 2008!

Thanks for reading, now start listening...

P.S. If you image search Azeda Booth on Google, one of the results is this. Awesome.