(photo: msyaoce.com/luckysoulluckysoul)

You ever have one of those weeks?  If the last seven days could be given a subtitle, it would have to be A Series of Unfortunate Events.  Needless to say, a week away from the daily grind is going to be a welcome reprieve to the bull I’ve been dealing with lately, and I’d certainly like to make the most of it.  I haven’t been in much of a musical mood lately, hence the sparse posts this week, but things look like they’re getting back on track thanks to the sparkling return of London’s Lucky Soul.  Their sophomore disc, A Coming of Age, is going to be out on April 5, but being the lucky soul I am, I have a copy of it now, and it’s quickly turning in to the go-to album for me when I need a little pick-me-up.  I’m hoping that over this next week I’ll get a chance to give it a proper QBiM SPiNS review, but for now, you can tide yourself over on the title track, which the band made available as a free download a few weeks back.

It was almost a whole year ago when the band released “Whoa, Billy!” and they’ve recently premiered the video for the disc’s next single, “White Russian Doll”.  Frank Chromewaves thinks the song owes a debt of influence to The Smiths (yeah I hear it, too) but I’m still drawn to the uncanny similarity between Ali Howard’s voice and that of another London based chanteuse, Sarah Cracknell of Saint Etienne.  What do you think?

MP3: Lucky Soul “Whoa, Billy!”
MP3: Lucky Soul “A Coming of Age”
Video: Lucky Soul “White Russian Doll”
Myspace: Lucky Soul

Jillian Freeman and Jon Janes

Yeah, it’s Canadian Music Week in Toronto right now, and although I don’t plan on attending the whole festival, I may catch a pair of gigs while I’m in the city this weekend.  I’ve been inundated with emails for CMW and SXSW and have pretty much ignored them since I wasn’t planning on attending either, but I thought I would take this 4FTW post about the artists I’d like to check out.

There’s a connection between the two acts I’m highlighting today, and anyone who’s been reading QBiM for the last year won’t be a stranger to either.  Jon Janes is essentially The Mountains & The Trees, and he has a showcase gig tonight at midnight at The Central (603 Markham Street).  Then tomorrow night, Bird & Bear (essentially Jillian Freeman accompanied by Janes) has a gig at Global Village Backpackers (460 King Street W) at 11:00 p.m.  This pair of Newfoundlanders make a very cute couple musically (and perhaps romantically??) and they each have an excellent EP out right now that have been on pretty constant rotation ’round here.  I just so happen to have a set of the EPs to give away, so if you;re looking to score them, drop me an electronic line at CONTESTS [AT] QUICKBEFOREITMELTS [DOT] COM with “Mountains and Tress and Bird and Bear” in the subject line and your mailing address in the body.  We’ll keep the contest short and sweet, closing it out at 11:59 PM Monday March 15, 2010.

MP3: The Mountains & The Trees “Up & Down”
MP3: The Mountains & The Trees “Hospital View”
Myspace: The Mountains & The Trees
MP3: Bird & Bear “Practical Imagination”
MP3: Bird & Bear “The Photographer”
Myspace: Bird & Bear

(photo: Norman Wong)

Soft Revolutions Records is proud to announce their inaugural release will be The Five Ghosts, the fifth full-length from my beloved Stars.  It only makes sense:  Soft Revolution is the band’s brand spanking new label, established after they decided to leave Arts & Crafts for new adventures in hi-fi.  It will be licensed worldwide (except for Canada) through Vagrant Records, and hits the shelves on June 22.

Amy Millan has gone on record saying that “The Five Ghosts is quintessential Stars,” adding, “We have never written an album with this much cohesion and unity, …it is the first time we’ve had the luxury of being together in a huge room writing songs off the floor.”  They recorded the album in Montreal with  producer Tom McFall, who was at the desk for their 2005 LP Set Yourself On Fire.  All five members contributed to songwriting duties, and friend Andrew Whiteman from Broken Social Scene/Apostle of Hustle dropped by for a special guest appearance, too.

The first single is called “Fixed” and will be available soon through iTunes.  The tracklisting for The Five Stars is:

1) Dead Hearts
2) Wasted Daylight
3) I Died So I Could Haunt You
4) Fixed
5) We Don’t Want Your Body
6) He Dreams He’s Awake
7) Never Been Good With Change
8 ) The Passenger
9) The Last Song Ever Written
10) How Much More
11) Winter Bones

The band’s new website features a making-of video, with a  preview of what to expect.  Torq rapping?  I don’t know how I feel about that yet, but I do know that next to teh new Rufus Wainwright disc coming out in a couple of weeks, this is the record I’m anxiously awaiting the most.

Video: Stars “Making of The Five Ghosts pt. 1
MP3: Stars “Soft Revolution”
Myspace: Stars
Twitter: Stars

In sitting down to prepare this review, I heard the news that Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse committed suicide, which is why I’ve been drawn to the parallels between this album (in both name and tone) and that of Linkous’ last project, his collaboration with Danger Mouse and a host of other indie players on Dark Night of the Soul.  Whether dark or roaring, both albums seem to exist in shadowy crevices and alleyways, their songs emitting the only bright light to guide the listener through a midnight maze.

The Besnard Lakes‘ …Are the Roaring Night is not doom and gloom, though: it’s loom and boom.  From the outset, “Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent Pt. 1: The Ocean” pulses and ripples out of the speakers like a thick fog, enveloping you in a soft cushion of sound designed to heighten the sonic impact of it’s sibling, “Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent Pt. 2: The Innocent” which seamlessly flows from its predecessor.  It’s like a slow motion slam dance; you’re trapped on all sides by its immense wall of sound, buffeted back in forth between its beats and rhythms in an ever increasing trance.  Hands down, this pair of tracks are teh best album opening I’ve heard all year.

And it continues, in an unrelenting journey deeper into sound, deeper into dark: the glorious “Albatross”, the epic “Light Up The Night”, and another inspired pair of sibling tracks (“Land of Living Skies” pts. 1 and 2).  …Are the Roaring Night was recorded on a vintage mixing console that may or may not have (depends on who you believe) been used to record Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti; that may or may not explain its classic rock feel and warm tone of sound, but equipment aside, Jace Lasek’s masterful production work outshines his previous best (the ‘Lakes last record, …Are the Dark Horse).  There’s depth and added texture thanks to new instruments (minichord, flutes, 12-string guitars), but it all orbits around the central figures of Lasek and his wife Olga Goreas, whose sweet-as-honey voice tempers the album’s sound and gives it a soul.

Lasek and Goreas may not be the only husband and wife team from Montreal who’ll be getting a lot of face time in the blogs and music world this year, but they’re the first out of the fate and have set the benchmark they other pair will be compared against.

MP3: The Besnard Lakes “Albatross”
Myspace: The Besnard Lakes

There’s a moment about half way through “The Gambler and His Bride” where someone who’s paying close attention to the song can travel back through time and space to the day last summer when Daniel Romano, Fred Squire and Julie Doiron were recording it in Squire’s garage.  Amidst the gentle plucking and raw harmonies you can hear the rumble of a motorcycle’s arrival (or a passing car), and it sounds like the musicians paid it nary any mind, content to finish what was started.  There’s  an impulse to say that the recordings they made that week out in New Brunswick are presented to listeners on Daniel, Fred & Julie “warts and all” but that would be misleading:  there’s no warts here at all.

Daniel, Fred & Julie’s collection of folk music in the public domain, sung in three-part harmony and recorded live off the floor as quickly as possible is one of those records that reveals it beauty and charm in stages.  If you’re not familiar with the songs themselves (as I was), it’s a reminder of just how deep and rich the folk music tradition is, and question what other treasures may be buried deep in those songbooks.  For those used to studio production and trickery, the simple, minimalist recordings are a reminder of just how beautiful the naked human voice can be.  There’s no master plan behind Daniel, Fred & Julie; no ulterior motive or underlying subtext.  This is an artifact of a week where friends, musicians, lovers of music, sat down and shared their passions, shared their voices, and then shared their record with us.

They’re also embarking on a small tour of eastern Canada to share the record with us in a live setting.  Dates and locations are available on their Myspace site.  You’ve Changed records has Daniel, Fred & Julie available on LP and CD and  as a digital download, and loudly proclaims that in each format the record is “proudly Mono.”

MP3: Daniel, Fred & Julie “The Gambler and His Bride”
Myspace: Daniel, Fred & Julie