Quick Before it Melts

Friday 01 May 2009

Where the wild things are

I’ve never been a big proponent of any type of arts competition (although I am a frequent consumer) because interpreting means to look at it subjectively, and only an army of clones would all approach a piece of art from the exact mindset, which sort of negates the need for a panel of judges in the first place.  The cynic in me says it always comes down to being a popularity contest, and that has nothing to do with artistic merit.

In the last three years, the Polaris Music Prize has made it their mission to celebrate Canadian music based solely on artistic merit, and not judge based on popularity or record sales, which at the outset sounded like an impossible task in the land of the Juno.  To their credit, each of the group of judges assembled to hand out the first three Polaris Prizes have definitely lived up to the award’s mission statement, none more so than the panel of judges who awarded the 2007 prize to Montreal’s Patrick Watson, for their album Close To Paradise. Quietly and assuredly, Close To Paradise spent the better part of a year amassing fans and plaudits from critics the world over without the benefit of hit singles or viral video; people flocked to this record because it’s dreamy soundscapes, quaint charm, and musical virtuosity.  It was also damn good.

Wooden Arms, the band’s follow up album, is even better.  Patrick Watson the man has widened his cinematic eye even further, assembling many of the songs from found sounds, just like foley artists of yore used to soundtrack movies.  The noise is actually part of the song structure rather than an insertion or interruption.  As a concept, it could all get very heavy-handed and boring quickly, but Patrick Watson the band has managed to create an epic series of vignettes that string together without effort.   “Big Bird In A Small Cage” features a wonderful duet with Katie Moore that is intoxicating; once you’re suitably soused, “Down at the Beach” will drown you in hypnotic waves of trance-inducing jams, without nary a breath in between tracks.  Once this ride starts, there’s no getting off it.  Like The Hazards of Love, Wooden Arms plays like a complete bohemian epic song cycle, without an actual narrative.  It is the kind of album that demands to be listened to from beginning to end.  It is the work of an assured and visionary band, and a worthy successor to Close To Paradise; not only does Patrick Watson deserve to be considered for this year’s Polaris Prize, they deserve to win it again.

MP3: Patrick Watson “Man Like You”
Facebook: Patrick Watson
Myspace: Patrick Watson
Twitter: Patrick Watson
Buy: Patrick Watson Wooden Arms

by J. Di Gioia | Comments Off

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