Tuesday 06 September 2011
Emerald Isle
It’s about time.
A few months ago, I found myself attending a snazzy dinner at one of Niagara’s fantastic wineries, sitting next to a lovely woman who was once a producer at CBC Radio 1 in Toronto, and having a great discussion about our favourite Canadian music, when the topic of Luke Doucet came up. We discovered a mutual love of his music, and I mentioned my long held desire to hear Doucet and his wife Melissa McClelland work together as a duo, saying that I could imagine just how magical their musical pairing would be.
The reality far exceeds what my imagination could conjure up. The debut album from Doucet and McClelland, recording as Whitehorse is now here, and it is a record I implore you all to hear. Both are talented songwriters on their own, but Whitehorse is an album that’s more than the sum of it’s constituent parts. Melding McClelland’s songbird voice with Doucet’s visceral white hot falcon guitar, the songs they wrote together rival any of their best solo work: “Emerald Isle” sparkles and seduces; “Night Owls” serenades and soothes. They also delve into their respective back catalogues, breathing new life into McClelland’s “Passenger 24″ (from her 2006 album Thumbelina’s One Night Stand) and Doucet’s “Broken” (from 2005′s Broken (and Other Rogue States)). Back in ’07, Doucet appeared on CBC Radio’s Fuse with Stars’ Amy Millan, where the pair dueted on Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire”, a cover Whitehorse revisits here, perfectly the Johnny-and-June country twang hinted at in the earlier version.
At just under 25 minutes, Whitehorse may be considered a mini LP, but it packs maximum gratification. It is a gritty and glorious rock ‘n’ roll record, teasing at the possibilities to come from this blessed union. Whitehorse is available on Six Shooter Records. What are you waiting for? Go get it now.
Killing Time is Murder by Whitehorse
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 at 7:00 am and is filed under MP3, QBiM SPiNS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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