The Indie Mine » Kevin White

Album Review: Wildlife – …On the Heart

Kevin White — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:05:41 +0000

When we last checked in with Wildlife, a four-piece band out of Toronto, they were treating us to their grandiose single, “Born to Ruin.” Since then they have released their second album, …On the Heart, a rallying cry steeped in melodrama and emphatic anthems, in which “Born to Ruin” sounds right at home.

Nearly every track on …On the Heart is crafted to be a showstopper, filled with shouts, stomps, and swells. No doubt much of this is due to Peter Katis’ production, whose work with The National and Interpol has achieved similar results. These bands are a good reference point for Wildlife, as they bring a certain emotional charge to songs like “Bad Dream” and “Lightning Tent” that should translate well on stage.

The production definitely fits; even when the songs soar and crash, the focus remains on lead singer Dean Povinsky’s voice, while Dwayne Christie’s pounding drums helps maintain the momentum. Churning guitars and the occasional buzzy new wave synthesizer fleshes things out, giving every song a full, accomplished sound.

If all of this sounds like a bit much, it’s because it is. The problem comes from every song shooting to be over the top, with crescendos that don’t really feel earned. Aforementioned tracks like “Born to Ruin” and “Bad Dream” offer up aggressive choruses and too few melodies, and the differences between one song and the next can be slight. One of the album’s highlights, the synth-rocker “Guillotine,” is the first track to really pause and offer up some kind of tension, but its tempo keeps us at arm’s length, and everything is resolved far too quickly.

Wildlife have a defined sound suitable for big arenas, and …On the Heart is an effective example of translating that sound to the studio. They’re clearly a hard-working band, and through their constant touring it’s likely they’ll cultivate a sizable audience. Wildlife is one to watch as their talent continues to grow.

…On the Heart is out now on Wax Records in the US and Canada. Wildlife can be found on Bandcamp here.

Wildlife Release New Single “Born to Ruin”

Kevin White — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:22:30 +0000

Next month, Toronto band Wildlife will release their new album, …On the Heart, on indie label Wax Records. The first single from the album, “Born to Ruin,” is an ambitious anthem with pounding drums, walls of guitar, and a shout-along chorus. The song announces itself boldly and never loses momentum, bringing the buzzsaw guitars to the front and pushing back the vocals for a fuller sound.

…On the Heart is produced by Peter Katis, whose past credits include big, dense albums like Interpol’s Turn On the Bright Lights and The National’s Boxer, and his involvement, along with “Born to Ruin,” should give some idea of what the album will sound like. Keep watching The Indie Mine for updates.

Check out the song below, via SoundCloud.

You can find Wildlife online at http://wildlifemusic.ca and https://www.facebook.com/wearewildlife. …On the Heart is due out 3/5/13 on Wax Records.

Album Review: JP Haynie – The Sand

Kevin White — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:31:33 +0000

The Sand opens with “Family River” and a single, fuzzy chord, announcing itself abruptly, before slowly retreating into something more muted and folky. It’s not the last time JP Haynie plays with your expectations, but it might be the most engaging, and it sets the tone for the album well.

Haynie hails from Salt Lake City, and The Sand is his first record, released this summer. It’s entrenched in lo-fi and the kind of sleepy-eyed bedroom folk made popular during the 90s by artists like Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Jeff Mangum. The songs are all built around Haynie and his guitar, only bringing in a piano or percussion when necessary, never overdoing it. In fact, The Sand seems to be about under-doing it, as the album rarely attempts to pick up any real momentum.

As hushed as The Sand is, there are plenty of highlights to reward a listener’s patience. “Peaceful River”, the album’s longest track by nearly a minute and a half, winds its way through some simple piano chords and a drum kit, Haynie making full use of empty space and some four-track harmonies. It never builds, it just moves along, slowly, until a guitar is carefully plugged in and the song breaks open—still subdued, just louder now. It brings to mind Mark Linkous at his most reflective, or Phil Elvrum at his least abstract.

Another standout is the balladeer folk of “How Quickly We Forget,” which begins, “Oh how quickly we forget all the good things that have passed / all the tenderness we felt / it’s all gone now, and there’s darkness in our heads.” It’s a quiet song that takes its time, and Haynie seems to only offer as many words as needed to tell his story, never embellishing for the sake of embellishment.

Yet while restraint works for much of the record, after a few listens I found myself wondering what Haynie might have done with a little bit of flourish. “New World,” for example, has the potential for baroque majesty, with a foundation like something from Nick Drake or Colin Blunstone, but it only wanders (although it does wander to some quite pretty places). And the most upbeat song on The Sand, “In the Desert at Night,” wants to be bouncier and more jubilant, but it gets weighed down by some overly simplistic string plucking and never gets off the ground. It’s disappointing only because you know there’s more to these songs than what we’re given here.

The Sand is a fine effort from a talented songwriter who seems to have a very clear idea the sonic space he wants to occupy for the time being. There’s nothing wrong with that, and Haynie certainly has the ability to explore his sound further with time. For now, I’m happy to go on the kind of very particular journey Haynie wants us to take, and I hope to hear more from him in the future.

The Sand is available on Bandcamp and from alfslbl.com.

Album Review: A Dark Horse EP

Kevin White — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:22:52 +0000

There’s a restrained exuberance on A Dark Horse’s new self-titled EP, their first release. The four songs feature childlike singalongs and hand claps, but the music belies a thoughtful maturity, an eclectic blend of styles similar to Zach Condon of Beirut or UK native Badly Drawn Boy. Each song ebbs and flows, with whispered voices and tinkling pianos drifting over each other seemingly in cycles. The formula works.

James Parker and Hugh Rodgers are the duo behind A Dark Horse, hailing from Dublin, Ireland. Their lyrics are often vague, never revealing much about the songwriters but offering glimpses of the world A Dark Horse imagines. Lines like “The world keeps on revealing / There we are, there we are” suggest a wide-eyed innocence, along with a healthy respect for the natural world. The record glows with such imagery, of butterflies and rivers on the moon, of damp leaves and towering pines.

A four-song EP isn’t an ideal place to explore complex themes, but A Dark Horse has its moments. On the opening track, “Take Me Home,” they sing: “In time there’ll be balance / But I don’t know which road I ought to take.” There’s growing up, embarking on a new day, trying to see everything but not really sure how to make sense of it all yet. And “The Heart Won’t Lie” opens with a simple mantra: “Gotta gotta give it all you got.” It’s a schoolhouse motto, something out of Hans Christian Andersen, maybe. We’re nothing if not the product of our influences, and A Dark Horse is on the road to discovering that fact.

A Dark Horse doesn’t suffer for ambition, but it does find a few moments where its ideas don’t seem fully executed—not unexpected from a self-recorded debut. The challenge is in crafting a consistent mood, ensuring the songs don’t become too formulaic, and letting them breathe a bit. And when that happens, as it does on “Take Me Home,” the duo comes very close to achieving greatness.

You can check out A Dark Horse and pick up their EP on Bandcamp.

Interview: Copperfox

Kevin White — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 10:57:52 +0000

Copperfox is Lisa Garcia and Rory Mohon, a Portland-based duo who make lush, meticulous country-rock that seems grown from the same cool earth as the woods of the Pacific Northwest. The four songs that make up their first release, From the Den, boast an impressive polish; the simple, sweet love songs are drenched in big sounds and surprises. Lisa’s honey-like voice drips through each song, bringing Rory’s lyrics to life amid pianos, slide guitars, and ghostly reverb.

The songs take their time, particularly the closing track “Be Careful,” which stretches out and takes a few detours until fading quietly back into the trees. And the quiet, loping “James” finds the band cautiously setting the table before opening up on “Lovers.” There’s a warmth and earnestness in their songs, thanks in large part to the obvious chemistry between the two, which lends the record some much needed weight. They sound mature yet untested, and certainly capable of great things.

I had a chance to have an email exchange with the band, and we talked some basics, how the past year has treated them, and what’s next.

How did you meet and come together musically?

We met through the music scene in Portland. We were both seeing each other at all the same shows until a mutual friend finally introduced us. We were friends for many years before becoming romantically involved. One year we moved to Maui just to get away from winter and play in the sun, and in doing so I had a lot of time to write. I came up with quite a few songs that I wanted Lisa to sing to since I knew she had a beautiful voice. After much persuasion she recorded a snippet to what would become “Lovers” and she fell in love with the idea of singing to these songs and there was no turning back.

How do you write? Is it a collaborative process or do you have more clearly defined roles?

I typically begin the writing process by coming up with chords on an acoustic guitar that impresses upon me the feelings I wish to convey. From there I demo it and flesh it out by adding bass, keys and drums in that order. After the song is fairly polished, Lisa comes in and adds her vocals, which is like the icing and the cherry on top.

What’s your relationship like to the Portland “scene?” Do you feel like there is a unified scene or is it more patchwork?

There are definitely some people that would say that the music scene in Portland is united. But right now a lot of bands are doing the lo-fi indie thing, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for bands that are doing more polished pop works. As for Copperfox, I think we are targeting a much different demographic and our stats are showing us the same.

How about Portlandia?

We enjoy Portlandia very much and think that they do a great job of satirizing this city while also showing their love for it. There is plenty to love here.

Let’s talk about From the Den. How did you pick the songs that made the album?

It was quite easy to pick the songs for this album since we originally only had six completed songs. Two of those songs just didn’t jive well with the other four. We also didn’t want to exhaust the listener on our first EP so we kept it simple and short hoping that we could create a desire for more to come.

Did anything about the process of putting it together surprise you?

The thing that surprised us most was how easy it all happened. I had tried recording these songs before in other formats and it just wasn’t going smoothly, but when I brought these songs to this group of musicians things expediently came together. In fact, the majority of the EP was done live and within two days. We feel blessed to have worked with the people we did and their professionalism is what helped this to be a simple process.

On your blog you mention having written some new songs and heading into the studio. How’s the recording process coming along? What’s different now that you have the EP under your belts?

We are actually starting the recording in the next week or so and are very eager to do so. We just did a live demo of all the songs and everyone was very excited and on a natural high from hearing them back. I think the level of comfort is going to be the biggest difference between then and now. On the first EP we weren’t sure how it was going to end up sounding, since everything about what we were doing was new to us. We hadn’t even played a show as a duo before the recording. This time around we know what we do best and the sound we want to go for. Other than that we plan on recording in much the same way since the formula worked so well last time.

Anything else new on the horizon?

We’re excited to go on the road and reinvent what touring can mean. We’re going to record ourselves playing in natural environments all across this wonderful country of ours and put up videos of this all along the way. We’re also going to start doing a cover song each Sunday on Youtube so if anyone has requests start sending them in!

From the Den is available on iTunes or direct from the band at Bandcamp. You can also check out Copperfox on Facebook and at copperfoxmusic.com.