Isbells - Self-Titled

Isbells
Isbells

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It’s not saying much to note that while Bon Iver’s success a couple of years ago was undoubtedly deserved, the whole ‘retreat-heart-broken-to-a-log-cabin-in-the-woods-and-pour-your-wounded-soul-into-sound’ thing certainly didn’t hurt. With their self-titled debut, Belgian folksters Isbells seem to have attempted to ride Mr Vernon’s wake with respectable, but hardly overpowering, results.

Leading man Gaëtan Vandewoude apparently wrote and recorded the material here in a ‘decrepit stable’ in the country, although the buffed Mr Sheen finish to the sound perhaps belies the mythmaking. A pity too, as a more lo-fi recording would perhaps have lent the songs a bit more character than they otherwise seem capable of mustering.

Not that these tracks are by any means bad; Vandewoude combines a crisply efficient picking style with simple but effective melodies, his sweetly soaring voice sitting somewhere between Bon Iver and Jonsi. Lyrically, he’s very much preoccupied with what sort of future the next generation are likely to inherit, with musings delivered in a simple and direct voice. “What do I tell my child / its future’s gone for life” he sings on opener ‘As Long As It Takes’ while squaring his jaw to the life of art – “I can’t change the world with melodies / but I’ll try” – on ‘Without A Doubt.’ Elsewhere things veer towards the saccharine: “a tender word and a sweet, sweet kiss / is what I need from you” he pines on ‘My Apologies.’

What irks me is that although the music compliments Vandewoude’s reflective tone, his insights aren’t terribly insightful – and what drama there is isn’t hugely dramatic. Together it makes Isbells is a peculiarly monotone listen… Sure is purty though.


First published in The Brag, Iss. 378, September 6th 2010

Big Scary

Two things about Melbournite two-piece Big Scary (full stop): a) their name is charmingly inapt, containing all the solemn eyed intensity of a child passing judgement on a thunderstorm and b) they are versatile, ambitious, assured and well and truly on the make.

Big Scary formed back in 2008 after Tom Iansek (guitar, piano, vocals) and Jo Syme (drums, guitar, ukulele, vocals) returned to Australia after six months of invigorating European moochings.  Shaken out of their holding patterns – travel was “an eye opening experience” says Tom – the pair set about “mucking around” with music with a renewed sense of possibility.

The results are eclectic, the band sailing through bright, heady waters where defining choices have yet to be made and each new song is an entity unto itself.  Their EP At the Mercy of the Elements mixed crunchy garage (‘Hey Somebody’) with piano-driven indie (‘Falling Away’) while their new release Autumn veers into Bon Iver inflected folk.  So, what’s the go?

“I guess we’re trying to figure that out for ourselves” says Tom.  “We write parts based on what it feels like the song should have.  We sort of mix it up as much as we can and try and make it fun for ourselves and squeeze as much out of being a two piece as we can.”

‘Squeeze in as much as fits’ may as well be the band motto, with ‘ain’t nothin’ gonna stop us!’ running in close second.  With At the Mercy of the Elements only released in February, the band has already moved onto bigger things, with Autumn being their first EP release in a planned set of four, one for each season slated for release over the course of 2010.

“The idea of nature is a bit of a recurring theme in our music and my lyrics” explains Tom.  “We recorded [At the Mercy of the Elements] during a week of crazy weather at the end of last year – fire, rain, dust storms and hail, all at the same time, all over the country.  I suppose that’s where the four seasons idea stemmed from originally.”

It’s a lovely idea that’s off to a promising start.  While b-side ‘Microwave Pizza’ is a finely crafted miniature, reflective of the self-disclosed influence of Bon Iver on the songwriter, ‘Autumn’ is a warm and wistful piece of pop, suggesting bracing mornings with a nip in the air as well as a certain precipitatory nursery rhyme.

“I’m definitely a cold weather person” says Tom.  “Autumn is my favourite season – I get over summer really quickly, it’s just a bit of a drain by the end and I can’t wait for it to be over.  Autumn it cools down and you can actually start to do stuff again.  In autumn I really come alive, creatively and in other ways.”

Wanderlust for example, the travel bug having well and truly sunk its teeth.  Big Scary just returned from a five week tour around and about supporting the Vasco Era – which was “SO MUCH fun” – and are planning on accompanying the release of each of their seasonal EPs with a tour to different parts of the country.  Tom is enthusiastic about the possibilities.

“Before the tour I loved recording and I still do love being in a studio.  But I really love being on stage.  It’s really a great adrenalin rush, it’s just forty minutes of fun.  I think we’ve surprised ourselves.”

The New Pornographers

“Every time I’m doing an interview for an album I tell the person ‘just wait for our next record’” says Carl Newman, “that’s my stock quote”.  Speaking from his “idyllic” home in Woodstock, New York, Newman is articulate and friendly, though his conversation is littered with what one suspects are many such standard responses.  But then, the lead singer, primary songwriter and general guiding hand behind the New Pornographers has had plenty of time to hone the subtle art of the soundbite.

It’s getting on ten years since the Vancouverite collective released their ebullient debut Mass Romantic.  In that time they’ve cemented a reputation as generous purveyors of pop exuberance, while never quite seeming to reach the same giddy heights promised with that initial release.  The guarana kick of tracks such as ‘All the Things that Go to Make’ from 2007’s Challenger have become the exception to the rule, spacious power ballads rising to the fore as the group have gently matured.

So, has the energy been difficult to sustain?  “I think we’ll always have that, [which] makes me want to always push out and do different things” says Newman, “it makes me wanna go and be more minimal.  It’s important just to be happy with what you’re doing and not feel like you’re just doing the same thing.  If we’re not America’s Number One Party Band anymore then, well, that’s just our fate.

“I think we will always be a rock group, it’s our default setting.  Even on this new record, it’s pretty much an upbeat rock record.  When I listen to Grizzly Bear or Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver, I think, yeah we sound like AC/DC!”  The new record in question is Together and is certainly at odds with the introspective nostalgia currently doing the rounds, songs such as ‘The Crash Years’ matching Newman’s obliquely recalcitrant lyrics with blithely hummable hooks.

Although the name suggests warm and rosy inclusiveness, as Newman explains: “in its way, Together was a little bit defiant.  Because everybody’s doing their own things [people are] always like ‘the New Pornographers are about to break up.  They’re on their last legs.’  Also, when we first started ten years ago we used to do this cover of the song ‘Together’ by the Illusion, so when I remembered that I thought ‘things have come full circle’.  Calling it Together in a way was a very elliptical way of calling the record Get Back.”

Given the part-time status of most of the band’s members – Dan Bejar is more widely recognised for the whimsical complexities of Destroyer, while Neko Case is better known as an unstoppable force of nature Neko Case – the New Pornographer’s continued existence has at times indeed seemed unlikely to outsiders.  For Newman though this is simply the way of things: “we’ve done it for so long – you just get used to it.  Neko doesn’t write any songs in the band, so it’s not like she’s making this massive shift.”

Things aren’t so clear cut for Newman himself, balancing his New Pornographer songwriting duties with his own solo work.  “There isn’t really a clear line,” he says.  “There are some songs on my last solo record [last year’s Get Guilty] like 'Prophets', where I listen to it now I think ‘I think I should’ve made that a New Pornographers’ song’.  But what can I do?  Of course I could play those songs live with the New Pornographers.  I might try it.”

Perhaps the collective’s (Newman dislikes hearing the words ‘super’ and ‘group’ spoken in the same breath) resilience comes from the flexibility of their approach, the ability to absorb differing levels of involvement and seamlessly incorporate whatever’s on offer.  Together is a case in point, featuring guest contributions from Zach Condon (aka Beirut), Annie Clark (St Vincent), the Dap-Kings as well as Will Sheff of Okkervil River.  “It was a last minute thing” explains Newman.  “We were getting to the end of the record and we were trying to fill in the blanks.  We were just very lucky that we happened to be in New York and all these people were around.  It’s such a collecting place for interesting people.  You’ve got a giant talent pool to choose from.”

Although keenly aware of the debt he owes the land of the maple leaf – “Canada is really good [when it comes to] supporting their own culture; I think we’ve gleaned some of the fruits of that” – Newman seems happy in his adopted home, particularly in light of political events of the last eighteen months.  “It’s amazing to have Obama as president.  Now you hear all the wingnuts, right wing people talk, and it’s nice to know that they’re not in power, that they’re on the fringes and that they’re getting crazier.  It gives you some hope definitely.”

With an extended tour of North America in the works over the coming months, and an Australian tour (with the full lineup) slated for early next year, cautious hope seems to be the order of the day.  Not that Newman will be satisfied anytime soon.  “Together is the definitive New Pornographers record.  Not as good as our next record is going to be though.  That’s going to be the ultra-definitive album.”


First published in The Brag, May 2010