Goosing conformity
Kris Demeanor's second album is a Lark
He’s still the melodic, slightly unnerving story-songwriter we’ve grown addicted to, but fans of Kris Demeanor better prepare to be challenged. Obviously, someone as talented and quirky as Demeanor isn’t going to dwell on his past, even if that past includes writing songs like the impeccable "Mosquitoes and Cars" and creating converts at clubs and folk festivals around the country.
Demeanor is perfectly aware of the fact that his new CD, Lark, is not a mere re-tread of his self-titled debut album that was released in 1999. When that album was featured on CBC Radio One’s Definitely Not The Opera, it received more listener requests for ordering information than any other record in the show’s history. Lark, which features Diane Kooch, Chantal Vitalis, Peter Moller, Janine Bracewell and others, that takes a left turn from that first album.
"(It’s) intentionally different, but still singer-songwriter stuff – story songs, verse-chorus tunes. The biggest change is it has more instrumentation as far as bringing the whole band in, and more spoken word. It’s not quite as stripped down," he says over a rum and coke mere hours after returning from the Burning Man Festival in Nevada.
And a deeper listen it is, with little convention-challenging surprises popping up around unexpected corners. It’s an album that wears better after a few listens, when the listener lets their guard down a little.
"I wanted this to be fresh and interesting for people who like my music. I want to take them along on something that is gonna be fun and palatable but is also gonna test my relationship with them a little bit. (People say) they discover more stuff each time they listen to it, and they like it more every time."
In an echo of "Dance Hall Inside," from Demeanor's first album, there are songs that verbally peel the skin back to reveal the raw, throbbing works of human experience, songs that are stunning in both their beauty and ugliness at the same time. For instance, "One of Two Things" is the story of an abused girl that first depicts her waiting for a book mobile at school, then, seven years later, waiting for a mobile STD clinic while working on the stroll. Also beautifully disturbing is "Cactus Man," a staple of live performances, in which audiences decide by a show of hands whether they want to hear the happy or tragic ending. Although Demeanor feels the sad ending is more authentic because he wrote it first, he has come to prefer the more upbeat take. Audiences are usually split 50-50 on this one, and delighted to have a say in the matter.
But the performer knows he can’t please his audience in every situation.
"If you’re trying to please everybody, good luck. I’ve got people offended by the weirdest things.
At one gig in Cochrane, people walked out after he played "This Old House," a song about....
"Does that mean I should worry about whether to play it again? No. A lot of the listening public has been conditioned to listen to a very streamlined, very safe sort of music. Even the supposedly shocking rap isn’t that shocking. It’s fine to have blatant swears and crass matters, but if you start talking about scatological stuff or sex in a realistic way, or the more sinister side of human behaviour in a deep way, no one can handle it.
"They can handle the very obvious shocking stuff, but they don’t like stuff that actually maybe makes them feel queasy. I’ve always felt that I don’t want to hit people over the head with something, but I don’t mind sneaking up behind them and giving them a goose. I like the subversive approach, but a lot of people are uncomfortable."
Still, spending time at the Burning Man Festival brought a hopeful note to the singer’s perspective. Besides learning the Balinese monkey chant with Vitalis, Demeanor found the ego-less, cash-less celebration of creativity – in which 30,000 people come together for a week to create art and music and exchange gifts – offered him something beyond the arcane.
"With so much sinister stuff and brutality that’s been going on this year, for the first time ever I went to a place and thought ‘We’ve evolved in an interesting kinda wonderful way.’ Even if it’s for a week or two, it has shown us at our best, in a community where we were able to create a completely positive vibe." |
