PREVIEW
REVERIE SOUND REVUE
Thursday, November 29
Metro
Friday, November 30
The Night Gallery
My request was simple. Have a couple of the local bopsters in Reverie Sound Revue answer some questions in anticipation of their upcoming shows. What I received via e-mail, however, were pages of dense, extremely enthusiastic correspondence from all five members. Bastards.
As I furrowed my brow slightly, wondering how I'd attempt to edit it all, I allowed myself a little chuckle as I realized something. Those darn kids were just having a problem trying to contain the same sort of nerdy excitement for their own band that I have as an avid listener.
Exhale.
In an age where bands are so often labelled according to what other bands they sound like, Reverie Sound Revue is refreshingly hard to categorize. Their formula relies on a wonderful tease and deliver system that damn well satisfies even the biggest cynic. Tell me you don't want something that's jaunty as hell and has all the right hooks in all the places you wouldn't expect. No? Liar.
If ever you find yourself swooning to their ethereally lulling sounds, rest assured that they'll soon end up zapping the entire mood to cut loose with a frantic hustle and bustle of melody. The absence of one true lead guitarist leaves both Marc De Pape and Patrick Walls open to shazam along as two synchronous rhythm guitarists. Vocalist Lisa Lobsinger’s sleepy "ba-ba's" punch and sooth like a jazz-club fantasy. As for the rhythm section, you'd be best to see them live and witness how they influence someone like the band's loyal audience fanatic, Jomar. Treading between Bryce Gracey's lightning bass jabs and John De Waal's taut and taunting drum taps, Jomar gyrates along like James Brown on fire. It's a grand scene.
"All we can do is make music that we love because if we love it then that proves the existence of people who are able to enjoy it," Walls says. "We write with an audience in mind but there is no guarantee that anyone will enjoy something that you don't love yourself."
Incidental personal note number 2,034: Coming from a retrograde punk-rock wasteland like Calgary allows these words to excite a young lad like myself. I no longer want to utter the complacent, defeated refrain, "Yeah, they're pretty good... for a Calgary band." You and I should always want more.
"It's important to give (people what they want), but to also provide in terms of depth if they want to find it," says de Pape, not so oblivious to my notion. "At the same time, entertainment is a very delicate balance between amusement and influence, and people are much more likely to take music in if it welcomes them."
Without acting like trite rock stars, trying to talk above the heads of their audience, the Reverie Sound Revue delivers sharp musical expression that is both open to interpretation and also creates an atmosphere of swinging fun.
"We don't employ (the music) as a vehicle to convey some political agenda or vent about broken hearts," Gracey insists. "The lyrics have no true narrative or subject. It's more about linguistic esthetics, I suppose, and composing strong songs in terms of harmony, rhythm, structure, etc."
So the concepts presented by the band allow an eager listener like myself to assign my own meaning to what I hear. And I damn well do! I jitter in joy that this (unbelievable to many) local group's head-nodding tunes just happen to complement my long-running obsessions with Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello, the Wedding Present and ’60s San Francisco plushers Love. Yes! Yes!
Maybe, though, instead of listening to the nerdy rantings of this chirpy writer, you'll take the chance to discover your own melodies within the ones created by Reverie Sound Revue.
Phew. I need some antacid. |
