Preview
A NORTHERN CHORUS
Sunday, September 14
Liberty Lounge
The last time A Northern Chorus was in Calgary, their performance displayed both occasional brilliance and surprising youth. Although they looked like hippies, they came armed with a load of sweet space-rock tricks that they put to good use. That night, when a friend of a friend of one of the band members revealed a flute, A Northern Chorus didn’t say no. Unfortunately, the guest musician demonstrated that not every musical experiment should come to fruition.
Since that time, A Northern Chorus have grown. They have recorded and released their second record, Spirit Flags, and seem to be doing just fine without the help of their flautist friend. What was slight and undercooked on their 2001 debut, Before We All Go To Pieces, is now balanced and tight. Of their achievement, Stuart Livingstone (joint group leader alongside fellow guitarist and vocalist Pete Hall) remains suitably proud.
"We just wanted this album to sound 100 times better than the first one, and we’re all in agreement that it does," Livingston says. While lyrically the band may still have some growing to do, A Northern Chorus have evolved into one of Canada’s best rock bands and created one of the year’s best dream-pop albums.
Given space rock’s typical set-up of quiet-quiet intro, pretty-pretty middle refrain, and loud-loud swelling bit, it’s certainly a challenge for any group to stick out from the rest of the crowd. While Spirit Flags rests in close proximity to Broken Social Scene’s recent You Forgot It In People, A Northern Chorus manages to hold the comparisons at bay through their enviable strengths, easily summed up by Livingstone as a very strong sense of melody and songwriting versus drone and atmosphere. "But that’s not to say that we don’t enjoy fluid pieces.
"Bands like Sianspheric, Radiogram, and Mellonova often get lumped together, even though they sound entirely different. Trying to explain our niche within that genre is extremely difficult. We’re all very sure that we sound like no one else."
Take, for example the mid-album instrumental "Mombassa." It’s a spooky Godspeed You! Black Emperor-style funeral song, built upon a sampled televised sermon by Reverend Peter Youngren accompanied by a near-screamed Kenyan translation. Whereas GY!BE’s music rarely makes its way out of the mire, A Northern Chorus always comes out the other end sounding somehow hopeful. It’s a skill that’s difficult to explain within such dark material, but one which the group pulls off.
"It’s definitely a challenging listen," says Livingstone. "There’s something very unsettling in there, but then that’s the goal. (In writing "Mombassa") I couldn’t help but take note of the abrasive juxtaposition between the two sentiments – the result was a composition that reflected the pensive tone of the album."
A Northern Chorus has a knack for creating a feeling of space and setting – in this case, the album’s cavernous echo comes directly from it being recorded in producer Dan Medakovic’s colonial-era mansion. "We ended up recording in his living room which is probably about 6000 cubic feet in size, and you can hear the size in all the tracks," Livingstone recalls. "We were all feeling extremely relaxed and excited to be recording in such a beautiful house." This excitement translates perfectly to the album and, with that tool, A Northern Chorus creates a sound big enough to fill the night skies. |
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