>>PREVIEW
THE INCANDESCENCE
Thursday, December 8
Broken City
When anyone with even a passing knowledge of music hears about a band that features two members with formal jazz education, a collective love of notoriously difficult music and an enthusiasm for breaking down audience-band boundaries, inevitably there is rolling of the eyes and muttering about overly intellectual middle-aged dudes making unlistenable music.
By the same token, if the same person were to hear about a quartet whose age maxes out at 21, who giggle constantly while squeezed into a couch much too small for the four of them to be comfortable and who repeatedly mention the importance of fun, there would be rolling of the eyes and muttering about kids who want to be Blink 182.
And then there’s The Incandescence. The Calgary quartet occupies a rarified space that combines both of these descriptions, sans all the rolling of eyes and muttering. And they do it while creating music that, while not groundbreaking, is certainly unique to this city – noisy but hook-filled pop, intelligent but not contrived.
In a scene that is diversifying at an astonishing pace, The Incandescence have found their own space, though doing so saw them go through two different vocalists and a failed attempt at becoming an all instrumental band. Eventually, they evolved into the Spencer Davis-led gang, whose vocals now sit atop buzzing guitars.
"We yell a lot in practice," explains Sydney Koke with a laugh, "so it just kind of happened. And now Spencer does a lot of it."
"I’m starting to develop a style, I think," Davis acknowledges to agreeing nods from his bandmates, though for many first time audience members that style doesn’t necessarily include clear narrative lyrics or coherent delivery.
"The thing is, people don’t need to understand what we’re saying all the time," Davis says. "It’s not necessarily important that they understand it – we’re using the vocals as much as an instrument as anything."
While proficiency with your instrument can often lead to egregious errors, Davis and Markus Lake (they’re the two with formal music education and the band is completed by drummer Andrew Hume) are vigilant in not allowing that training to affect their performance in the band. While it may sound like a contrarian approach to music, Lake feels it’s important.
"School hasn’t really taught me about songwriting. It’s made me more proficient, but I don’t want that education to limit what I’m playing."
Davis is quick to jump in. "It’s not like we write, like, sheet music. I mean, maybe one day when we’re old and a jazz band, we could do that. But (myself and Markus) don’t sit and think about what should and shouldn’t be played. Markus will bring in some bass line and we’ll jam on it and come up with parts together as a band. And sometimes that means that someone is playing a slide whistle, or we switch instruments. We all get really bored really easily, so we have to keep trying different things."
While this collective Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ("I blame video games!" Davis says emphatically) could lead to a disastrously unfocused band, The Incandescence don’t seem to have that problem. Though they enthusiastically talk about the different styles and instrumentation they want to try out, the fact remains that – for now, anyway – The Incandescence are loud, noisy and exuberant and they’re all the better for it. In a world where eye rolling and muttering are too often the norm, a little youthful abandon goes a long way. |
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