>>PREVIEW
A NORTHERN CHORUS
Thursday, March 30
Liberty Lounge (MRC)
Space rock. Shoegazing. Dream pop. Any of these terms apply to A Northern Chorus. But the adjective that is often overlooked when describing this delicate band is memorable.
I have been regaled several times by fellow Fast Forward scribe Mark Hamilton about the time he saw them joined onstage by a hippie flautist. Not something you would soon forget. When I saw them, they delivered songs like they were whispering a secret in your ear, and then hit you dead in the chest with the full weight of their epic melody. Although it was one of the best shows I have ever seen, there were only a handful of people in the club.
"It was a little disappointing," admits the band’s cellist, Alex McMaster. She, too, remembers the show and notes that while they have pockets of success across North America, the voter-turnout style crowds are not uncommon.
"They are pretty erratic," she says. "When we are on tour, about 50 per cent of the time we get what we consider good turnouts, which is 100 people. The other 50 per cent of the time we play to under 20. It’s sort of hard to understand why some nights it’s one way and some nights it’s another."
One theory is that certain cities are just more into the space rock. When a scene supports bands that are big on pedals, atmospherics and unconventional song structure, A Northern Chorus can pick up those audiences, like they have in Ottawa.
"On the reverse of that, Hamilton, which is sort of our hometown – half of us are from there – has a really strong hardcore scene with a lot of underage shows," says McMaster. "As a result, even though that is where the band was born, we never play good shows there, it seems, because the scene is so contrary to what we do."
McMaster joined A Northern Chorus after the band recorded their 2003 sophomore release, Spirit Flags. A musician for hire, she was approached to play the CD release shows and turned that gig into full-time membership.
"I heard the songs for the first time and then completely fell in love with them in a way that doesn’t always happen," she says. "I mean, I play with a lot of people for a living and that is great, but these guys have something special."
Indeed, few bands can offer the kind of restrained cacophony balanced with nostalgic longing that A Northern Chorus has built their reputation on. There’s no way that their crowds are small due to a lack of emotional impact. Nor is it lack of commercial or critical response. When Spirit Flags was released, it was met with almost universal rave reviews and went on to be one of the highest charting U.S. radio releases for the band’s über indie Canadian label, Sonic Unyon.
Of course, at that time, the North American slow-core scene was enjoying the tail end of a renaissance. The sweater-vest set had turned their gaze to acts like Low and Ida, and Icelandic wundergroup Sigur Ros had released back-to-back monoliths on the buzz of a confounding 10-minute single. But that was then and this is now. Since then, A Northern Chorus has released the equally stunning Bitter Hands Resign, but these days ’80s new wave and post punk are being repackaged with a dance beat. Even a band like Low, to whom A Northern Chorus have often been compared, have evolved to a point where seven-minute epics have been replaced by three-minute pop songs. Is A Northern Chorus ready to do the same thing?
"We are still doing what we do, but we are writing shorter songs… whether it’s a conscious thing or not a conscious thing," says McMaster. "A lot of people said, ‘oh, you are writing a lot more poppy than you used to.’ I don’t think that is really deliberate, but I guess we can’t help but be influenced by what is going on around you and what’s out there and what trends are."
Even the fact that A Northern Chorus is Canadian doesn’t seem to make a difference. You would think that the way the music press has been inking up music north of the border that the band’s nationality would be enough to pack the clubs. McMaster is a bit more cynical.
"I wonder if it is going to come back and haunt us in a few years," she says. "Being in a Canadian band is really big, but maybe it will go out of fashion next year and then it will count against us."
So until the bottom falls out of the dance rock craze, or people stop bowing at the altar of The Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, A Northern Chorus will have to deal with their audience paradox. Luckily, McMaster seems unconcerned.
"You just have to keep doing what you are good at and what you like to do and hope that people like it, too." |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.