>>PREVIEW
FROG EYES
Tuesday, May 9
Broken City
With the recent success of spectacular acts such as Destroyer, Wolf Parade and the all-powerful The Arcade Fire, it seems that theatricality in Canadian music is very much back in vogue. Freed from the trappings of ironic distance and the slacker tendencies of the traditional indie rock archetype, these bands are creating music that is simultaneously vulnerable, over-the-top and exhilarating.
Yet Carey Mercer, the enigmatically unrestrained front man for Frog Eyes (and before that Blue Pine), has been performing on this stage for as long, if not longer, than his dramatic contemporaries. Showcasing his own brand of haunting, histrionic intensity that channels both King Lear and Birthday Party-era Nick Cave, Mercer’s lyrics can best be described as a vivid, violent stream of consciousness.
"I think sometimes I sing the songs of people I would like to be," explains Mercer. "My own experiential horizon is somewhat limited, but I am not a great portrait artist either, so I think at times there is a romanticized persona run through my cruel and bitter filter.
"Mostly I am a fan of images, of resonating glimpses of land and communities and people in crisis, or in ultimate pastoral peace. That’s why dawn is so central to a lot of the songs, one feels both the dread of the incoming day and the myriad possibilitiesinherent in such a vessel."
Yet, as frenzied as Mercer may sound on record, this antic disposition is only heightened when he steps onstage. Like a drunken preacher possessed by his inner demons, the Andy Richter lookalike is strident, spastic and not willing to stop until everyone in attendance is on his or her feet.
"I try and restrain myself, and to a certain extent on the records it works, more and more lately," he says. "But with all that roar and din behind me in ‘real time,’ it is a bit hard not to let go. Think of being on the tip of that ship in Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee and your job is to just keep it together and sing nice, but the torrent is blowing your ears back and sucking the tempest out of your belly. Tough job."
Currently, Frog Eyes are taking their show on the road for a 15-stop jaunt across North America. Starting off with a performance in their hometown, Mercer explains why familiar crowds are often the harshest critics of all.
"Victoria is the cruellest arena for us," he says. "I am a bit demented when I drink, so half the crowd has a personal vendetta against me, and the other half, the friendly folk, adhere to that late ’90s ‘mean is nice’ epistemology. I always feel like weeping after a hometown show."
In a one-two punch sure to bring down the house, the group will be joined on these dates by Sunset Rubdown, the side-project of Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug. For this tour, Krug will also be back on keys for Frog Eyes, the band in which he got his start.
"The arrangements become polyphonic with Spencer," says Mercer. "If you listen to his parts divorced from the song, it is actually hard to recognize what song he is playing. He expands the music and pushes it into a new and wicked dimension."
Mercer seems clearly pleased to have his former bandmate and friend back in the troupe, especially since they are also collaborating with Dan Bejar, who Frog Eyes previously hooked up with for the Notorious Lightning And Other Works EP. As the aptly titled super group Swan Lake, the theatrical trio plans to release their debut album on Jagjaguwar at the end of 2006.
"We all played in Europe together and the idea came about that we were always pouring our blood and our blues into Bejar and a three-way swirl might be interesting to try," says Mercer.
As prolific as he is passionate, Mercer has also announced the upcoming release of the new Frog Eyes album Tears Of The Valedictorian, that Krug will play keyboards on as well.
"To my ears it will be the antithesis to The Folded Palm," says Mercer. "It is a hymn to joy." |
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