>>PREVIEW
CALGARY FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL
Elliot Brood
July 27 to 30
Prince’s Island Park
It’s called "Death Country," and if you’re wondering what that is, check out Toronto’s Elliot Brood. This trio of Mark Sasso, Steve Pitkin and Casey Laforet continues to generate music and live performances that mix powerful stories with haunting instrumentation. There’s no denying that these guys are creating something beyond the bounds of country, rock , blues and folk. At the root, though, is Elliot Brood’s determination to respect their audience and above all, tell a story.
"I mean it doesn’t give you a lot of clues to the person, it gives you a name and it gives you some things," says Mark Sasso, describing the band’s new CD Ambassador. "It’s more a starting point for you to kind of figure out for yourself what the album is about. I think some bands might take their audiences for granted, but we see our audiences as intelligent people. It’s up to you, it’s like a book. If you totally describe everything for somebody it ruins it. Paint a small picture and let them figure it out for themselves. "
With Ambassador, the band managed to capture their high-energy live performances. The challenge from the outset though was how to do that and the trio hit on a unique solution – they recorded in an abandoned abattoir.
"We looked at it and after we thought about it, we thought, ‘Oh what a great instrument.’ You kind of look at it like that as opposed to ‘Oh, this is a studio.’ No, it’s more like an instrument. It played a large role in the sound of the album and allowed us a lot of space in the recording process," says Sasso. "We can be playing live and do different things and have the ability to expand on ideas and stuff like that…. We wanted to play live and capture that live feel. That’s our sound."
Elliot Brood’s sound is unique and in an industry of changing trends, packagings and repackagings, the trio has retained its focus. Reflecting on where they’ll take their music in the next few years, the band is adamant about the basics – self produce, remember your audience and tell a story.
"The story and the song is the most important thing that we actually do," says Sasso. "That’s how we approach it, so we kind of have a reverence for that and that means a lot to us. We just give it a lot of prominence, it takes precedence in what we do." |
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