THEY SHOOT HORSES DON’T THEY?
Pick Up Sticks
Kill Rock Stars
· This just in – apparently bands from Vancouver like to name themselves after animals (and obscure movies from the late ’60s).
For the last couple of years, Montreal has been the focus of the Canadian indie music scene. A distinctive Montreal sound of layered, carefully orchestrated pop rock has developed. Now, Vancouver is staging a counter-strike. Bands like Frog Eyes, Swan Lake and They Shoot Horses Don’t They? are creating a sound that is virtually the antithesis of the structured Montreal sound.
For They Shoot Horses, Pick Up Sticks is the band’s second LP. It continues the disorderly, cabaret, runaway-circus-train momentum of its debut, Boo Hoo Hoo Hoo. Despite being a nine-piece band, They Shoot Horses don’t necessarily ascribe to the wall-of-sound theory. The band is quite content to minimize the sound it makes, and rely on disjointed horn arrangements to make its musical point – especially on the particularly creepy "The Hallway" and "Busted Bell."
The driving sound that puts the chaos over the top on Pick Up Sticks is the vocals of Nut Brown. Like Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, Nut Brown’s intensity makes up for the lack of a real singing voice, and his wailing and yelping perfectly complements the band’s pandemonium.
They Shoot Horses Don’t They? gets a lot of recognition for its name, but Pick Up Sticks should help shift the focus towards the band’s innovative music.
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