All Around Sound

It’s a marvel that I was introduced to Will Stratton purely by chance; a stray tweet from Knox Road advertising the upcoming release of Post-Empire piqued my interest and directed me to Stratton’s Bandcamp where a two song preview wait for me. Honestly enough, on my first couple listens to the full album upon its release date, the tracks that most jumped out at me were the first two - the tracks that had hooked me in the first place.

And yet as I listened to the album again and again, I couldn’t deny my enjoyment of the album as a whole. “You Divers” functions as a rather exceptional prelude to the collection of plainsy, windswept tunes of Post-Empire and “When You Let Your Hair Down to Your Shoulder” grabbed me with its Marling-esque inflections but the whole album is a rich, nuanced work of talent. As evidenced by the aforementioned “You Divers” with its almost 3 minute instrumental introduction, Stratton displays a careful attention to detail and patient plotting that benefits the album greatly in the long run. Post-Empire becomes an album that sort of sneaks up on you after catching you in its web of brilliant finger-picked melodies and bewitching vocal harmonies. Slowly you become aware of the man’s uncanny ability for heartwarming poetic lyricism and Stratton’s own tenor pleasantly initiates you into his realm of delicate folk hymns.

Post-Empire is an album that doesn’t rely on catchiness at least not outright. It’s undeniably memorable but not from a poppy approach. No, instead Stratton draws you in with the abundance of talent both compositional and lyrical that radiates from each song. Post-Empire is an album that does what it wants in exactly the time it wants to do so and manages to take its place as one of the best folk albums of the year as a result. While the foursome of “At The Table of Styx”, “If You Wait Long Enough”, “The Relatively Fair” and album closer “Mercury Id Blues” form a rather impressive lead out, the album takes its time getting there with the cascading riffs of “Tell Me, Where Do I Begin?” and the most notably story-driven track on the album, “Colt New Marine”. It’s these middle tracks where Stratton’s lyrical prowess becomes the most important, driving the songs more than the arrangements. Will Stratton should certainly be proud of such a majestically aurally pleasing endeavor and we should all be in awe.

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Andrew Bird - “Eyeoneye”

Hundred Waters - “Sonnet” Live acoustic for Portals.

“You’ve never seen Lucius before? You’re in for a real treat.”

These words, spoken to me by Conveyor guitarist Alan, were my only warning before I was ushered completely uninitiated into the fantastic siren song of the she-beasts of Lucius. Donned in matching black dresses, knee-high boots, and bows in their hair, the synchronized style of Lucius’ Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig is enough to throw you off the trail of their absolutely awe-striking vocals. As I watched them at their most recent gig at Cameo for Deli Magazine’s Best Emerging Artists Fest, I was massively unprepared for what I would witness. Elaborately constructed, infectious and highly memorable pop-songs, the girls and their band of three similarly dressed gentlemen were a veritable force of nature. Each and every aspect mindbogglingly amazing - from their onslaught of percussion (almost each member had their own snare drum), their bewildering powerhouse vocals that exploded from the females with an intensity that was nothing sort of overwhelming, and a clearly talented band which helped frame it all. No one part overtook the other and yet, the girls vocals cut clear through all everything straight toward the audience’s hearts and ears. Every man and woman at the show no doubt left a little more in love with Lucius than when they arrived.

Recording-wise Lucius are almost a completely different beast. Restrained but no less ear-catching, no less crush-inducing, their recently released self-titled EP is a far quieter taste of the Brooklyn band in a short but sweet set of four tracks. Sparse but not empty arrangements spotlight the gals uncomfortably good vocal chops while hitting a rather diverse palette of ideas and sounds from folk and 60s Spector pop (“Don’t Just Sit There”) to sassy noise pop a la Treats-era Sleigh Bells with far less actual noise (“Genevieve”) with jazzy ornaments thrown in for good measure, the girls manage to blend all these together to create an undeniably great style that’s endearingly hard to explain. And with a more permanent roster of members like guitarist Peter Lalish and Dan Molad on drums, the band’s clearly only going to get better and more dynamic in their recordings.

Did you hear that? Lucius have arrived and every band should quake a little in their shoes. Lucius, with their tempting blend of raw talent, insane live energy, and knack for pitch-perfect pop of the best kind, just might steal your fans away.

Get a taste of Lucius with their live version of “Don’t Just Sit There” for The Wild Honey Pie:

Their self-titled EP is available on iTunes, Amazon, and from the band themselves here

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The Tallest Man on Earth - “1904”

Ghost Lake - “Late Spring Morning Sunlight”

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Since my discovery of them at We Listen For You’s spectacular CMJ showcase to the release of their first new single, Parlovr have been very well within my sights. While their single “You Only Want It ‘Cause You’re Lonely” was certainly catchy enough to merit my paying attention, it was “Holding On To Something” which the band released as a sort of SXSW teaser that really won me over and had me practically salivating for their new album.

Kook Soul, the Montreal trio’s sophomore record and their first under label contract with Dine Alone Records, is certainly not a departure from their rough-and-tumble ragged-edge rock pop but it’s more than just the same old song and dance. A series of love songs, the real twist is that they’re all filled with a sort of steely but not grim-faced violence that arises from keen self-awareness. No posturing or victim-playing here - the Quebec rabble-rousers offer up an astonishingly indelible set of songs that properly balances truth with pop. Opener “Do You Remember?” and “Just Marriage” have all the balls-to-the-wall energy of their self-titled debut but it’s when the glorious strains of “Holding On To Something” where you truly become aware of the band’s growth. Tight-knit pieces that feed off each other ravenously, “Holding On To Something” is about a perfect a pop song as the group’s ever made: capturing their penchant for anthemic shout-vocals with intensely memorable melodies. “Now That You’re Gone” continues with their delightful streak of dancey ear-catching pop tunes with just the barest hint of a retro-rock vibe giving the subtlest hint at a by-gone-era to keep things interesting.

“Married On A Sunday” is where the album trades in its momentum for a bit of a different track - starting with a bit of sing-talk before the track picks up and all the parts come properly together. It’s a track you may not like on first or even second listen but which is poised to win you over on album listen after album listen. “You Only Want It ‘Cause You’re Lonely” also functions as a bit of a cool-down, slowly building up before it’s big rock moments (which really aren’t that big in comparison to the album’s others).

“Bad Faith” functions as the album’s sole ballad and to call it that is a bit of a misnomer perhaps - it’s a slower more emotion-fueled song yes but it retains that trio’s enthusiastic touch that keeps it from slowing things down too much.

Considering the amount of intense busy moments on Kook Soul, you have to regard the thing as a success. Is it perfect? No. But that’s not really Parlovr’s style anyway. Kook Soul is bold, brash, virtually unapologetic set of colorful pop songs. Some songs are better than others but none are completely unnecessary. A charming album that gains whole new meaning when you realize it’s essentially the thing that kept the band from breaking up. And considering it’s dual composition - songwriters Alex Cooper and Louis Jackson essentially wrote their own songs by themselves and they remain relatively untouched by anyone but drummer Jeremy MacCuish- it’s a wonder that the thing works as fluidly as it does. At no point can you tell “This is Alex’s, now this is Louis’”. Each of the songs all fit together in Parlovr’s messy way. A solid follow up all things considered. Here’s hoping there will be more to come from the rather young Montreal threesome.

Get a taste of the album with arguable the best song on it, “Holding On To Something”:

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Friend Roulette - “On Her Own Tonight”

Off their recently released Hi, Hello EP/10” vinyl picture disc

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Friend Roulette - “Hi, Hello”

Off their recently released Hi, Hello EP/10” vinyl picture disc.

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Fang Island - “Asunder”

Off their upcoming third album Major out July 24th.

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