“The album takes the formula of Stewart’s previous releases and stretches it panoramic, bedroom pop on a mountainous scale, a departure from his norms in all the right ways. The band build dense layers of guitar which, paired with rumbling bass and crashing drums, create something imposing, a monolith rising through the fog.”

The great news is that the full album has now been released, and the promise saw at the start of the year has been realised. Eight songs of dense indie rock which borrow as much from the cathartic peaks of post-rock as they do from the slow and spectral sound we’ve come to associate with Stewart. We begin with ‘In Linear’, with it’s slow and considered start, all open spaces and dark winding guitars and Stewart’s signature vocals. The “choruses” spike with heavier instrumentation, our first taste of the album’s post-rock tendencies, while the gentler verses are full of lines like:

“You always cover the receiver with your hand
why don’t you want them to listen
why don’t you want them to understand?”

‘LAFK’ opens with almost martial drumbeat before the advent of inky and slinky guitars, eventually blooming into a track which fuses a sheer rock passion with emotive vocals and reflective air of something else entirely, bringing to mind earlier Winterlseep releases and particular the music of Brian Borcherdt’s Dusted project. The song is punctuated by moments of almost pure silence, where the only sound is the receding reverb of the previous burst of instrumentation, a sound you can’t be sure doesn’t exist only in your inner ear. Eventually things build to a pinnacle, ending in a furious cacophony of pounding percussion and squealing guitars. ‘Careful Creators’ gathers itself and then comes crashing to life, the vocals sad and oddly serene, floating in during the intervals between the noise (“To be alive is to be alone”).

The title track is a patient and vaguely ominous song, guitars rolling in like surf on an abandoned shore, while ‘x’ shakes things up with its shimmering, shifting ambience, like ice crystals gliding through the great black expanse of outer space. A discordant clang announces the arrival of ‘Temporary Widow’, which has shades of Explosions in the Sky, epic crests of feedback and pummelled drums surrounding the soaring vocals like a big staticky storm cloud. ‘Concrete Plans’ marches out of a drone that sounds like some kind of cosmic wind, the drums holding a rhythm that feels almost heavy rock.

“Under someone else’s concrete plans
you’re not even a name
or the print of your own hand
you become so dependent”

Finale ‘Words’ is epic and reverberating, stretching over the nine minute mark and enduring all manner of tumult in its duration. It converges into perhaps the heaviest maelstrom on the entire album, before descending into a lull at the very finish, just sparse guitar and Stewart’s vocals, like the strange glowing hush in aftermath of a tempest.

“It’s alright if your words
don’t come as easily to you
if everything is overheard
maybe they’re not supposed to”

This is an album that has it all. It’s pretty easy to turn to cloying metaphors to describe the sense of vast space it conjures, the poignancy or Stewart’s vocals, the pure tangible noise that the band can summon. It takes a little bit of everything and melts them down into something that’s quite unique. Something that is quite distinctly Summering.

You can get Summering now via the Summering Bandcamp page.

The post Summering – s/t appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Regular readers may be familiar with the sounds of Paul Stewart, the Canadian who makes introspective and atmospheric modern folk music (not unlike the Field Medic release we featured recently). Summering is a band from Vancouver of which Stewart is now a member, along with four other musicians with a variety of backgrounds, mostly from the more abrasive end of the musical spectrum such as metal, punk, techno and hardcore. These three tracks are intended as a preview of the bands forthcoming album, due some time this summer.

The album takes the formula of Stewart’s previous releases and stretches it panoramic, bedroom pop on a mountainous scale, a departure from his norms in all the right ways. The band build dense layers of guitar which, paired with rumbling bass and crashing drums, create something imposing, a monolith rising through the fog. I found myself thinking of earlier Wintersleep albums in the way they fuse melancholic indie with the noisy dramatism of post-rock. The tracks were recorded live at Monarch Studios in Vancouver, a decision that sounds to have paid off as the band’s thunderous energy is tangible.

If you want my advice, head over to the Summering Bandcamp page, download the preview on a name your price basis, and then sit patiently for the full album.

The post Summering preview self-titled debut album appeared first on Various Small Flames.

We had originally planned for 15 songs each but found it was too difficult to fit in all the artists we felt needed to be included and decided to go with 20 each. Luckily, HI54LOFI included some of our favourites and I think we had some of his on ours, so we helped each other out a bit.

Granted, there are far more than 40 noteworthy Canadian artists out there and there were some hard decisions. Any disappointed acts crying into their maple syrup or taking out frustrations on their teamates on the ice, please don’t despair, there is always next year.

We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making them. These songs certainly haven’t helped banish our romantic view of Canada.

Wake The Deaf side:

1.Docking Guard – Northern Primitive
2. Drop It – NEEDLES//PINS
3. Flyingshot Lake – The Flaming Moes
4. Ask Me Something – Wind & the Wild
5. Left and Leaving – The Weakerthans
6. Snow Ghosts – Paul Stewart
7. Voyageur – Doug MacNearney
8. The Future Of Tradition – Frederick Squire
9. Bruises – Dusted
10. Ben – Tyler Butler
11. Warning – Postdata
12. Margaret Downe – Aidan Knight
13. Coming Back Home – Zachary Lucky
14. Sask – Donovan Woods
15. Young Glass – Hey Rosetta!
16. Lightshow – Plants & Animals
17. And I Thank You – Pink Mountaintops
18. Cloud Of Evil – Blackout Beach
19. Sing! Captain – Handsome Furs
20. Continuous Thunder – Japandroids

HI54LOFI side:

1. Welcome To The Heart – Eamon McGrath
2. Broken Knees. – Different Skeletons
3. Sunset – Two Bicycles
4. Brook and Branch – The Weather Station (featuring Baby Eagle)
5. Skinny Ghost – HAPPY TRENDY
6. Deny, Deny, Deny – Joel Plaskett
7. You’re Cool – The Joe
8. Oh My God (It Still Means A Lot To Me) – The Wooden Sky
9. Necromancy – Jessica Jalbert
10. Scared – The Tragically Hip
11. Family Tree – Evening Hymns
12. Wind Driving Dogs – Chad VanGaalen
13. Were You In Love With Me – Andy Shauf
14. Big Bird In A Small Cage – Patrick Watson
15. I Need You Closer – LadyFace
16. Where are you? – nick everett
17. The Very Best – Mike Tod
18. Vapours – Islands
19. Sugar Mama – The Deep Dark Woods
20. Road Regrets – Dan Mangan

You can find both mixes here as a collection.

EH? – A Canadian Mixtape (Wake The Deaf Side) from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

EH? – A Canadian Mix Tape (HI54LOFI Side) from HI54LOFI on 8tracks Radio.

If anyone can think of any more Canada-themed cliches or stereotypes then please don’t hesitate to let us know for next year’s mix. Going by this collection of songs, being insanely talented might just be one more.

The post EH? – A Canadian Mixtape Complied By Wake The Deaf & HI54LOFI appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Hello Earth Person! I hope life is treating you well? Could you maybe detail how and why you started making music?

Hello Wake the Deaf,

The primordial beginnings of my musical journey started quite a few years back, before I was in high school. I had these two friends who were brothers, and they owned a computer and a midi keyboard. This kind of technology was a novelty to me at the time. I was completely amazed by it. We would spend hours creating very strange electronic songs together. Thinking back I realize that we were unintentionally exploring absurdist realms. Our songs were mainly about frying pans and men in dark suits with no faces. Anyway, this experience inspired me to get my own midi keyboard. That’s how I discovered the doorway into the dimension of sound and resonance. I also started playing the drums around this time, and formed a band with some neighborhood friends. We still play together to this day! That’s a brief answer to the question of “how?” The answer to “why?” is simply that I had no control or choice. I was drawn into music by unexplainable forces: the circumstances of my existence. I just fell in love with it. I think music is a creative act, not an act of creation. To play music is to become a conduit, or a channel through which earth-energy flows. There is no “creation” because all forces are ancient echoes without beginning or end. However it is totally possible to sing with this energy, and to harmonize your whole “self” with it.

You seem have strong opinions on the attitude of society towards the nature and change. It’s something which I covered briefly in a piece about Beasts of the Southern Wild; the general pessimism of people towards mankind and the environment. I have studied zoology for the last four years and it seemed each and every topic we covered either had some stark warning or else it was already too late and we were looking at the dire consequences of our existence. Without wishing to sound overly idealistic (and therefore dreamy, unpractical etc.), I can’t help but think we are looking at things the wrong way, that a change to optimism could be much more productive in the long run. This is something you are hinting at in the music?

This is exactly what I am hinting at in my music! Positivity is the new wavelength of thought. American culture is currently undergoing a monumental shift in consciousness. This is a difficult process, as we have to face so many dark and horrifying truths about our own personalities. However the light within us is a source of ultimate love that will help us through this transition. The light makes the shadows dance.
Really what I see happening is the illusion of American progress disintegrating as we slowly awake to the harsh realities of global capitalism. Environmental destruction, mass extinctions, world poverty, oppression, exploitation and war; these are facts. And it’s getting more and more difficult to ignore them, despite the shiny plastic veneer of consumer culture that surrounds us.

I view these problems as the consequences of a past dynasty: a time when the west believed that all things were created for the benefit and use of ‘man’, who God had chosen to have dominion over the entire earth. Of course this is a very ignorant worldview, and it creates a hierarchical structure of domination that is extremely oppressive. It creates a world where women are abused, where nature is violently exploited, and where the diversity of human culture is narrowly singularized. As a result of this white male, egocentric domination we are experiencing all of this psychological, cultural, and spiritual sickness at a collective level. Individual hopelessness and alienation are just some of the symptoms.

I hear people say all the time that “nothing can be done because the system is too powerful. It is unsusceptible change”, and also that “human beings are parasitic and killing the Earth”. Indeed there is some truth to these thoughts. However the situation is more complex than this, and should be given more thought. I don’t agree that “nothing can be done” because the “system is too powerful, and unsusceptible to change”. The system is actually very malleable, penetrable, and collapsible. If you think of this all-powerful system as a giant organic machine, and your own life as one cell in this bio-machine body, it starts to become clear how your life can affect the genetic makeup of the larger machine organism. Every decision you make to change the way you live in turn affects the way the machine operates. This is because everyone you know is also a cell in the body of the capitalist machine. How you live inevitably has an affect on how your friends and family live, and this in turn influences the people who are closest to them. These ripples of influence continue traveling throughout the whole machine body until every cell of it has been slightly changed. The system is afraid of us realizing the power we have to change it, because it draws its own subsistence from this power or life energy. That is why it oppresses, and tries to control our freedom. That is why it attempts to suffocate creative thought, and human expression.

These human capacities we all posses threaten the livelihood of the machine. When we see beyond the boundaries of conformity, control, rigid linearity, and segmentation, and tap into deeper visions of reality that transcend the illusions of concrete un-changeability, we discover our true human potential, and the possibility of a world of balance and equality without fear, hate, violence, war, exploitation, oppression, suffering, or environmental destruction. There is no king, only one Earth. All substance and matter are interconnected. Your mind is like a conduit through which thought and light flows, and this is what gives shape to reality. Love is the deepest expression of being.

Do you have a scientific background? Or are you following ideas from elsewhere? I don’t intend this question as any sort of challenge or put-down – the origin of different visions for the world and ways to look after it are incredibly interesting and I’m not naive enough to ignore any – but rather just a query into what influences you. Are your views (and therefore your art) formed by scientific, philosophical or spiritual means? Or maybe a mix of the three?

My main focus of study has been philosophy, and this has influenced my thinking about reality significantly. I have always found existence to be a very mysterious phenomenon. There are all of these seemingly unanswerable questions that human beings are faced with. I find it nearly impossible to ignore these questions. That’s why I was drawn to philosophy. However, I wouldn’t say that philosophy defines me. All of the dimensions of life are interconnected and equally influential. Philosophy has helped to shape my perception, but so have the seasons of Earth, my neighbors, my family, and friends, the internet, technology, food, drugs, the stars, birds, insects … everything! Music is so important to me because it is my spiritual connection to reality. It allows me to channel my influences, share stories, and give something back to the Universe. There is nothing logical or reasonable about it, and that’s part of the beauty. The ancient traditions of drumming, singing, and chanting are our tools for mystical awakening.

It’s funny, I can imagine a lot of people would write off a musician who wants to spread a hopeful message as some New-Age dreamer or a hippy or whatever, using those terms as an insult, no matter how much sense that person is talking and irrespective of the fact that that person is actually defending mankind, proclaiming honesty and human connection and so on. Would you be happy being pegged into such groups? Do you feel part of that sort of scene?

If someone were to attempt to insult me by calling me a hippy or a New-Age dreamer they would be unsuccessful. I love hippies and New-Age Dreamers! However I don’t claim to be any of those things myself. People are free to make their own interpretations, whether they are accurate ones or not. I have no particular desire to be a part of any scene: I only to wish to spread messages of peace and love, and to give respect to the earth. Music is my method. I chose the name Earth Person because I want to convey the truth that I am simply a person from earth. Isn’t this what all human beings have in common? Even the top CEO of the most powerful corporation is an earth person, born of a woman, breathing and living on the same planet as the rest of us. If we’re going to create a more peaceful and ecologically harmonious society we need to start acknowledging the deeply interconnected nature of reality. I guess the best response to your question is: I am an earth person, a part of the human-beings-living-on-the-planet scene. Call it future-folk, or social-transmutation.

I know that what we have discussed thus far is quite enough inspiration, but is there anything else which influences your writing progress? Maybe other bands or some forms of literature?

One book that was very influential on me was ‘The Great Work’ by Thomas Berry. This is a good place to start exploring ecological consciousness. Also worth exploring is the book ‘A Thousand Plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia’ by Felix Guattari, and Gilles Deleuze. If you are interested in dissolving boundaries, or learning how to create new pathways that deviate from the strict linear routes of capitalist control then check it out. I also suggest studying Marx, Gandhi, and existentialism. Oh, and lastly try to find the essay ‘Ancient Futures’ by Helena Norberg-Hodge. All of these writings were very helpful to me!

Finally, can you name a few artists you are listening to at the moment? They can be global superstars or your next-door neighbour, any four or five acts you are currently enjoying.

I have been really enjoying this folk artist named Ty Maxon recently. His album Calling of the Crows is wonderful! I also completely fell in love with that album Permanence by Paul Stewart which you posted on your ‘best free music of 2012’ listing. Three fellow Maine musicians who deserve some attention are Jeff Beam, who is producing excellent psych-rock in Portland Maine, Laughing Animal, who makes some seriously groovy electronic music, and also The Powerful Bee Counters, who have completely opened my mind to what is possible in terms of style and creating lo-fi beauty. I highly suggest checking them out!

You can listen to and buy Earth Person’s music on Bandcamp.

The post Interview: Earth Person appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Also, if you’re lucky enough to be in Alberta this weekend, you have three chances to see Paul play live; one in Edmonton tonight (Friday 22nd Feb) courtesy of Cabin Songs, with Matthew A. Wilkinson, Jom Comyn and The Royal Iguana Fur (who cover Louie Louie here), then twice in Calgary on Saturday and Sunday (23rd and 24th of Feb). Check   Facebook for more info.

P.S. The slightly bizarre cover art was taken by Warren Humeny, check out a blog of his photography here.

The post Paul Stewart – Some Good It Will Come appeared first on Various Small Flames.

(RIYL – “Defeatist Folk”, Nostalgia, House of Wolves)

Pop Winds – Earth To Friends

(RIYL – Psych Pop, Animal Collective, Parts & Labor, Braids)

Praything – Her Skin Caught The Glow

(RIYL – Indie Pop, Pianos, Beach House, Fleet Foxes, Youth Lagoon)

Rem’s Floating Chandelier – Think Of The Willows

(RIYL – Chillwave, Ambient, Dream Pop, Variety)

Ricky Eat Acid – Ambien Music

(RIYL – Ambient, Drone, Melancholy)

Ricky Eat Acid + Arrange – Sketches

(RIYL – Ambient, Collaborations, Ricky Eat Acid, Arrange)

Roman Ruins – Homebuilding

(RIYL – Electronic Pop, Animal Collective, Beach House)

Sean Atkins – Volume One / Volume 1.5 / Volume Two

(RIYL – Acoustic, Singer Songwriters, Bright Eyes, J. Tillman)

Selkies – Tall Grass

(RIYL – Psych Folk, Nature, Mountain Man, Joanna Newsom, Lemolo)

Seth Frightening – Don’t You Worry (Heat Death)

(RIYL:Experimental Folk, Smog, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Grouper).

Shipwrecks – Whatever

(RIYL: Bedroom Pop, Talons’, Phil Elvrum, Sufjan Stevens)

Sledding With Tigers – Being Nice is Still Cool

(RIYL: Folk Punk, Defiance Ohio, Andrew Jackson Jihad).

Snow Mantled Love – Romance 126

(RIYL: Dream Pop, Sharon Van Etten, Beach House, Twin Sister, Sigur Ros).

Spook Houses – Trying

(RIYL: Indie Rock, Pavement, Titus Andronicus).

Squanto – On Being Lumpy

(RIYL: Ambient, Folk, Nils Frahm, Talons’)

The post Favourite Free Music of 2012 (P – S) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

First up is Paul Stewart from Vancouver BC, who makes “Defeatist Folk” and definitely deserves your attention. His latest EP, Permanence, was released in late 2011 (so late in fact that I didn’t find it in time to put it in my Best of 2011 Free Music posts) and has been on steady rotation in my headphones for the last few months. Check out the lead track in the player below. Stewart released another EP, called Parkade Songs, back in 2009 and that record is also well worth your time. Both are available on a name your price basis, including nothing at all, but both records are definitely worth a donation, however small.

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Second is Scott Rudd who is a “Lo-fi Indie Folk” artist from Brooklyn, NYC. Rudd’s bandcamp currently has an album, a set of very promising demos and a brand new track (released last month) for your listening pleasure. Check out the track below and then purchase these releases (very reasonably priced too). He is also starting a UK tour at the end of the month which stretches throughout July and sees him visiting an impressive variety of towns and cities (from Edinburgh to Brighton and many places in between – look at his bandcamp for the full list). Why not pop along and support him?

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Next we have Matthew DeLoach, who also has two great EPs available on his bandcamp which were also criminally left off my 2011 Free Music List. DeLoach still has that bedroom vibe but changes things up with some nice samples and beats, creating an experimental cocktail of downbeat Lo-fi vocals and swirling electronics. The closing track contains no vocals at all, instead using a recording of children yelling and playing as a background to the track.  My current favourite track, Son of God, is available in the player below. As with Paul Stewart, the EPs are available on a pay-what-you-want basis and again I’m sure it would be appreciated if you could donate what you can.

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Last but not least is the latest release by The Wandering Lake (who I featured a few weeks ago here) called Maj Deegan. Brian Kupilass (the artist that works under The Wandering Lake moniker) says the album was inspired by a trip he took on the Maj Deegan Expressway, travelling north to meet a new family member. The cool double exposure photograph on the cover was taken by Euan Baker. The album presents a departure from the ethereal nature of his previous record, sounding far more Lo-fi and grungey (and a lot louder). Listen to my favourite track, One Day, in the player below and then download the album for as much as you please on bandcamp.

The post Lo-Fi Grab-Bag appeared first on Various Small Flames.