Les québécois, les freres et soeurs
Plants and Animals – Games Shows
Genre: subtle head nod progressive indie rock
Feeling: slow mo video montage of a joyous reunion, or a war torn city
Plants and Animals, the Montreal-via-Halifax indie rock trio, are the masters of the subtle indie rock jam. What may seem on the surface a “slow song” is really a slow burn, the song’s power being driven not by aggressive riffs but by the acoustic environment P&A creates in their songs. While they are no stranger to the straight-forward indie pop rock jam (“Lightshow,” “The End of That”) I think their abilities shine brightest on their patient, progressive tunes. Oh, and the jam at the end of “Game Shows” is superb.
Lyric sample: “it’s good, it’s so easy” – P&A can layer a chorus. With the violins cranking behind them, and “so easy” fading in and out (~2:40), I’ll be damned if I do get the chills.
The Barr Brothers – Never Been a Captain
Genre: electric, delta blues
Feeling: on a fanboat in the bayou (skipping church)
Another Montreal based act (by way of Providence/Boston) the Barr Brothers are a critically acclaimed pair of siblings (Brad and Andrew, along with harpist Sarah Page) who dabble in rock, blues, and above all, ballads. I’m hard pressed to think of a non-ballad Barr song. Fun fact, the Barrs dropped out of the Boston based Berklee School of Music to form a band, which is the music-world equivalent of Zuck dropping out of Harvard to found Facebook, with less back-stabbing, I hope.
Lyric sample: “We come here as strangers, beggars at the table”
Dope Lemon – Stonecutters
Genre: electric folk-rock
Feeling: deep in the canyon
Moving away from Montreal, we have Dope Lemon, the side project of Angus Stone, one half of Aussie folk duo Angus and Julia Stone (yes, they’re siblings). Dope Lemon is electric folk-rock, with a made-in-your-bedroom feel. Driving riffs and echoed vocal layers give the tune its deep-in-the-canyon feel. Be sure to check out the full album Honey Bones.
Lyric sample: “Yeah the postman, he hasn’t been here for days” – this line has me thinking of edge-of-society, nu-wild west scenes, like a meth lab in the desert (reminds me of Neil Young’s Revolution Blues). Too late to be included in a Breaking Bad standoff, I’m sure this song will find its way into an extreme sports video, if it hasn’t already.