Sunset Rubdown’s new album is entitled Dragonslayer, and it will be released on June 23.
Tracklist:
01 Silver Moons
02 Idiot Heart
03 Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!
04 Black Swan
05 Paper Lace
06 You Go on Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)
07 Nightingale / December Song
08 Dragon’s Lair
When I saw that the next album from Broken Social Scene was “BSS presents Charles Spearin,” I thought two things: One, since it carries the BSS label, it’s going to sound like BSS. Two, since it’s Charles Spearin, it’s going to sound like Do Make Say Think. Oh Joy. They’re following up two mediocre “BSS Presents” releases with an album that’s going to sound like a band I have fallen asleep to. Then it wound up in my iTunes and I hit play.
One look at the cover art shows no “BSS presents” text, because this is neither a BSS or DMST release. This is a Charles Spearin album, and to say that it shattered my expectations would be an understatement. The Happiness Project is nothing short of a work of staggering genius.
Spearin said about the album: “These are my neighbours. My wife and I have two little kids and live downtown Toronto. In the summertime, all the kids in the neighbourhood play outside together and everyone is out on their porch enjoying each other’s company, telling stories and sharing thoughts. A year or so ago, I began inviting some of them over to the house for a casual interview vaguely centered around the subject of happiness. In some cases we never broached the subject directly but nonetheless my friends began to call it my ‘Happiness Project.’ After each interview I would listen back to the recording for moments that were interesting in both meaning and melody. By meaning I mean the thoughts expressed, by melody I mean the cadence and inflection that give the voice a singsong quality.
And here Spearin has found the music in each person’s voice, and when the music and speech are played together they mesh together and suddenly the person is singing rather than talking. Opener “Mrs. Morris” blends the voice of elderly, friendly Mrs. Morris with the smooth tones of the tenor saxophone, and the effect is so powerful every time you hear it that it is like hearing it for the first time on each track. On “Vittoria,” Spearin finds rhythm in the voice of a little girl trying to think of something to say. The repeated refrain of “It’s like… It’s like, um…” is mesmerizing, much like the “Send me home” line from “Marisa,” but the album’s true highlight is the beautifully moving “Vanessa,” in which the young, deaf heroine discusses what it is like to learn to hear with a cochlear implant, with accompaniment by the piano.
Spearin has switched music around. We’re used to hearing words set to music. Here, we hear music set to words; the instruments are now the ones singing along. While I am certain that Spearin is not the first person to do this, I am certain that he does it well.
The album cover does not bear the name of Broken Social Scene, as it would be an injustice to brand it as such. Spearin has created something so far removed from not only BSS and DMST, but from music itself. So much, in fact, that the album plays out like a multimedia display in an art gallery, but no video is necessary. That is left up to us. This is a piece of art that pulls you in, and whether you like it or not, you will see it all unfold in your mind. Simply mesmerizing.
The album will be released on April 14. And if the entire album is as kickass as lead single “Help, I’m Alive,” it’s going to be quite a good one.
01. Help I’m Alive
02. Sick Muse
03. Satellite Mind
04. Twilight Galaxy
05. Gold Guns Girls
06. Gimme Sympathy
07. Collect Call
08. Front Row
09. Blindness
10. Stadium Love
Tracklist:
1. Spanish Gold, 2044
2. Paper Lace
3. Heartswarm
4. Settle on Your Skin
5. Ballad of a Swan Lake, or, Daniel’s Song
6. Peace
7. Spider
8. A Hand at Dusk
9. Warlock Psychologist
Enemy Mine will be released March 24. It will be a nice way to tide us over until Sunset Rubdown’s 2009 release (tentatively scheduled for June)
