LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX. And by sex, I really mean this band:
Unless you've been living under a rock of musical abstinence, you will know that Mother Mother released their fourth record yesterday. I travelled across cities to get it. OK, not exactly. Here's how it all went down. I went from Surrey to Burnaby on the skytrain. I got off at Metrotown and ran down the stairs of the station, pushing everyone that was in my way and barging into the HMV like I owned the place (which I technically do, I go there so often that I swear my footsteps have imprinted/fossilized themselves on the store floor). I grabbed a copy of the record, marched to the register like a motherfucking North Shore sasquatch, and slapped my credit card on the counter confidently like I had the money to buy it (even though I really don't). Then I went home and listened to it and I don't think I've really stopped since then. Everything about this band and their music is just sexy as hell. I'm not joking, I swear these guys are like human aphrodisiacs. Like lobster only not eaten with butter. I don't know if it's just the way they present themselves, or the way Ryan Guldemond writes those fucking lyrics or the way they play those instruments, crashing through every song like it's this orgasmic sound fuck party, but whatever it is, they exude it very naturally and effortlessly both on and off stage. Like one time, their drummer Ali smiled at me at the Vancouver 125 party and I swear, FIFTY SHADES OF FUCKING GREY happened to me.
Anyway, long story short, put down your Twilight fanfiction and go grab Mother Mother's The Sticks. I promise you, IT WILL TEACH YOU THINGS. It will teach you things that bad BDSM smut cannot. Also, their Canadian tour to promote The Sticks ends with a Vancouver show on December 19th at the Orpheum Theatre. So all you people who want to see the best band from Vancouver in the best venue in Vancouver, here's your chance.
This is a review of Hey Ocean!'s upcoming album, IS.
I don't normally write music reviews, but sometimes, I come across music from a band that is so underrated, yet so good, that I can't help but share it in the hopes that others will understand my level of insanity for this band.
In this post, I am crazy in love with Hey Ocean! (the exclamation mark is a part of the band name, not to diminish the fact that I am also very enthusiastic when it comes to them).
I have known of Hey Ocean! for a couple years now. They were Vancouver's songbirds, much loved and incredibly popular amongst the city's quirky music scene and its hippie fanbase. But my first real encounter with them and their music was in the summer of 2011, when they were in the lineup at Live At Squamish, the annual music festival that takes place north of Vancouver.
They were the band with the blow-up whale.
Nothing screams Vancouver like a blow-up whale.
Their brand of summer beach music was enticing and alluring. It suited the sun that shone high up in the blue sky that day. I remember watching them and thinking that they were like the Canuck west coast version of The Beach Boys.
I found out later that they were the Canadian musicians who used to play songs on Costa Rican beaches, which explains their brand of exotic - music that feels foreign yet at the same time feels like home.
Ashleigh Ball was the girl on fire. She was everywhere at that festival. I remember seeing her hopping through the crowd to join The Zolas on-stage, where Zachary Gray introduced her as his high school sweetheart. I remember watching Shad (one of the best live performers I had ever seen), yell out her name because he needed her for a song. She's a multi-instrumentalist with a voice so light and expressive it could dance on water.
I could have fallen asleep to this trio's music. I almost did. The grass at Squamish is incredibly lush and green. Surrounded by mountains, you want to do nothing but sleep to beautiful music.
Hey Ocean! currently has two studio albums: 2006's Stop Looking Like Music and 2008's It's Easier To Be Somebody Else. IS is slated for release this year, and the four year wait has definitely been worth it.
This is not going to be a traditional review. The best way to describe Hey Ocean!'s IS? It's like a soundtrack to a romantic story set in Vancouver. So I'm going to take a little poetic license with this next track-by-track review and use their band name as inspiration.
1. If I Were A Ship
Hey Vancouver, let's go out to Jericho Beach on a bright day, and watch the vessels move across English Bay.
2. Make A New Dance Up
Hey Vancouver, let's dance a flash mob at Robson Square in front of unexpected tourists.
3. Big Blue Wave
Hey Vancouver, Point Atkinson lighthouse is for lovers.
4. Islands
Hey Vancouver, the Strait of Georgia awaits you.
5. Jolene
Hey Vancouver, sometimes I forget how beautiful you are.
6. New Love
Hey Vancouver, you're a well of pent up loneliness.
7. Bicycle
Hey Vancouver, let's utilize those bike lanes and be romantic for a day, eh?
8. Change
Hey Vancouver, spring has arrived, stop raining on the candy flowers.
9. Steady
Hey Vancouver, your white lights at night look like new stars.
10. I Am A Heart
Hey Vancouver, the glassy blue sky reflects you.
11. (For)give
Hey Vancouver, why so silent?
12. Give
Hey Vancouver, I shouldn't be afraid to love her.
13. The Last Mistake
Hey Vancouver, don't let me down.
Something that cannot be ignored of this album is the vocals. Hey Ocean! is definitely one of those bands with the vocal and instrumental capabilities that make them a lot more fun to watch and listen to live than on a recording. However, the production on this album does not at all diminish their organic sound. It is very raw, something that complements the honesty of the songs. Ball, Vertesi and Beckingham's voices are absolutely wonderful. Some standout tracks are Ball on "New Love," Vertesi on "Jolene" and Beckingham on "Steady." They have the ability to convey a wide range of emotion in their voices and at the same time make it seem effortless, flowing perfectly with the music while not trying to outdo the beautiful melodies that they accompany.
Whether they meant for IS to be a concept album or not, it definitely comes across as one. Love as a unifying theme surrounded by references to the mountains and the skies and the ocean. That's what Vancouver feels like to us who live here, and I love that it's being reflected in the music that comes from this city.
As a little bonus, here is Ashleigh, David and David performing "Jolene" in an acoustic session. It's one of the most heartfelt performances I have ever seen.
