Local Releases: Living Hour, Zoon, Amos the Kid

ZOON

STERLING MURMURATION

“…this body of work is supposed to display the danger in isolating. While in this state, we set ourselves up to be in harm’s way by outside forces, but breaking out and embracing humility and community, you can finally transcend into a healthy trajectory.” So writes Zoon’s Daniel Monkman in the press release for their surprise EP Sterling Murmuration. The Toronto-based shoegazer’s journey exploring the fringes of rock music is boundless in creativity. It often taps into a particular emotional resonance that only exists in the sonic cosmology of their discography. As a companion piece to Big Pharma — an EP released earlier this year on National Indigenous Peoples Day — Sterling Murmuration is a collection of songs, sounds, and poetry originally written and recorded by Monkman over a decade ago while they lived in Winnipeg. These four new tracks reflect on the passage of time, decay, retribution, and the death of friends. The listener is lifted into a profoundly unique musical experience as the temporal fuzz of guitars and lush wash of reverb-soaked vocals emit through the airwaves. Opener “Play Ground” begins with inorganic buzz, unacquainted and directionless in its intentions. It hangs there for a moment, cementing itself as the album’s cornerstone, waiting until the rest of the song builds around it. Precious acoustic guitars swing among themselves until an all-encompassing wave of sound moves you into the glimmering, hallucinogenic light of emblematic shoegaze. “Play Ground” is a song where Monkman lays out the memories of a deceased close friend. The straightforward production in the vein of My Bloody Valentine harkens back to the younger and vulnerable years of summer sunsets, tag on the play structure, and bike rides to 7-Eleven. “Come along to the playground/Don’t play like they used to,” sings Monkman. Rather than sounding forlorn as one might expect, www.ckuw.ca/stylus Monkman seems stronger and more December 2022 / January 2023 Stylus Magazine 09

resilient on “Play Ground.” Maybe it’s the knowledge of their collaborative approach to these songs, but Zoon appears to have found that “healthy trajectory” out of tragedy. Tracks “In the Woods” and “Move” are undoubtedly impactful and brilliant scene-setters. The former is a short instrumental, the latter being a luscious cloud of oscillating acoustic guitar syncopation and harsh feedback pulsating through a buzzy monitor. As intended, these two songs fit together like twins synced up on a swing set. Sharing similar structures of organic guitars layered with haunting soundscapes, they show how Monkman delicately crafts their songs. Like a bricklayer, Monkman stacks blocks of illimitable sounds until the songs are steady and unmovable. Sterling Murmuration closes off with the riff-intensive “Giizhig.” The pounding drums blast through the mix, and the guitar riff moving through molasses seeps through your skull. We are treated to a similar wall of energy that we get throughout Bleached Wavves but in a stripped-down, more introductory approach. It’s easy to see the connective tissue between these previously unreleased recordings and Bleached Wavves. In the end, the collection of songs found on Sterling Murmuration feels like conclusions to thoughts and dreams of yesteryear. MYLES

TIESSEN LIVING HOUR SOMEDAY IS TODAY Next Door Records

I’ll remember Living Hour’s performance at the Winnipeg Art Gallery at the tail end of last year for two reasons: those spinning chairs the audience was seated in and the sonic expansion within the band’s sound across a collection of new songs that dug into my brain. With the release of Someday is Today, the Winnipeg indie darlings’ third LP is their most diverse release yet. My brain rests easy knowing the songs recorded sound just as good as they did in the Muriel Richardson Auditorium. Someday is Today’s sense of nostalgia is intertwined within the tracks as if they sought to manifest the energy invested in their self-titled LP with this matured and road-seasoned lineup. The pounding chorus of “Middle Name,” paired with the explosive intro to “Feelings Meeting,” make for an eyeopening pivot back towards the band’s shoegaze roots, except diving off into the deep end with nods to MBV. Slow burner “Curve,” penned and sung by Adam Soloway, is vulnerable and reflective in its captivating lyrics (Let it multiply/the guilt I feel/is it real?). The satisfaction and warmth that the listener experiences in Gil Carroll’s “Exploding Rain” really highlights the growth of a band, once awash in reverb and fuzz that can emerge stripped of the safety of such layers with such confidence. Such instances of brilliance shine through the instrumentation on “Hump” while Sam Sarty showcases her vocal range. For Living Hour to open the creative floodgate and remove themselves from the safety net that their dreamy sound has allowed them in the past was a bold move, and it allowed them to create the album they’ve always wanted to make. DANIEL KUSSY For fans of: DIIV, Jay Som, Guided by Voices.

AMOS THE KID I’LL SET THE FIRE

Like other great love songs, “I’ll Set the Fire,” the new single from Amos the Kid, makes you want to feel loved like that. It features frontman Amos Nadlersmith at his most intimate, quiet, and loving. Nadlersmith’s great skill as a songwriter is capturing the depth of experiences that are simple on the surface. In his previous work, these moments have predominantly been related to motion. Take, for example, “What Did You Do?” where he captures the experience of walking around after a half dozen too many —“Homeward bound, cellphone sound, legs on, legs on, legs on ground”— or his other great love song “Alright,” which captures the numbed longing that can only be felt on the dance floor of a club in the middle of a depressive low: “my feet are moving in a sequence, the moon is rising in the evening, and I’m alright, that’s how I’m feeling.” In contrast, “I’ll Set the Fire” invites us into a moment of stillness. A pair of searching lovers watch a campfire as they hold one another and drift toward sleep. Reflecting the stillness of the action, the love captured here is stabler and gentler than the romantic desire at the center of most love songs; “Here you can rest, I’ll watch the dark, I’ll hold you close, I’ll hold you in my arms.” In the stillness, Nadlersmith gives us glimpses of the shared experiences that are the foundation of that benevolence: “Catching currents splashing, fields of green in pattern, landscape hills are scattered in my head.” In the end, the ultimate comfort is in the breath of the beloved: “I can hear you breathing now,” the song repeats. While predominantly about romantic love, “I’ll Set the Fire” also evokes the love that can be felt for a sibling, friend, or parent. With its pared-back, acoustic guitarled production and almost whispered vocal performance, sung as if to avoid disturbing the quiet of the night beyond the firelight, “I’ll Set the Fire” is a campfire song in the best way. It is a step forward for Amos the Kid, who just re-signed with Winnipeg label House of Wonders, and should provide listeners with a sense of excitement for his next project. NOAH

CAIN MIDDLETIMES MIDDLETIMES EP

I think that this is the type of EP you would dismiss at first. The type that you need to learn how to love. Like those tracks that you always initally skip but then when you actually give it a listen you discover it’s the best song you’ve ever heard in your entire fucking life. The nasally vocals will probably either throw you off or add a little bit of that extra grunge for you. With a sound similar to The Mountain Goats, or Weezer, they definitely have a very alternative punk sound about them. I think the vocals give the EP a more youthful sound, reminding me of those bygone highschool days, of walking through the hallways, running your hand up against the lockers, and thinking about both the good times and the bad ones that were had. The guitar riffs are probably one of the best parts of the album. You can have a good rock riff without having to turn up the distortion and effects so much you can’t hear the guitar clearly; middleTimes gets that. They understand how to use their musical abilities to elevate the song, and let the meaning of the lyrics ring out more through the instrumental parts. I think this is done really well on the track “Sustenance,” a song that’s a lot about feeling as though you’re cruising through life without really doing anything or without truly being happy with where you’re at. Are you really happy with where you are in life? With the person you are? Are those small moments really enough to sustain you to keep going? Are you going through your third midlife crisis? Do you have enough sustenance in your life? I think the melodic guitar part, in contrast with the passionate vocals really add to the meaning of the song. GABRIEL

FARS

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