The Hi Five March 19, 2021
Dumb Train
Extra Feeling
Perfectly timed with the arrival of spring, comes the latest release from one of Montréal’s best kept secrets, Dumb Train. The group formerly known as Drug Train will release the much welcomed Extra Feelings EP on April 1, with the first single, “Magmag”, dropping March 18 on Too Good To Be True , the new record label that has “grown out of the ashes of beko disques.”
To these ears, after several releases over the past seven years, Dumb Train’s experimental, electro-pop has perfectly encapsulated the city of Montréal. The new EP sets the table nicely as a post-lockdown soundtrack for a city preparing to welcome back the warm nights and late mornings. Whether you day starts or ends with the sunrise, you can do so with extra feeling this April as Dumb Train continue to make moves and fascinate with every perfect statement. Hop on to the Dumb Train and enjoy the scenery here.
Painted Shrines
Heaven and Holy
One doesn’t argue when two musical forces such as Jeremy Earl (Woods) and Glenn Donaldson (The Reds, Pinks & Purples / Skygreen Leopards / The Art Museums) join forces to form Painted Shrines. The debut album of this formidable collaboration, Heaven and Holy, is available now on Woodsist, with Jeff Moller (Jeff Moller and The Marigolds / The Papercuts) rounding out the line-up, adding bass and some electric piano.
Not the first time the pair have worked together, with Donaldson joining Woods for the band’s 2011 album Sun& Shade, this is definitely not just another Woods record under a different name. Yes, it is hard to hear Earl’s voice and not associate it to Woods, and Heaven & Holy doesn’t stray too far from early Wood’s records, displaying some of the more left field flourishes that adorned those early albums. However, although Earl takes lead vocal duties throughout the album, the work carries the signature of both artist’s distinct abilities. Donaldson, along with his perfectly balanced backing vocals, lends his now trademarked guitar sound to the fold with great effect, washing the canvas in golden brushstrokes that bekons the California sunshine to radiate from the speakers.
Offering psych-baked nuggets with a slice of citrus to ease your way through the last stretch of the winter thaw, I’m anxiously awaiting the opportunity to lie on the grass, in a sunbeam and slip into Painted Shrines.
Oodooo
Le Goéland D’argent
Oodooo is Montréal’s latest installent of music that the rest of the world should be paying attention to. Rising from the imploded remains of Vulvets, a short lived entity that flew the Icarus line from 2016-2018. Oodoo’s cinemascope sound really is a sum of all it’s parts, namely Dorothée Parent-Roy, Isabelle Ouimet, Marie-Claire Cronier, Marie-Ève Bouchard.
Debut EP Le Goéland D’Argent builds upon Vulvets fusion of garage / psych/ surf, but turns it on its head. Expanding the sound to open new dimensions sonically, building a kaleidoscope world that feels like it bends the time space continuum to its will. It is steeped in the past, yet firmly rooted in the present, while imaging the future.
Ouimet’s sometime spoken word / whispered vocals are imbued with an intimate Québecois cool.
Follow Oodooo on bandcamp here.
Yoo Doo Right
Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose
As Montréal’s you doo right ( prepares for the release of their forthcoming album, Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose, there is plenty you can do to prepare as well. As with any journey, make sure to bring water and stay fully hydrated. Protect yourself from the harsh realities of inter-dimensional travel prior to teleporting between the headphones…failure to do so might result in face peeling. Make sure to tell someone that you will be gone exploring the furthest reaches of perception, space and time. Keep in mind that an infinite amount of new realities might be discovered along the journey with the help of crushing motorik propulsion systems that may induce spells of remote viewing or astral projection. , The cosmically psychedelic package materializes with the Taurus constellation on May 21 2021 on MOTHLAND records. We know how the Journey begins, we are eager to see where it takes us.
You can pre-order the album here.
Music fans today truly do live in a time where the music can find them. For all the ills of social media and its strobe-like over absorption of sound and images, I’m always amazed when the algorithm works. As I sipped my morning coffee and flicked past the scrolling images of Instagram, I spotted an image of a duo on a snow covered rooftop. One looked like a young Paul Westerberg , the other, scarlet-haired and almost otherworldly. They both straddled the razors edge between dishevelled and elegant. After skipping past the image, my curiosity took over. I scrolled back and committed to watching the posted video of a song titled “NYLA”.
Following the video, still clearing the morning fog from my head , I wasn’t sure what I had witnessed. Moments later I found my way to The Acute’s Bandcamp page and purchased their latest release.
Infinidy EP is a four song art-rock party that fuses new wave, punk, and blues. Chrome guitar waves and icy synths meet percolating bongos and everything in-between, including the kitchen sink. “La Souris Politique” backs up the band’s international cred and clammers forward with fists pumping, while “NYLA” provides a reason to head out into the night with a strut and swagger.
The band’s sound pays debt to art punks of the past such as Mark E. Smith’s The Fall, but funnels their influences into something completely of their own. I’m properly intrigued and look forward to more news from The Acute.