RELEASE DATE
July 20, 2008 |
|
BARCODE
n / a |
CATALOGUE
EGR008 |
|
|
AS PERFORMED BY
Matt
Cully, Neil Haverty, Misha Bower, Steve McKay, Andrew Barker, Katie
Stelmanis, Isla Craig, Kari Peddle, Casey Mecija, Maya Postepski and
Leon Taheny.
RECORDED & MIXED BY
Leon Taheny and Bruce Peninsula
CAPTURED AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS
IN TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
St. George the Martyr Church
Sleepytown Sound
Angles Up
Klaus' Dreamland
The Cellar of 576
MASTERED BY
Ryan Mills (Sleepytown Sound)
ARTWORK BY
Bruce Peninsula and Standard Form
PRINTED BY
Standard Form
|
|
BACKGROUND
A document of Bruce Peninsula's earliest rally-calls, this 7" record
collects 3 traditional songs, as ingested and interpreted by the many
heads and hands of a Toronto-based clubhouse band.
They're headed off in a few new directions lately, but Bruce Peninsula
began as a band huddled around the flame of mesmorizing, archaic
recordings cobbled together and collected in the first half of the
1900's.
This release finds the band taking on "Lift Him Up, That's All"
(rechristened "Lift 'Em Up" but based on the song by Washington
Phillips, a masterful Texan preacher/songbird that lived between
1880-1954), as well as 2 old call-and-responses, "Rosie" and "Jack Can
I Ride?", both of anonymous origins.
Toronto residents can find the Bruce Peninsula 7" at Soundscapes and Rotate. You can buy digital versions at Zunior. Mail users can order a copy from Black Mountain Distribution. |
----------------------------------------
REVIEW
The
first tangible record by a great Toronto, ON band, this seven-inch
(aka. "The BP 45") features three traditional songs performed in the
already inimitable manner of Bruce Peninsula. With their amalgam of
gospel-tinged field recordings and post-punk intricacy, Bruce Peninsula
tap into soul and fury in ways other multi-headed ensembles only dream
of. With "Rosie," the group take on an Alan Lomax recording, infusing
it with raw power and drama, a chorus of urgent female vocalists
haunting Neil Haverty's gritty, impassioned lament for one of the most
infamous muses in underground folk while jarring percussion thuds up
against a building drone. The flipside features "Lift 'em Up/Jack, Can
I Ride," the former a powerful interpretation of a biblical tale
written by Washington Phillips. Its soaring vocals navigate snaky
guitar-lines and a foreboding sense of doom. That end comes
dramatically with "Jack, Can I Ride," an artfully recorded stomp-chant
that also draws from Lomax's work. With anticipation growing for the A Mountain is a Mouth full-length this fall, Bruce Peninsula impress with a rewarding wax omen.
- Vish Khanna, Exclaim, August 2008 |
|
