CD Odyssey Disc 1672: Whitehorse

I’ve made it to a long weekend, and after a lot of travel last weekend (and more travel in my future) I’m looking forward to a few quiet days chilling with some of the people that I love.

Disc 1672 is…Modern Love

Artist: Whitehorse

Year of Release: 2021

What’s up with the Cover?  My best guess is that this is a burned Polaroid? Just behind the burned part you can see a portrait that would have made a perfectly fine album cover, which has been ruined. This cover feels like an inside joke between Luke and Melissa that they should have kept to themselves.

How I Came To Know It: I am a Whitehorse fan, and I was just buying their latest release and hoping for the best. This was one I bought shortly after being told that the local record store was open, which in the midst of the pandemic, was welcome news.

How It Stacks Up: “Modern Love” is neither their best nor their worst. I rank this record at #5 out of my eight Whitehorse albums.

Rating: 3 stars

“Modern Love” is a pandemic album and it sees Whitehorse doing what a lot of us did back in 2021 – finding solace in the familiar.

After 2017’s more experimental “Panther in the Dollhouse”, a few years (and some worldwide anxiety) later sees a record that takes some of those pop-infused lessons but marries them up with a sound more akin to their early work. This consists of a mix of Luke Doucet’s inspired rock guitar, and the country-tinged folk vocals of Melissa McLelland with a fair bit of loose harmony thrown in for good measure. There are some bells and whistles - organ and synth around the edges mostly - but it was great to hear the familiar style of a band I’ve come to know and love well over the years.

After a shaky start, with the trippy sixties styled (but ultimately draggy and boring) “Prototype” the duo go to the top shelf and bring down the good stuff for us. “I Wanna Make Promises (That I Can’t Keep)” is the “real” start of a record that pleasantly surprised me throughout.  

“Promises…” is a song that showcases Whitehorse’s amazing ability to take simple scenes of domestic bliss and turn them into narrative art. Best verse:

Let’s argue in Ikea, make a scene, go home and f___.
On unassembled furniture fresh off the moving truck.
Let’s rifle through old photographs after the basement floods
Black and white and Polaroids on clotheslines up above.”

Could this be what happened to the photo on the cover? By which I mean water damage; the events from the first half of the stanza would at worst result in some creasing damage. In addition to playful and evocative lyrics, this song also has a lovely refrain of the title sung by Melissa McLelland that shows off sweetness in her voice, which is then counterpoised with Doucet’s big echoey guitar work.

“Relic in the New Age” follows that up and shows off the loose harmony stuff I mentioned earlier. As with all Whitehorse music, you can tell McLelland’s vocals could blow Doucet’s off the stage, but she is content to settle in and find a quieter space that makes both of them sound better together. Kind of like that domestic bliss in the previous track now that I think about it.

The record has a couple of weird little musical bits called “Interlude” and “Outro” which are both about as interesting as their titles suggest. This is the kind of fun stuff to do while you’re warming up or sitting around the studio playing with concepts, but it doesn’t belong on the record.

The last “real” song on the record (not including “Outro”) is also a good one. I’m not 100% sure what “Pollyanna” is about, I just know that it fills me with restless yearning, and I like the experience. The message being that if you find yourself not fitting into the life you’re in, then go find the life where you do. A kind-hearted and encouraging anthem for those who see the world a little differently.

“Modern Love” isn’t the first Whitehorse album you should check out, but it is a worthy entry into their catalogue and one I’ll be putting on more often now that the Odyssey’s random selection process reminded me of its existence.

Best tracks: I Wanna Make Promises (That I Can’t Keep), Relic in the New Age, Best Bet, Pollyanna

CD Odyssey Disc 1657: Whitehorse

The weekend of concerts and music continues! Here’s a review of the record that drew me to attend the Phillip’s Backyarder on a Sunday in the first place and following that a review of how the show went.

Disc 1657 is…I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying

Artist: Whitehorse

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover?  Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland (dba Whitehorse) look like they are primed and ready for the bright lights of the stage. Which is a good thing because look at the size of those two spotlights.

Perhaps they are both vampires and the spotlights (unbeknownst to them) are loaded with ultraviolet bulbs. If so, it’ll be a short show, with a lot of pyrotechnics. Hopefully they won’t be too close to those curtains when it happens.

How I Came To Know It: I have been a fan for over a decade now and tend to buy their albums on faith each time one is released. Of late my faith in that process had been slipping with records that didn’t inspire me as much, but I read good things about “I’m Not Crying…” and decided to give it a go.

How It Stacks Up: I am glad I did give it a go. This is the best Whitehorse record in years. Maybe their best ever. I have eight Whitehorse albums (and a ninth that I reviewed and then parted ways with after reviewing at Disc 1103). “I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying” comes in at #2, and in a photo finish for #1.

Rating: 4 stars

Whitehorse is a band that is not afraid to experiment, and their sound has morphed over the years through variations on folk, pop, blues, rock and all the fuzzy space in between. Sometimes it has worked and sometimes they’ve lost me, but they’ve never sat still in a style for long.

“I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying” (the last time I’m typing that) is proof of addition by subtraction, as they go back in time to a stripped-down seventies honky tonk country sound. They go all-in for this sound and the best part is they do it with reverence. You can feel their genuine love for this golden oldie sound and barely a hint of self-awareness. They love this music, and it shows.

The songs are such a perfect match to old school country music I kept looking for signs that at least some of these were covers. Tunes with names like “If the Loneliness Don’t Kill Me”, “I Might Get Over This (But I Won’t Stop Loving You)” and “Leave Me as You Found Me” feel like they’ve fallen out of a time capsule from the days of George and Tammy or young Willie Nelson. I even did complex Google searches to fact check but it near as I could tell these are all originals.  They are just so damned good and timeless in their delivery that they fooled me. Sorry for doubting you, Whitehorse.

Those aforementioned tunes are exactly the twang-laden heartbreakers they appear to be, and delivered with some of the best vocals the duo has delivered in years.

The album also has a few tunes that are distilled Canadiana in a jar. My favourite is “Division 5” which is as Canadian as it gets, with our lovelorn narrator going down to the RCMP station to file a missing persons’ report after his girlfriend has left him. Turns out she ain’t missing, just missing from him. “Manitoba Bound” is a jaunty road tune that would be equally at home on a Corb Lund record. It has a lively jump and some grade A guitar work from Luke Doucet.

This record has the best production on any Whitehorse record to date. Everything is crisp, clear and vibrant. Every song was a party of sound in my ears I never wanted to end.

The last song is “Scared of Each Other,” a thoughtful exploration of how society is growing apart, with connectivity at an all-time low. The song had me reminiscing about pre-COVID days, and just how much two-plus years of pandemic affected us all. It also reaffirmed how important it is to find human moments in a constantly changing world.

By the time I was through a few listens of “I’m Not Crying…” I realized it was a lot more than just a throwback to a simpler time, it was a love letter to the human spirit, realized through a band that has aged gracefully and continues to bloom with new and wonderful expressions of their art. I’d say never change, Whitehorse, but I am realizing that I prefer it when you do.

Best tracks: If the Loneliness Don’t Kill Me, Division 5, Manitoba Bound, Bet the Farm, 6 Feet Away, I Miss the City, Scared of Each Other

The Concert: Phillips Backyarder Festival, July 9, 2023 – Victoria BC

This was Day Two at the Backyarder for me, and my lower back was making it very clear all that standing on concrete came with consequences. I found a couple of places to sit down between sets and this – plus my natural refusal to surrender to bodily weakness – got me through the show. We saw three acts last night, so here they are in order:

Haley Blais

Haley Blais is an indie pop singer-songwriter from Vancouver. I didn’t know her prior to getting tickets but I’d listened to her albums the week prior and liked what I heard.

Blais was solid and exactly what I expected all the way down to the kind of off-hand musings about life and love I’d expect from an artist in this genre. She had a good voice and her songwriting is solid. Except the one song about baby teeth. That one felt a bit too precious. Maybe it is better on the album…

Anyway, Blais also won the battle for “best merch” at the merch table. A cool black and blue t with groovy graphics. Here’s a helpful hint to bands when they design a t-shirt. I want a cool design, not a giant picture of you. Thank you, Haley, for understanding. I also bought her CD at the merch table which is one of the great ways to ensure the money gets to the artist.

Whitehorse

I was pretty jacked to see Whitehorse. We’d seen them way back in 2015 (reviewed at Disc 723, and I don’t think since. As I noted above, I was also pretty stoked about their latest record and hoping for some tracks from there.

Once again, they did not disappoint. In concert I always notice how much more powerful Melissa McClelland’s voice is compared to hubby Luke Doucet. They harmonize well, and Luke is no slouch, but it is McClelland’s vocals that always blow me over.

The song choices were excellent with a good mix of some of my old favourites and a couple I didn’t expect from the new record (“Bet The Farm” and “Manitoba Bound”) both of which are standouts for me on the new record.

What I didn’t like was the length of the set. It couldn’t have been more than 30-35 minutes with maybe 7 songs total. Over way too soon. The thought that overrated indie rocker Bahamas was coming on later to get a solid 75+ made me want to shake my fist at the heavens. Ineffectually, of course. No one ever had an impact shaking their fist at the heavens.

A second gripe was that for the second straight show I was let down by Whitehorse at the merch table. Back in 2015 the best concert tee was sold out of mediums, and I had to settle for the second best. It is OK, but not even good enough to show my cred at this show (I opted to wear Iron Maiden instead in a genre-busting move that felt very satisfying).

This time around I have no idea what sizes they had left; the t-shirts were just too boring to care. One with text only, and the other a big outline of a “W”. Do better, Whitehorse. Maybe call up Iron Maiden for some t-shirt advice. Those guys make awesome concert shirts.

Sudan Archives

Sheila and I came for Whitehorse, but we decided to see what Sudan Archives was all about. Sudan Archives (one person) is a cross between hip hop, smooth soul and some funky violin bits. She was just too innovative a combo to miss out, and if we didn’t like it, we avowed we’d leave early.

Gentle reader, we did not leave early. Sudan Archives was awesome. After exhorting the sound guy to turn it up (twice) she set in with an energy and bravado that spread rapidly through the crowd.

During the set we learned that she’d lost all her luggage (she’d flown in the night before from Austria, of all places) and had to borrow sound equipment from the other bands and buy her wardrobe at the sex store across the street from her hotel (n.b. this is not supposition on my part -she happily told us this).

We would never have known if she hadn’t told us. The show was crisp and clean, and those violin bits in the middle of all that hip hop and soul work in a magical way that me thinking “this is what Capercaillie might sound like if they got their groove on”).

Whitehorse was great, but Sudan Archives stole the show. I don’t love her stuff on studio, but she is must-see live.

Bahamas

Yeah, no. We left before Bahamas. I do not like Bahamas. Came home and watched the new Star Trek, which was a much better use of my time.

CD Odyssey Disc 1103: Whitehorse

I kick-started a four day weekend last night with a night out on the town and today I am paying the price for one too many vodka shots.

Disc 1103 is… The Road to Massey Hall

Artist: Whitehorse

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover? I guess this is supposed to represent a road? It also looks a like a plate of eggs with ketchup. Hmmm…I think hunger is finally breaking through my hangover. I’m going to get lunch when I’m done this review.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a fan of Whitehorse for quite a while, and knew both Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet as solo artists before they formed the band. This was just me buying their new album when it came out.

How It Stacks Up:  I have seven Whitehorse albums (four full length albums and three EPs). Of those seven, “The Road to Massey Hall” is the worst.

Ratings: 2 stars

The Road to Massey Hall is a collection of six cover songs. Recording a cover can be a tricky thing. You want it to sound sufficiently different from the original, but you also want to capture the magic that made it a great song in the first place. On “The Road to Massey Hall” Whitehorse falls short on both counts.

The best thing about the record is the guitar work. Both Doucet and McClelland are accomplished players and on the opening track, a cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong” Doucet’s guitar is big, bold and evocative. I’m also a fan of McClelland’s voice, and those parts of “Winterlong” where she sings solo are solid. Unfortunately for most of the song they sing in a loose harmony that buries her in the mix.

There isn’t anything terrible about any of these songs (hence the 2 stars) but I didn’t feel like I got anything new out of them either. Whitehorse attempts to strip them down, which is often a good thing, but the effect here is to make them drag. Everything seems just a little bit slower, but the gravitas they’re going for doesn’t translate.

Ironically, the fact that these are some of my favourite songs made me like hearing them less. “Dark Angel” is one of my absolute favourite Blue Rodeo songs. Whitehorse sings it OK, but it feels more like a rehearsal than a polished cover. Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” is better than that risible dance remix that came out a few years ago, but that’s not saying much. In both cases, it just made me want to hear the originals.

Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” is a highlight on the album, with some stellar singing from McClelland. The slower pace here make the lyrics a little less nasty, and even infuses them with a hint of romance that is less evident when Bob’s running the show. The guitar solo wasn’t great (too much focus on reverb) but it didn’t wreck it either.

“Un Canadien Errant” was also good, but I have it on their all-French EP, “Ephemere Sans Repere” so I was really just buying it twice at that point.

The album has a sub-title of “A Salutation to Six Stellar Songs” which is a bit odd. Are they really saying hello to these songs, or are do they mean to pay them homage (which would be a salute, not a salutation). However, I’m currently reading Rebecca Gowers’ “Horrible Words: a Guide to the Misuse of English” which notes it is OK to morph the meaning of words if you do it with a purpose, so I’m feeling less prescriptive than usual. I’m going to assume two smart people like Luke and Melissa deliberately used salutation to suggest both a greeting and a tip of the hat. Why not?

While there are a couple of solid covers on “the Road to Massey Hall” I mostly wanted to hear the originals, or to hear Whitehorse do their own music instead (which is awesome). If an album’s main effect on you is to inspire you to play a different album, it isn’t a good sign. As a result, I’m going to send this record off to a home that will appreciate it more than I do.

Best tracks: Winterlong, It Ain’t Me Babe

CD Odyssey Disc 723: Whitehorse

This next album is a non-random album chosen so I could review it in tandem with the live show I saw promoting it.

Disc 723 is…. Leave No Bridge Unburned

Artist: Whitehorse

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? A very cool art piece by Jud Haynes, stylistically depicting the two members of Whitehorse fleeing a burning bridge. I love the way the “W” in Whitehorse forms the bridge, and the flames that burn beneath it are like the shadows of our fleeing protagonists reflected far back as though they are running into the sunset. Hand in hand of course, because while they’ve left no bridge unburned, they’ve still got each other.

How I Came To Know It: My friend and fellow music lover Kate is always on the lookout for great local concerts to go see. A few months back she sent me a link to a Whitehorse show on April 8. I’d never heard of Whitehorse, but when I starting Youtubing them I found that one of them was Luke Doucet – an artist I’d known for years.

More importantly, the music was really good, so I gobbled up all their albums over the past four or five months, including this one, which is their most recent.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Whitehorse albums, although really they have two full length records and two EPs. I really like “Leave No Bridge Unburned” but because of the even more earnest love I hold for another record I’m going to put it second overall.

Rating: 3 stars.

Sometimes you discover a band that obviously just loves making music together, and Whitehorse is one of those bands. Sometimes that love overflows into some kind of overwrought mess without any focus or discipline. Fortunately, Whitehorse is not one of those bands. Instead, “Leave No Bridge Unburned” walks the edge of experimental without becoming self-absorbed.

Stylistically they are a mix of rock and folk, with an indie vibe. The two members – Luke Doucet and Melissa McLelland were established (if obscure) artists in their own right before joining forces, so for a new band the music’s structure is very mature, with a clear vision.

These songs could easily be folk songs, but it is clear from the opening track “Baby What’s Wrong” that Luke and Melissa want to rock it out. They make a lot of sound for two folks (more on that when I review the concert below). The layered sounds are cleverly constructed and never seem busy or muddy. Whether it is the band’s two principals or the producer, “Leave No Bridge Unburned” has a great ear for song construction, particularly how percussion and syncopation can add new dimensions to basic folk song progressions.

Luke’s guitar playing has a fuzzy reverb quality to it, and it is in nice contrast to McLelland’s very pure voice and more straight-laced country/folk vibe. There is a combination of musical styles mixing blues, rock, folk and country. At times it feels like a handshake, at other times like a sexy dance number, but you are always aware that there are two equal partners here, separate and apart, yet each giving a little to create a single art piece. It is no surprise to know that the two artists involved are deeply in love.

“Leave No Bridge Unburned” is a bit edgier than earlier albums, with more fuzz in the production and generally darker. I am feeling a bit folksy in recent years but if you are in more of a ‘rock and roll’ place, this may be the album to start with.

In terms of individual songs, I like the ones where McLelland’s pure and angelic voice is allowed to soar over top of Doucet’s bluesy riffs.  The best song on the album is “Fake Your Death (And I’ll Fake Mine).” This song makes me think about two people deciding to have a kid and move to the suburbs, and how this creates a whole new life. I’ve never done either deed (and don’t plan to) so the whole thing is foreign to me, but it is fun to see the experience through the lens of art rather than housing prices and school catchment areas.

I later discovered through some concert banter that it is about avoiding running into someone you don’t want to see anymore. That was Doucet telling the audience what he thought it was about while the writer of the song (McLelland) sat silent, so who knows. Maybe I’m right. Uncertainty is good – it makes you think.

Speaking of concerts, following is my review of that, but first – best tracks!

Best tracks: Downtown, Sweet Disaster, You Get Older, Fake Your Death (And I’ll Fake Mine)

The concert – April 8, 2015 at the Alix Goolden Hall

The first thing that comes to mind about the show is that the playlist was excellent. I got to hear every song I wanted with the exception of “Emerald Isle,” and then that got played in the encore, and all was good. This could be a function of a limited repertoire (two albums, two EPs) but that also means they have made a lot of good songs in a short space of time.

Whitehorse isn’t afraid to play the songs a bit differently either, muddying some up and switching up the arrangements here and there. Importantly, they never did this to such a degree of self-indulgence that they lost the core of the songs. Take note, Bob Dylan.

Live, I was impressed by the sheer musicianship of both Luke Doucet and Melissa McLelland. Luke plays the guitar and drums, and Melissa worked the bass and guitar. They even did multiple instruments in a single song. For example, Doucet would play a bar or two of drums and then loop and sequence it. Because it had just been played live before it was looped before your very eyes it never felt artificial.

What’s more, watching them run around from instrument to instrument was like watching your friend excitedly changing records to put on another track ‘you simply have to hear!’. It is a bit unfocused to watch, but the energy behind it is so pure you never lose interest in the spectacle.

The encore was even perfect, playing the aforementioned “Emerald Isle” and then a cool re-interpretation of Tom Waits’ “Gun Street Girl.”

The audience was a lot older than I expected. I thought I’d be one of the older people there but I was squarely in the middle of the demographic. That said, they were all serious music buffs, with the folks near me discussing the new Pink Floyd album between sets and being respectfully quiet while the band played. Everyone in the place was enthusiastic but never rude. No one tried to make the show about them instead of the performers by singing the lyrics a half beat early, or engaging in excessive ‘wooting’. I did excessively woot once at a reference to Harpo’s night club but damn it – long live Harpo’s!

On the negative side, the show had way too many delays. An hour before it started, and half an hour between the opener and the headliner made the audience a bit sleepy. (Remember, it was an older audience).

My other beef, which is becoming all too common at shows in Victoria, was the best T-shirt at the swag table being sold out.  I was disgruntled by this, but the alternate shirt was OK as well and was temporarily mollified. Then, when I found it was the first stop on their Canadian tour, I was disgruntled again. This has happened to me multiple times at Victoria shows – is it too much to make sure that you have all your merch available at the start of the tour?

The opening act was another duo; Seattle resident Noah Gunderson, accompanied by his sister, Abby. Noah could sing beautifully and was bursting with talent and promise but some of his songs were a bit overwrought. He needs to remember to enunciate the words to his songs, because dramatic effect only goes so far. He got better as he worked his way through his five song set but he didn’t drive me back to the merch table to find his CD.