Ian William Craig/Young Neighbours/Ariel Sharratt & Mathias Kom
Ian William Craig
Red Sun Through Smoke // Fatcat
OK, this one is an investment. You get more out of it on every listen. You get more out of it the more time and attention you put into it. It is certainly verbose. It is unafraid to be a little pretentious if it needs to be. It does whatever it has to do to express its emotions as authentically as it can. It is only here to be a record and tell a story and doesn’t seem to even care if you’re out there listening or not.
The sonic details and the space between them feel so natural and self-confident. This is music that can describe itself and does so purely, with poetic beauty and without shame. It conjures visions of modern dance and high art, or driving down dark highways at night, you get the idea. If “Thom Yorke Approved” was a genre of music, this would be it.
The music and lyrics are deeply personal and intimate, always serious, never letting up the tension for a laugh. It dynamically swings between intense and peaceful and then goes through the drive thru for some softboi tears for good measure. Uncomfortable distortion slowly creeps up to stare you in the face with crazy wide eyes for a bit too long and then slowly fades back into the dark. Honestly the minimalism here is haunting and bare. Soundscape. There, I said it.
I recommend you set aside 40 minutes, get yourself comfortable in a quiet and emotion friendly setting and listen to the whole album, front to back, before reading the write up on the bandcamp page. Then go read it and do it again tomorrow. There is an epic story inside this record that exists on a classical novel level. It has natural disaster, family history, death, romance, loss and grief, but in the end, no moral. “I didn’t want there to be anywhere to hide in this record.” says Craig, and there isn’t. There really isn’t.
- Joel Klaverkamp
Young Neighbours
Famous // Independent
Hello from a sunny small town In Alberta!
There is something to be said about Calgary and it has nothing to do with the Flames or Stampeders. It’s that there is some real good music coming out of Calgary these days. I’ve just had the pleasure of hearing yet another great band from just down the highway.
Young Neighbours have just released their first full length album and it’s pretty rad! The band consists of Eric Paul, Sarah Houston, Noah Michael, Cameron Clowe, and Evan Freeman. A new approach was taken by Eric Paul who had a full band in mind for this and it was written as a team. Recorded through 2019 but includes songs from years prior. It has an introspective feel and over all good vibe. Nice variety wrapped up in a bundle that is titled Famous.
The album begins with a heartfelt track “Floats Through Air”. Kind of has a haunting feel to it.
Next up is “Peace During Wartime”. Fantastic upbeat tempo! Oh they have a great music video for this one by the way! Emits a dancing vibe and a sense of hope.
The track “Famous” has a Zappa and Bowie feel to it with nice tempo changes. I really dig the guitar on this track! The gentle waves feelings. The build up and release.
”Destroyer” has a great synth and 80’s feel. Has highlights of gothier days of Cure and New Order. Nice to hear the bass.
”The Challenger”. The album really has it all. Nice piano and vocals track reminiscent of Coldplay.
”Kids In Love” is a nice slower vibe. Who are they singing about. I picture Bonnie and Clyde.
”All the Things” is a number of many tempos. Some storytelling and beautifully composed. This one has heart.
”Walk Through the Sea” leaves you floating. Is this tribute to the great Whale Music? I feel the title says it all. I’m relaxed in an almost meditative state. Nice way to end the album.
I think it’s a beautifully written album. Built on heart and soul. These Young Neighbours, they’re quite alright! I definitely dig it! Take a listen to this hidden gem from Calgary! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Peace and Love to you all.
Enjoy the music! Enjoy the ride!
Cheers!
Sincerely,
Noreen Hurst
Ariel Sharratt & Mathias Kom
Never Work // BB*ISLAND
Never Work is the second duo album by Ariel Sharratt & Mathias Kom from the Canadian garage-folk band The Burning Hell, The two started producing music together with the release of the 2015 album Don’t Believe the Hyperreal. Kom and Sharratt are seasoned musicians who’ve been noticed throughout Canada and Europe, as they have been featured in a number of notable festivals. They draw an audience in through narrative lyricism and playful songs that speak to a D.I.Y. aesthetic and anti-oppressive ethos.
Their latest full-length release, Never Work, was released on April 3rd , 2020 through BB*ISLAND, a European label and music management group based of Germany. Never Work is a thoroughly conscious album centered around the theme that the landscape of global capitalism is quickly accelerating beyond a world that is able to hold us. Change is everywhere. In labour relations through the automations of industry and through capitalism’s disintegration of the world that it takes for granted as productive.
Each track tells us passing vignettes into these contemporary troubles, with songs about works and for workers. The title track, for example, works an overture to the themes and ethics that the album is concerned to address. Meanwhile, a track like “Monitors” takes the perspective of different workers and their relationships to the scrutiny of their employers. And tracks like “Rise Up Alexa” highlight the tongue-and-cheek comedy characteristic of the duo’s writing, where the automated and confused voice of Amazon’s Alexa is incorporated to the songs lyricism for the artist to probe it with questions it cannot quite answer back. The spunky “The Robots vs. Mrs Patel” tells us a fantastical story about Mrs. Patel who was in the process of being replaced by machines at work, and she becomes adept enough with technology to rise up against her replacement by hacking them.
Never Work has an air of camaraderie and mutual aid, looking after each of its subjects. As with the air of a kindergarten song circle, Sharratt and Kom offer us songs to uplift the oppressed and protest injustice.
Due to COVID-19, Ariel Sharratt & Mathias Kom have rescheduled their upcoming tour through Europe, the United Kingdom, and Canada into November and December 2020. They are not to be missed, the duo is currently teasing adding a robot drummer voiced by Amazon’s Alexa, a sight not to be missed.
- Simone A. Medina Polo
