Field Guide, Caroline Marie Brooks, and Afternoon Bike Ride
Field Guide
Make Peace With That // Birthday Cake Media Inc.
Fall is typically the time of year when you start wanting to stay home, snuggle up in a warm blanket wearing your favourite cozy, wool sweater, and read a good book… and this is exactly what it feels like listening to the newest release from Field Guide. Make Peace With That is his debut full length record, wowing fans right from the start with additions of many songs off the record already hitting Spotify playlists, this 9-song masterpiece is real and raw with its progression and its stories. Just by reading the song titles you can tell this is gonna be good; starting off with “I’m Okay” and going on to include names such as “I Don’t Wanna Waste Your Time” and “Thinking Too Much,” it isn’t hard to tell that Field Guide is telling stories we can all relate to and feel intrinsically – whether or not we want to. It is pain and heartache, overthinking and underselling, love and being loved. Relationships with other people are hard, even when we want to be with them more than anybody else in the world, and Field Guide does not shy away from discussing this reality.
The vocals throughout Make Peace With That feel so honest and genuine that there is almost a secretive undertone to what he is telling you – we the audience are lucky enough to have been chosen to hear these thoughts. We have become friends, sitting in his living room, having a meaningful conversation. The guitar plucks are soft and rhythmic, bringing you along as they cascade across minutes and time; never aggressive or rough, they paint the melodies that gently nudge along the lyrics. Accompanying these waves, comes the sturdy and sure drums. In “Nobody Else,” they keep the listener grounded as they follow the story and the sweet whispers of the guitar and keys. There is so much simple beauty that one could get lost; thankfully, the rhythm of the drums is a comfortable constant that adds oh so much to an already gorgeous song. You can never underestimate those instrumentals!
Overall, Field Guide could not have been more successful with releasing a debut full length album. This is meaningful, delicate, heartfelt, and chalked full of talent. It is obvious that this album was created amongst the closest of friends and a wonderful, dedicated team. He has knitted the perfect melodic wool sweater for these chillier days and steeped us the best and warmest lyrical tea to go with. If you are looking for a new favourite album this fall, I think you have just found it!
- Krystle McGrath
Caroline Marie Brooks
Everything At The Same Time // Self Released
I find social media harder to handle with each passing day. I’m not sure if this is the onset of SAD or if I am just growing in my journey. I’ve had some hard lessons this month and a lot to process about what is real in my life. Then I came across this album that really gave me my hope back with its gentle soothing nature. I found the solace my soul needed in the new album by Toronto’s Caroline Marie Brooks. Titled, Everything At The Same Time, it reminded me of listening to my Mom’s Joni Mitchell record.
Everything At The Same Time is Brooks' first solo project (you may know her for her previous work with The Good Lovlies). The release is described as a pandemic album in time. It's looking back. Remembering the warmth you feel when you go back for a visit to your childhood home. Seeing the pictures on the wall. Moments captured in time. The stories that each picture does tell. Caroline Marie Brooks will walk you through and tell you the stories of the pictures hanging on the wall of her family home. She has captured that essence of home through each song. Setting the mood with themes of the comforts of home, harvest and family. A perfect album for fall. Her exquisite storytelling gives it a feeling of a journey into her heart.
“Night Drive” is the need for escape. A moment to run away and process your thoughts. When life gets too stressed this is just what I do. A little bit of fear of the dark and the unknown. Not knowing where the road is taking you. Pulling over somewhere quiet to look at the moon and stars. Brooks croons like a songbird at night about the endless skies and how small you feel. Restlessness and being alone. The gentle guitar strumming and soft rhythm of the drums. Some subtle harmonies and cymbals chiming slightly. Then the steel guitar sweeps in and steals my heart. It’s one of those songs you’ll put on repeat as you drive. Needing to hear it more than once to fully appreciate the song and lyrics.
“To The Waves” will sweep you away in the current if searching some time down at the waterfront where the air is fresh and the beach is alive with sounds. If I can’t be in the water I need to be near it or even just hear it to receive the healing benefits of it. Howling at the moon and maybe a skinny dip. Be wild and free with the one you love. Don’t let the world beat us down and turn us away from each other but let the love bring us back together. That’s the feeling I get from this song.
There were many songs needing honourable mentions. “Blue As The Moon” for the mandolin plucking my heart strings. The exquisite instrumental piece, “Song For Fred,” and then there was the personal favourite that took me back to my childhood home. “Oo-De-Lally”transported me to watching cartoons in my footed pajamas, eating a bowl of cereal, watching the Robin Hood cartoon movie. The Rooster is the minstrel telling the stories through song. The story of Robin Hood and Little John. My inner child found a moment of happiness when I heard this one. Though I can’t go back to my childhood home, this album did help me feel like I was right back home. Thank you for that moment!
Love Always,
Green Noreen
Afternoon Bike Ride
Afternoon Bike Ride // Friends Of Friends Music
The beauty of music comes from its adept ability of making us feel. When we want to feel happy, we’ll blast The Beach Boys. When we want to feel angry we listen to DMX for hours on end. When we want to feel sad, Conway is only a search engine away. But sometimes we want a contrast between our own feelings and the emotional power of a song. This is where the self-titled debut album from Montreal based trio Afternoon Bike Ride comes in.
Afternoon Bike Ride is described as an album “meant to kiss the coldest of hearts”, and being a young man with a heavy heart I found this lo-fi dream pop album to be a warm embrace amongst the colder moments of my current existence. The soft acoustic instrumentation, the passionate lyrics, and the catchy beats form a sound tantamount to a cup of warm tea on a cold winter’s night. From the sixth track “Terrace Rain” is a lyric that touched my heart: “Sometimes I like to let my mind lead me to places far away. / But then I find I’d miss the gifts that I’d be given if I stayed.”
This 15 track release is a beacon of warmth for those in dark times, and this love takes on a variety of sound, from the purely instrumental seventh track “Grid Search feat. Sleepy Fish” to the contemporary folk track “Before The Fall feat. Ryan Hemsworth”. The abundance of featured artists, all friends of the band, further accentuates the album's theme of community.
It’s been three years since Afternoon Bike Ride’s formation and this has accumulated to an amazing debut album. They perfectly convey their sound and emotional standing through the beautiful songs contained within. For those reading in dire need of a moment to relax and calm a scattered brain, give this album a listen and you’ll be blessed with 40 minutes of serenity and inner peace.
- Brandon Kruze
