The Secret Beach, Steel Saddle, Raf Wilcot, and Portraitures
The Secret Beach - “Buying You A Garnet Amp”
It’s no surprise that the finest warm hug of Canadiana and nostalgia in recent memory comes out of Winnipeg, but what is a surprise is that The Secret Beach has managed to make it so goddamn hip and cool. It’s a fantastic combination of that vibey 70’s style production (though The Secret Beach puts their own stamp on the style, guitarmonies included), and lyrics that made this reviewer laugh out loud with joy every time a line piqued my interest. It almost feels like an experiment in writing the most explicitly Canadian song you possibly can (references to BTO, Dallas Good, Kijiji, Garnet amps, etc), and by God, it’s a wonder.
Steel Saddle - “Donny the Satanist”
Steel Saddle announced the release of debut self-titled record today (you can pre-order it here), and released an accompanying single and lyric video for “Donny the Satanist”. The song is a great combination of gospel and blues tinged rock, with plenty of ripping country pedal steel licks thrown in for good measure. The band talks about Gram Parsons plenty in the description for the record on Bandcamp, and it makes good sense; there’s a sense that the band is looking towards the totality of American popular music from the 50’s and 60’s for inspiration in the same way that Parsons was, and the way they reconstruct it in their own way on “Donny the Satanist” is enticing, and hopefully a sign of things to come on the full abum.
Raf Wilcot - “Slither”
Nothing makes me happier writing the Quick Picks column than when I find a song from an artist I didn’t know about that doesn’t sound quite like anything I’ve heard before. “Slither” from Raf Walcot takes it’s time, as it slowly builds, transforms, and well, slithers around between the ears. There is a great sense of pacing and texture; it’s very much not a maximalist production, but Wilcot has found a vivid palette to draw from, using each colour sparingly and to maximum effect. It’s a song you can easily get lost in before realizing you’ve listened to it 10 times, and in fact, it’s an experience I can recommend highly.
Portraitures - “Crocus Cries”
Nothing makes me happier than seeing the humble woodwind section starting to earn it’s place in the pop music canon, and I haven’t heard many finer uses of it than in “Crocus Cries” by Sudbury, Ontario’s Portraitures. The way that all the individual elements of the song interact and flow around each other is mesmerizing, with no one instrument guiding the experience, but all of them working together to weave the tapestry in real time. It’s a fantastic song with an otherwordly arrangement, and sets a very high bar for whatever is next for Portraitures.
- Sean Davis Newton