Language-Arts and The Pinecones @ The Garrison

Over the days leading up to this No Shame event at The Garrison featuring, amongst others, Vancouver's Language-Arts, I've been happily immersing myself in their sophomore album, Where Were You In The Wild?. In this internet age, originality is a concept becoming more and more (understandably) difficult to come by, and the challenge is whether or not an artist can present some new ideas while still remaining melodious and enjoyable. The constant rotation of this album proved to me that they are well trained when it comes to doing so in the studio, and I'll admit that I was fairly confident that they would be able to translate such to the live stage as well.

I arrived a couple of songs into the evening's second act, The Pinecones. Originally known as Brent Randall and his Pinecones, this time around the band is promoting the release of an album called SAGE!, which is the first truly collaborative effort by all four members of the band. This means that besides Randall's own compositions, Brian O’Reilly, Joel Goguen and Paul Linklater all had a share in the songwriting process, creating a collection of songs that still boast a similar tribute to a 60's British Invasion styled sound, but with an earthier, and perhaps less polished feel. The lack of studio sheen works in the material's favour however, creating an album that is probably their most satisfying so far. I came in as they had just started a song called Tea Tonight, which is one of the Randall penned compositions. Just as I was admiring the jaunty, Kinks-iness of that particular number, the band confirmed my suspicions of inspiration by segueing into a brilliant cover of The Village Green Preservation Society, which, of course, is one of The Kinks' most respected numbers. A broken guitar string meant that the band had to deviate slightly from the original setlist while an audience member (and fellow musician) worked on replacing it. This led to some more piano based material, as well as an opportunity for some of the others to take over lead vocals. Afterward, the evening progressed with one catchy hit after another, including the fuzzed out delicacy Jenny Fur, where they sounded more than a little bit like Howe and West's Tomorrow, who were a psychedelic two-hit wonder in the mid 60's. The full band composition ...Ardmore...Jenny was another highlight, with O’Reilly's Eight Miles High-ish guitar work being particularly stunning. A couple more covers were included in their set, such as Del Shannon's I Go To Pieces and set closer Dead End Street, which was another Kinks classic that they shredded brilliantly.

Photos: My pictures of The Pinecones @ The Garrison are up on flickr.
Myspace: The Pinecones

As I suspected, Language-Arts proved themselves to be just as stunning live as they are on record, with their four members creating an orchestral sound that is remarkably full. On album, the band is composed of only two members, Kristin Cudmore who sings and plays classical guitar, piano and banjo on the album, while Gregor Phillips handles all drums and percussion. The live version hires on a couple of other people to handle the keys and upright bass/cello, and I was immediately impressed with the professionalism of the entire outfit. The band set up and tuned quickly, enabling them to begin their set quicker than usual. They opened with one of my favourite songs on the album called Cavity, its jazzy bass-line designed to hypnotically suck you in and although many patrons were rather chatty on this particular evening, I found it hard not to remain fixated on what was taking place on stage. Cudmore's vocals are high and pixie-ish in a way that is slightly reminiscent of Joanna Newsom or Suzanne Vega, but perhaps more accessible. The music itself is one of constant wonder in the sense that there are certain songs where you think that you've got the groove figured out and then they throw in a tempo change, or similar progressive tangent that takes your head journey in a totally different direction. Lighthouse is one example of this, where an almost Spanish guitar break seemingly comes out of nowhere, taking the song to a whole new level. White Socks in Birkenstocks is another example of this style of accomplished musical composition, where the classical tag proves itself appropriate both in its instrumental sense of musical adventure, and in the vocal style that Cudmore almost raps her wordy lyrics in a way that distracts from how cumbersome they would be if left in other hands. By the time they ended their set with the incredibly wordy Tuck It In, I was left in awe, not only of Cudmore's ability to remember all of those lyrics, but also in the way that the band has managed to carve a niche that is all their own, and present it on a live stage in a way that never alienates, but endears. I'll certainly be seeing them again.

Photos: My pictures of Language-Arts @ The Garrison are up on flickr.
Myspace: Language-Arts
Download: Where Were You In The Wild? mp3

Language-Arts will be playing a CMW Showcase on March 11th at Sneaky Dee's.

Other stuff:
I came home late last night to the sad news that Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous has died. My introduction to his music came a little later than some. I was first introduced to him in the early days of my blogging when I saw him live at The Mod Club, thanks to the fact that I had won tickets to his show from fellow blogger Frank Yang, whom I did not know at the time. Needless to say, that performance impacted me greatly, and although I was mildly aware of his history with substance abuse, as well as his general disdain for performing live, I can't say that any of those things were apparent that night. He seemed to be in high spirits, and I even remember him smiling frequently for the cameras and coming across as a genuinely affable fellow. Since then, all of his albums have been on regular rotation for me, most notably his 2006 release Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain, which contained a song that always made me smile called Don't Take My Sunshine Away. The song sounds even more poignant as I listen to it this morning. His musical contributions will certainly be missed. [Myspace: Sparklehorse]