Spirehouse
Rising up from Calgary, Woodpigeon is making their way across the nation (and beyond) with nothing less than beautiful and artful melodies. So take a seat, toss in this CD, and enjoy those workless days you’ve been counting down to.
Spirehouse is their new EP featuring five songs, three of which were previously unreleased tracks. It proves to show the band’s strong sense of musical standing – with each three and a half song being firm and exquisite. There are some unique instruments potently poking their heads into these recordings, especially in “Don’t Fret, My Pet,” which happens to be my personal favourite. Also added in this wondrous collection of music is the title track along with its remix done by Shipshapen. To my relief, instead of butchering the song (which I find a lot of recent remixes tend to do), it gives it a nice deep boost; with a sturdy drum beat and more prominent duo singing, it’s not tough enough to kill the mood that the original “Spirehouse” exuberates. It’s definitely the perfect way to begin and wrap up the EP.
Something else that caught my attention was “Toil,” bringing in a soothing chorus of extended ooh’s that just swoop into your ears and welcome serenity. Its sweeping acoustic guitars and the lyric, “light is the task where many share the toil,” originally written by the poet Homer, were among the track’s stand out elements. And I must say that the sound does accord with the lyric’s meaning, in the most harmonic way.
The overall feel reminds me of work done by Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, Blitzen Trapper, and Seabear. Woodpigeon still manages to distinguish themselves and upon occasions of needing to kick back with a good read and some snacks, a playlist containing all of these bands should be playing in the background on repeat. You can take my word on that!
For more Woodpigeon,
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/woodpigeon
