Joel Plaskett

I’m going to blame the small side stage at the Corner Hotel. Back in early 2007 I was all the way at the other side of the band room facing the main stage. The sound coming from the side stage was awful, and I couldn’t see a damn thing because of the hundreds of tall punters blocking my view. So I really didn’t pay close attention to the lanky Canadian opening for Augie March. It’s a shame….

Joel Plaskett was born and raised in around Halifax, Nova Scotia and still resides there today (making him a lifelong Haligonian). He’s been making waves in the Canadian alternative rock scene since the early 90s when he started the now defunct Thrush Hermit. Once Thrush Hermit broke up in 1999, Joel Plaskett launched his solo career and positioned himself as one of Canada’s most beloved musicians. His most recent album Three, with its 27 songs ranging from folk to country to alternative rock and horn-driven soul, has put Joel Plaskett on the shortlist for the Polaris Music Prize, which will be given out tonight in Toronto. So what better time to find out more about Joel Plaskett and give him the attention he obviously deserves.

Why I love him, and you should too…

Joel Plaskett released his first solo album In Need of Medical Attention in 1999. Since then he picked up backing band the Emergency and has released six other albums either solo or with the band. The Joel Plaskett Emergency was nominated for two Juno Awards (the Canadian Grammys) and won Rock Recording of the Year at the 2005 East Coast Music Awards for the album Truthfully, Truthfully. In 2008 Joel Plaskett Emergency were nominated for seven East Coast Music Awards for their 2007 release Ashtray Rock. They won six of these awards including Group of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Single of the Year and Video of the Year.

Plaskett’s latest solo album Three was released on March 24, 2009. It was recorded in Plaskett’s home studio and then mixed in Texas with Gordie Johnson at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studio. The result is an ambitious triple CD with each disc consisting of nine songs many of which contain three-way titles. Written when he was 33 years old (are you seeing a theme here?), Plaskett deftly depicts the three phases of travelling on this album: departure, separation and return. Disc one focuses on the idea of leaving or being left behind and is the most soulful and rock n’ roll, while disc two is about being alone, both physically and emotionally. This sense of isolation is captured by the stripped back, somber folk feel of the music. Finally disc three portrays the slow return home.

Three was also the first time Joel Plaskett recorded with his father, Bill. Plaskett Senior is a longtime musician who used to sing and play guitar semi-professionally. Growing up, Joel Plaskett would occasionally play a song or two with his dad at local folk nights. So now it’s Bill’s turn to tour as part of Joel Plaskett’s backing band.

In the random file, Plaskett even finds inspiration in White Fang, the cat that he and his wife took in on September 11, 2001. Now deaf and arthritic, this adored cat features in songs, is the subject of sing-a-longs at Plaskett live shows and is even the mascot of New Scotland Records, Plaskett’s new record label.

Listen Up!

Here’s Joel Plaskett’s video for the song, “Through & Through & Through.” Unlike many of the songs I’ve profiled thus far, this one is pure fun. You can tell Joel Plaskett had a blast making the video, and you can’t help but smile watching it.

And here’s “Heartless, Heartless, Heartless” recorded at McDougall United Church in Edmonton, Alberta with his dad, Bill Plaskett.

Timber Timbre

As we settle into the fifth month of the interminable North Florida summer, I find myself dreaming of late autumn and winter. I’d abandon the sunshine, tropical drinks and flip flops in a heartbeat for long, cold nights huddled in front of a fire sipping a heavy, full-bodied red and listening to the haunting music of Timber Timbre…. I’ve still got a few months before that dream comes to fruition, but I’m definitely keen to tell you a bit about this artist who captures the aural sense of frigid isolation so beautifully.

Timber Timbre (a.k.a. Taylor Kirk) is a gothic folk-blues project from Toronto, Canada that I discovered while on holiday up there this past April. I was instantly struck by his ghostly vocals atop such sparse yet darkly atmospheric music. At the moment, there isn’t a great deal of information about this rather reclusive musician (yes, this will probably be a short post), but I’m willing to bet that’s going to change very soon!

Why I love him (and you should too)

Taylor Kirk studied film at the Ontario College of Art, and throughout university, he played in bands mostly as a drummer. Upon graduation, he discovered that he enjoyed writing songs more than making films. So he began his music career recording a series of lo-fi, acoustic songs in his bedroom in Toronto.

In 2006 Kirk released his first album, Cedar Shakes, under the name Timber Timbre. This stage name was a play on the sound quality of his beat-up guitar (timbre) and his father’s yelling “Timber!” when trees crashed on the family farm in rural Ontario.

For his self-titled third album, Timber Timbre once again recorded in his home studio. But this time he called on the help of other artists to fill in strings, banjo, accompanying vocals as well as a few screams. The album was finished at the Lincoln County Social Club with producer Chris Stringer (Rush, The D'Urbervilles, Ohbijou, David Wilcox) and released on indie label, Out of this Spark, in January 2009.

The result is an eight-song masterpiece where the transitions between songs are seamless. This is not an album to be broken apart and shuffled amidst 800 other songs on your iPod; it’s an album to be savored in its entirety from start to finish. And it’s obviously grabbing the attention of some industry heavy weights. Early this summer Timber Timbre signed a global record deal with the Arts & Crafts label (the Stills, Constantines and Broken Social Scene), and the CD was reissued on July 28, 2009. The album was also named as a long-list nominee for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.

Over the summer Timber Timbre toured with the Great Lake Swimmers and Final Fantasy, and this autumn will see him headlining a handful of shows in the US. These shows are bound to be spellbinding especially if Taylor Kirk has his choice of venue. He has been known to choose specific venues that accentuate his atmospheric music.

Listen Up!

 

Discography: Timber Timbre (2009) * Medicinals (2007) * Cedar Shakes (2006)