Winter in Toronto can be rough. There is always excitement leading up the holiday season, and your salt stained jeans and bad hair days don't seem to matter so much because if you sludge through the ice and slush for a couple more weeks you'll have fun holiday parties, presents, and the anticipation of a new year.
Come the new year though, it seems like there isn't much to look forward to except spring, which seems so very far away when the cold wind keeps smacking you in the face. I feel like wind is like the hand of winter, it comes down just when you think that the sun might feel warm on your face, just when you dare to expose your skin from underneath your hood and thick wool scarf. Just then, the hand of winter (wind!) comes out, slaps you on the face and painfully reminds you that winter is still very much here.
Sometimes I wonder why I can't just be a bear and hibernate for the season. Either way, winter is my excuse for my general lack of motivation, productivity, and malaise. I've got the brrr brrr blues.
It just totally blows my mind then, when any life can spring from this permafrosted city.
Somehow, in Canada's apocalyptic-like winter (ok, I know it hasn't been that bad this year) Novels managed to form. This band, comprised of Graham Wright of Tokyo Police Club, Luke Lalonde of Born Ruffians , Will Currie of Will Currie & The Country French, Dean Marino, and Jason Sadlowski is a little taste of spring.
The EP, which you can get for free (!) on their website, is a nice little sampling of five tracks to lead up to the apparent full-length album coming out later this year. It was fully written, arranged and recorded in one studio session (probably to reduce frost bite), and sounds a lot more like summer than winter. In fact the track "Big Run" reminds me a lot of Mungo Jerry's "In The Summertime." And a hint of the 70s is never a bad thing.
From their website, "NOVELS won't be sold in CD stores, on the internet, or anywhere else. Instead, we'll give them away, or put them places. Maybe you'll find a copy sitting on a park bench. Maybe a masked man will hand you one as he passes you on the street. Maybe none of these things will happen. But we'll make sure that everyone gets a chance to listen if they want to."
So brave the cold and get outside, you might find yourself a little pocket of sunshine. (Forgive the cliches, I've got brainfreeze.)
Check out this video and see how the music was written.
I read about the plans for that last year at some point! I can't remember where I read it (possibly school newspaper), but I talked about it on the radio show. I will have to listen and play one of the songs next week!
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