Jim Guthrie - ‘Takes Time’

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Review by Shannon Reid

In the field of atmospheric science, there is little information available to scientists regarding lightning hitting water; so naturally, when Jim Guthrie’s newest album titled, Take Time featured cover art displaying root pattern lightning hitting a ‘waves of contemplation’ tabletop, my mind wandered and my heart galloped. This is a tasty image that foretells the feeding of poetic symbolism and rich metaphors, but if you know Guthrie’s work from Islands and Human Highway it also forecasts instrumental bliss.

Reaching out like branches, Guthrie reveals his own growth since his last album released a decade ago. The collective sounds of Take Time dig, reach out and bring to mind the maintenance of thoughtful awareness. Guthrie’s sounds are more layered, more masterful – purposeful. Hearty lyrics backed by the experimental inspiration of echoing vocals courts a tender violin.

“Taking My Time” is a song that tunnels into your ear canals for the purpose of sending signals to your heart. At times, there are controlled tones of experimental sound that evoke memories of dial up Internet. Sounds of an electric guitar interlaced with a hint of drone inject appreciation for the beauty of the night while Guthrie’s echo driven vocals suggest exploring it. The simplicity and purposeful arrangement of hook-filled, “Before And After” has the ability to light up your dark, with self imposing lyrics like, “I should know better.” But self doubt is instantaneously soothed with the nurturing reply ‘You say, come here and sit down don’t try to figure it out’…. or ‘don’t try to own it all” – a message we could all find comfort in, or at the very least resonate with. “Don’t Be Torn” most rightly follows with lines, “It takes heart, to fall apart, start from the start, to hear no sound” that is backed by the cheerleaders voices proclaiming “BE ASSERTIVE!” Before you know it, you’ll be singing yourself – to leap!

Guthrie’s well-crafted arrangements transform time while pairing perfectly with solitude and connection. This album is one that will suck you into a journey and is packed with rapid appeal.

At Metal Works studio with Sarah MacDougall

At Metal Works studio with Sarah MacDougall

Filming in a helicopter hanger with Kate Rogers Band

Filming in a helicopter hanger with Kate Rogers Band

Watch Animal Parts perform “Home To You” and “Lake Travis” off their new EP Other Rooms out August 2013.

Hanging with Doug Tielli y Con Arrimo

Hanging with Doug Tielli y Con Arrimo

A still from my shoot in Ottawa with Garth Hudson (The Band)

A still from my shoot in Ottawa with Garth Hudson (The Band)

Watch Kyle Stephens perform “Father Bury Me Blues” and “Grandma”

Broken Deer - Polaraura

Review by Andrew Patterson

Often, when discussing the merits of lo-fi recording, there is an emphasis on how the sound is made beautiful by restriction. Either there is a sense of immediacy (time restriction) or a sense of triumph despite limitations (the underdog effect). The music can often feel trapped in a moment or a format, and cherished all the more for it’s shortcomings.

In the case of Broken Deer’s Polaraura, a decidedly lo-fi affair, the effect of using cheap technology has resulted in something altogether different. Instead of feeling trapped, Lindsay Dobbin’s work here feels incredibly expansive and all-considering. Recorded while living in a cabin outside of Whitehorse, Polaraura contains compositions for piano, guitar and voice, as well as a smattering of field recordings. It’s an awe-inspiring piece that gives the effect of a small prism refracting a large plateau.

Though split into five tracks, the entire 35 minutes is a fluid, heavily immersive, cohesive experience. The sound of howling wolves and wind meld seamlessly with analogue tape scrubbing. Dobbin’s haunting folk songs wander in and out of the soundscape much the way a figure appears briefly in a white-out snowstorm; not lost but journeying. Her voice is hard to place, it may be that of a curious young girl or a wizened, elderly woman. And, as any seasoned explorer will tell you, both wisdom and curiosity are essential to a successful journey.

Polaraura is a rewarding, trance-inducing listen for the willing, to be approached with an open and patient mind. There is a great sense of surety throughout the album’s meanderings that Dobbin has made available through limited means, loving care and consideration. It is a deep record with no bottom in sight, ripe for plunging into.

Watch Odd Years perform “Said And Done” at AJ’s place in Guelph with his canine pals.