Tall Horse: Glue

Sam

Tall Horse, short album

With Glue, they leave you wanting more

If Sláinte did nothing more than allow Nick Poulin the time and space to get Tall Horse together, its legacy may be pretty well secure. Who knows what will eventually come of the band, but Glue, as a six-song introduction to the world, is a damn fine work filled with highly listenable, ’90s-style indie rock, with some slo-core and alt-country mixed in.

Like Toronto’s collection of bands and musicians that make up Broken Social Scene, the core of people who flitted through Sláinte over the years has created a sound you can hear in Dustin Bailey Saucier’s various incarnations (new album coming soon), in bands like Worried Well and Boxes and First in Maths, and now in the three-piece Tall Horse, which gets plenty of help from the likes of Saucier and Forget, Forget’s Tyler DeVos.

Though with bassist Dom Grosso (Boxes, and any number of other projects) and drummer Devin Ivy (Lisa/Liza), Poulin has a plenty-tight core. Grosso is happy to take over the melody of a chorus and Ivy plays with a loose and elastic style that mimics Poulin’s fluctuating moods, working transitions especially well. Poulin, himself, is in the Doug Martsch (Built to Spill), Jeff Martin (Idaho) class, both somewhat downtempo and fully emotionally invested, holding in the upper register but never quite moving into a falsetto.

And he’s miserly with his lyrics, mulling lines over in his mouth, repeating them into meaninglessness, then hammering home an idea with a quick aside.

“Walk of Shame” is the epitome of his direct approach, neither judging nor particularly surprised: “Drinkin’ till you’re fucking what’s his name/ Walking home that morning dressed the same.” Similarly, the open here is the best of what is a consistently great acoustic guitar sound, captured by engineer Jayson Whitmore (his brothers are the guys in Caro Khan) at his Penumbra Recordings. Then Ivy counts in on his sticks and the Patia Maule violin and swirling Saucier electric guitar are just the right kind of post-drunk remorse, miserable and a little bit clumsy, but damn if that wasn’t a good time.

Tack on Maule’s backing vocals and extra contribution of tasteful piano near the finish, plus a meandering guitar solo and Grosso’s tossed off bass lick to close the piece out, and you’ve got one hell of a song, a piercing and bold and straightforwardly honest piece of sincerity.

As with Wes Harding’s work, it’s that cracked-chest, open-veined sentiment you really respond to here. When Poulin broods in “Sour” that “you think I taste sour, but no one’s as sour as you,” it is less bitter than matter-of-fact, and when he notes in “Old Gun Shot” that, “I want to take you out with one old gun shot to the brain/ Because I love you,” it really does seem affectionate, with the “because” clipped and cut short like he doesn’t want to admit it.

That latter song is taken Uncle Tupelo by McKay Belk’s steel guitar, a cry that doesn’t become cloying thanks to a big-room sound. The backing vocals, too, sound more than a few steps away, like the band are aping the song’s central characters, keeping each other at a distance.

With so much contemporary production focusing on immediacy and loudness, this record stands out for its openness and space. It’s plenty warm, and the various instruments are present and fully realized (except maybe for Grosso’s bass from time to time – it could be higher in the mix), but you never feel claustrophobic in the headphones. That helps the relatively rare big choruses here standout, as in “Insane,” where the jangledy pop comes through in bouncing guitar notes and extra backing vocals the second time around, where “know” has three syllables and Poulin’s voice tends to crack with rawness: “We’re all insane, you know.”

It’s not hardly a question, and the way he delivers “insane” is with all the emphasis on the “in” so it almost seems more inclusive than accusatory.

The whole thing is remarkably accessible, even when it gets loud in “Lights Out,” and even with slightly sketchy overtures. Whether imploring the listener to “beat the shit out of me” or insisting “I don’t know how to feel,” right before asking that you “die for me,” Poulin is often working some dark angle, but he never lays the nostalgia on too thick or gets overly maudlin.

Nor does he waste your time. These are songs that deserve to go past four minutes and continue to feel fresh even when the words are washing over you for what seems like the twentieth time.

Really, the biggest flaw might be that there’s not enough here. Over already? I was just getting into it. Perhaps there’s more material hot on its heels.

Micromassé: Micromassé

Sam

Meeting Micromassé

Jazz, writ large and small

The Fogcutters have to be one of the better local music stories of the past decade. You know you’ve got a local fanbase with taste when one of the most popular acts is an old-time big band doing everything from traditional swing to hip-hop covers.

So maybe there’s room for Micromassé, also featuring guitarist Max Cantlin and playing old-time jazz, though this time in trio format, and all originals, and without any singing. Cantlin, also known for his work with Gypsy Tailwind/Anna Lombard and This Way, is joined by organist Peter Dugas (the Awesome, Inside Straight, Zion Train, etc.) and drummer Chris Sweet (Zach Jones, Dan Capaldi, Radiation Year) in creating a tight group that throws back to the hey-day of bop-style jazz, while bringing in elements of R&B, pop, and Latin works.

This isn’t American Standard Songbook stuff, though. There’s fusion at work here, and Dugas writes all the pieces, so there are times when everything sounds completely contemporary, but it’s more often you’ll be reminded of the likes of Joe Pass and Wes Montgomery on the guitar, or Rhoda Scott and Herbie Hancock on the organ.

Okay, maybe not as out there as Hancock got, but check out Scott if you don’t know her. She could rip and Dugas can certainly lay it down, with plenty of bass notes from his feet, too.

That’s how he starts “Novi Sad,” a 10-minute midpoint in the band’s 10-song self-titled debut album. Actually, it’s a cowbell from Sweet that goes first, but then comes Dugas’ moody bass and trudging chords, setting up a foundation for Cantlin’s guitar to ride on, just a series of repeating riffs, feeling the way through the song’s open. It’s a completely organic experience that manages to feel digital in the way each instrument introduces repeating parts, transitions them to something else, and then exits for a bit. Like a producer with nearly infinite riffs at her disposal.

Then, with about 1:20 to go, the whole thing fades out and introduces an entirely new song for a rousing jam, like Nigel Hall midway through a 20-minute jam, but less manic and Sweet’s got a lighter hand than most jam or R&B/soul drummers.

Why make that bit part of the larger 10-minute track? Well, Micromassé don’t have to explain themselves to you. They’re going to go wherever their fancy takes them, whether it’s into a soaring crescendo that crests and plays out in “Tamed Cynic,” before a Dugas freak out that ends in a solitary note like a laser beam, or Cantlin doing an upstroke and playful chime in “Hinche,” then moving to an improvised group of phrases that seem to come to him after a moment’s listen to what the universe is whispering in his ear.

My personal favorite is probably “Ruelle Des Urculines,” a waltzing ballroom tune that still manages to open like Midnight Marauders. The organ is sing-songy like a an ‘80s sitcom – is that Jack Tripper bouncing around the corner? Sweet is crisp with the high hat and Cantlin is reserved in his chimes so Dugas really has the floor. Later, Cantlin comes busting in easy and free, like California beaches and the wind in your hair.

“Fero City Shuffle” is pretty easy to sidle up to, too, with a big whack on the snare for a consistent beat and Dugas picking out a strutting bass with his feet. This is the most bluesy tune here, and there are echoes of that Buddy Guy revival that happened in the guitar lead, but the chorus (I think you can call it that) picks up the rock vibe and the song ends in a hurry, too short.

You can say that for the album as whole, actually. It seems to end before you’re ready for it. It’s belittling the work to say it’s great background music while you’re working or reading, but it sure does work for that sort of thing. It also works just fine if you want to put it on and make listening to it your primary occupation.

Photo credit: Erin Little