Deliluh/Ellen Froese
Deliluh
Beneath The Floors // Telephone Explosion
Deliluh’s second release this year, Beneath The Floors, caps off what was already a very good year for the Toronto-based quartet. A mere six months after the release of their EP, Oath Of Intent (which we featured as a Pick Of The Week in May), Deliluh is back with more art-punk goodness across ten tracks on this new LP.
The songs are more spacious than the their previous release, with more of a focus on storytelling. Lead singer Kyle Knapp pulls from a deep well of different points of view, like on “Master Key” or “Via 5A”, which follow a security guard and a woman on the subway, respectively. The two instrumental tracks in back half of the record are a stunning distillation of Deliluh’s sonic fixations over the past year of work. “Falcon Scott Trail” belongs in a horror movie soundtrack (seriously, somebody get this band to score your movie already), and after a hard cut into “Con Art Inc.”, Deliluh showcases their ability to patiently layer riffs and sounds that connect and blossom into each other, like a disorienting, austere, jigsaw puzzle.
Beneath The Floors is likely to be a late addition to plenty of “best of 2019” lists; it shows Deliluh at the top of their game, and is a captivating listen. If they can keep up this pace and quality of releases, 2020 is bound to be a hell of a year.
- Sean Newton
Ellen Froese
Fightin' Words // Independent
Ellen Froese will sometimes perform shows alone - entertaining audiences with her powerful voice, acoustic guitar and compelling stories. But on some evenings, the Saskatoon based singer-songwriter is joined by The Hot Toddies, a group of three powerhouse players who each find themselves spreading across musical projects in the city due to their commendable skills. On her newest release, Fightin' Words, Ellen Froese smartly enlists the talents of The Hot Toddies, and a few other choice friends, to create a timeless and dynamic album.
In order for a songwriter to deliver their best performance, they need to be comfortable. When Froese performs with The Hot Toddies, you can tell that she is having fun and that she feels comfortable. But on Fightin' Words, Froese sounds more than just comfortable - she sounds free.
This freedom is most evident in the vocal performances. She sounds like a dreamier Bob Dylan with a subtle, timely vibrato and a playful, audible grin that lets you know that you're welcome to join in on the fun. Froese knows when to draw the listener in with a soft vocal and when to strike with a powerful impact. Not only are the vocals great, but when Kacy Anderson (who just released a recent Pick of the Week with her duo: Kacy and Clayton) and the Hot Toddies add their voices to the mix, unexpected but beautiful harmonies are created, harmonies that cause you to pause, rewind and repeat a song.
Froese is at her best when she is telling stories, and there are many compelling settings and characters to become acquainted with during the course of the album. A highlight is "Edna", a melancholy song about a third-generation farm, which begins in a laidback folk style, not dissimilar to her earlier releases. But then a crunchy electric guitar plays a descending melody, the drums bang a little harder and Froese is joined by Anderson's angelic harmonies. Joyful moments like this are sprinkled throughout the album and it is clear that the band is having fun while they are recording together. Thankfully, producer Kacy Anderson and recording engineer Jill Mack captured this fun perfectly on Fightin' Words.
The standout of the album is the second last song, the 60s/70s country-rock ballad, "Love Is (Bigger Than Us)", which features the album's best full-band harmonies, smart lyrics and a well placed saxophone solo. Fightin' Words could have easily been a fine solo, singer-songwriter style album but Froese's artistic decision to work closely with her musical family allowed her to create her best album to date.
- Greg Torwalt
