Bart - Some Kind of Way
idée fixe records
Released April 7th
This album blew me away.
I hate to admit it but Some Kind Of Way is the first record from Toronto-based band Bart I had ever heard. Upon first listen, I didn’t even know where to begin with the praise, admiration, and absolute astonishment I had rolling around within me!
It being their third full length album, you can really tell that “Chief architects” of the project, Christopher Shannon and Nathan Vanderwielen know what they are doing. Blending saxophone players, piano, synths, trumpets, cello, and viola (among other things) they create a sound that is both reminiscent and nostalgic - like a good throwback tune while somehow still being unlike anything you’ve ever heard.
The spontaneity and collaboration are abundantly clear throughout this album, as track by track floats through your brain, taking you on a journey. Transporting you through time and space, and gently carrying you along a breeze made up of colours, sounds, and emotions. By the time the horn solo comes in on “When Will I Find It”, the very first song on the record, you already know you are going to have a good time listening.
Some tracks feature an intricate flittering of instruments, like a bee popping from flower to flower, gliding through the air on a calm, spring afternoon. Others are fun, they are feel-good, and you want to dance and riff along. And then there are the songs that you definitely want to play on your favourite listening device on the first date you make dinner at home (with candles lit of course!) for your love interest to show them you’ve got taste and class.
In whichever environment you are lucky enough to lay ears on this record, you will surely enjoy the eclectic talent that fills every second of this gorgeous 35-minute album.
- Krystle McGrath
