No Earthly Sound — Bruce Peninsula
One of my favourite Toronto bands was inactive for the better part of the last decade, and now Bruce Peninsula is back just when the need is greatest. Their new album, No Earthly Sound, is a heart-pounding epic; its vocals howl like caterwauls and percussions thump with the force of cataracts. It’s also the first album I’ve ever listened to, in entirety, while waiting in a grocery line—maybe not exactly the accolade the band was hoping for, but times are tough, and that’s when good music shines the most.
I discovered the band via their 2009 album A Mountain Is A Mountain, one of the most complete, most fulfilling albums I’ve ever heard. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that album, my reaction to every listen is always a physiological one: breaking out in sweats, or worse.
As a wrap up to the great year in music that was 2019, I needed a moment to look around and find an example of what it is I want most from music in 2020, and settled on something similar to AMIAM. Unbeknownst to me at that time, the band responsible for that gem was firing up their collective kiln to bring us No Earthly Sound. Though Covid-19 through a wrench in their plans to serve it hot and on stage this month, the digital and vinyl release only gets me more amped for the eventuality of their concerts.
Despite my secret greedy need for something similar to AMIAM, the band is absolutely right to leave that album in the past and find new sounds and sensations. No Earthly Sound sounds completely different. Yet there are still traces in it of the thing that gets me so worked up about AMIAM, with songs like ‘Summertime’, ‘Don’t Believe Your Eyes’, and ‘Whistle’.
Since first hearing AMIAM back in 2011, I think I’ve been subconsciously looking for a similar sound in new bands; found a bit of it in Kongos, a great band of brothers from South African, but eventually got tired of the thump and gallop of their percussions—the lyrics just couldn’t keep up with the drummer. I think that is what I enjoy the most about No Earthly Sound: the instrumentation makes it such a fun album, but its not just saccharine and clap-happy stuff. The lyrics—sung in the addictive lilt of vocalist Misha Bower’s voice, and the blue timbres of Neil Haverty’s deep bellow—invite a second listen when you’re tired out from your solo quarantine-dance-off.
They’re a big band, with lots of moving parts and contributors; but the core of the project is Bower, Haverty and vocalist/guitarist Matt Cully. So grateful to have Cully on here to talk about the new release, life in Covid, and the chances of someday owning AMIAM on LP.
BR: How are you doing during this lockdown?
MC: I’m holding up alright despite the massive change. My house is now my entire universe with maybe one carefully paced walk per week to keep me sane. Neil and Misha have been working from home and keeping safe as well.
Left to Right: Misha Bower, Neil Haverty, and Matt Cully. (www.brucepeninsula.bandcamp.com)
BR: You’re sticking to releasing the album while the lockdown continues, there are of course many moving parts there, but what reason stands out to you the most.
MC: The album had been mixed and mastered for quite some time before its release. There were many tentative dates on the calendar to put it out, but due to our respective schedules, it kept getting moved further down the line. Once we had April 2020 locked in, we started rehearsing in earnest with dates confirmed to play some shows around Ontario. When the pandemic hit, there was no way we were going to reschedule the release. It HAD to come out even though we couldn't play the shows. Hopefully this fall we can make good on those plans to play.
The fact that we are releasing the record while everyone is at home and hungry for shiny new songs to listen to may be a blessing in the end. Who knows? We're just proud of the songs and want to share them with the world.
BR: What was the process like bringing former band-members back together and new people on-board?
MC: BP has always been a kind of rotating cast of members and contributors with Misha, Neil and I as the songwriting engines and band cheerleaders. It's one of the most incredible parts of being linked up with a community of likeminded artists here in Toronto. We can all offer our talents and visions to enhance each other's projects. As a songwriter, this allows you to cast an album like an epic film—this person would be great as this character, this person would add an amazing texture that will take this song to the next level. All our music is a testament to the talent of our friends and the people we love.
BR: What was the balance like between revisiting the sound of A Mountain is a Mouth and taking a new direction?
MC: With the exception of the people involved, I don't think this album calls back to AMIAM at all. We were very conscious of experimenting with new approaches to songwriting (for us) and only moving forward. That said, there will always be core elements to the music we write as BP, of course. It has always been a project that utilizes a big canvas - huge group vocals, cinematic vistas, thundering rhythms - but is lyrically concerned with human stories and struggles on the individual level. It's always been about the juxtaposition of these two extremes and that's true for the new record as well.
BR: No delicate way to ask this but: is this a blast from the past, or is Bruce Peninsula back for good?
MC: Misha, Neil and I are all close friends beyond the band, so we never felt like we left in the first place. We're always creative collaborating with each other. Our plans to play a bunch of live shows over the next few months may have gone sideways for now, but we'll be extra excited to play for folks as soon as people are able to be in rooms together again. I can't say what the future holds, but for now, it feels really good to put out some fresh music and play together again.
Cover art for ‘A Mountain Is A Mouth’ by Bruce Peninsula
BR: Which songs from past albums do you miss the most and how have they changed for you since the last decade and a bit?
MC: We were looking forward to revisiting a few songs from other records in the new band set up, but we were still deciding which ones to include in the set. There are certain songs that generate incredible energy on stage that I'm nostalgic for, but mostly because I miss laughing and rolling around with the people in the band. We'll see.
BR: You released ‘Make a Sound’ and ‘Whistle’ ahead of the pack, do these songs give us a handle on this album?
MC: I guess that's up to the listener, but we thought that these tracks would spark curiosity in the new record and hopefully grab new listeners as well. We're not really a "singles" band, so we just picked songs that we thought were strong, but hopefully all the songs on the album could have stood up in the same role.
BR: Pandemic aside, how does it feel to be back in this capacity? What are you looking forward to the most once lockdown is lifted?
MC: SEEING MY FRIENDS !!! That's been the hardest part so far. We were all seeing each other a lot for rehearsals and it all got cut short. We're also excited to connect with fans and have been really appreciative of all the nice feedback we've had about the album. People seem happy to see us back. It's nice to be missed.
BR: Any plans to release AMIAM on vinyl is the future?
MC: Never say never.