A DECADE OF BANGERS – Loon Choir at 10
Album artwork by Marc Adornato / Design by Jeffery Gee
Relative to today’s 24 hour news cycle, a decade might as well be a century. Awash in digital ephemera, commitment and permanence seem antiquated. Individualism and a not-so-subtle weariness permeates so much of what we see, hear, and consume.
In 2009 however, a collectivist mentality and an unspoken appetite for the boisterous dominated the Canadian campus charts, from the trapezoidal art-pop of Grizzly Bear’s “Veckatimest” and Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca, to the frenetic surrealism of Think About Life’s “Family” and Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion”. In this spirit of democratic invention, Ottawa’s Loon Choir was formed: a humble, but unabashedly excitable collective, determined to churn out some high-BPM indie-pop with a conscience.
Whereas most bands create their most impactful work in their opening decade, 2019 sees Loon Choir’s slow burn rise to a steady flame. In a lot of ways, their fourth album “In The Age of Alienation” feels like a blueprint come to fruition, both lyrically and sonically. I feel like I’ve got a pinch of insight on this, as they recorded their debut in my old basement on Florence Street. (Full disclosure: They gifted me with a Zassenhaus coffee grinder I have to this day. Sweet, right?)
The band and I tossed around ideas of naturalism, navigating compromise, and the joys of a solid banger.
Rolf Klausener: Let's talk about the title. What inspired it, and which song do you think most embodies the album's theme?
“In The Age of Alienation” comes from the song, ’Lust and Divisions’, but it’s a lyric that’s been floating around for a few years. The themes of disconnection and anomie have long been in my writing, and alienation seems consistent. Alienation daily life in capitalism, marked by powerlessness, meaninglessness, isolation and estrangement. I see these struggles appearing in our relationships with ourselves, each other, work, school, etc. – Derek Atikinson
Loon Choir's music has always felt grand and cinematic to me. If "In The Age of Alienation" could soundtrack scenes from three different films or tv shows, what would those films/scenes be?
Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator – Baris Bilgen (drums, percussion)
The song “Wild Things” is 100% in a Western. Like not a Sergio Leone Western, but something Quentin Tarantino or the Coen Bros would do as an homage to a Western. – Kathleen Cauley (violin, vocals)
Bands, no matter the size, are an exercise in democracy and compromise. With that, Loon Choir don't seem to fall into the trap of "everyone playing at once" that you often have with member-heavy bands. "Don't Write" feels like a good example of this. Can you tell me a bit about the writing process? How did this latest collection of songs come to fruition? Further to that, how does the band decide who sits a song out, if/when necessary?
When a new idea is brought to the band, it is generally a softer acoustic or piano song. As we start playing through it and evolving the song, things naturally seem to move towards faster beats and more intense riffs. There are nine of us at any given moment, and the songwriting is a collaborative effort. Each has their own musical influences and energies. Each has their own initial ideas of how a particular song will evolve. In that comes a little pushing and pulling, helping us create a balanced and unique energy we hope each of our songs achieve. - Craig Barlow - bass, vocals
From the start, boisterousness has been integral both your recorded output and your live shows. Like some of the best Motown or disco, there’s sadness and subtlety, but swaddled revelry. What’s that rooted in?
Who doesn’t love a good banger? Our energy is one of my favourite things about us as a band. It’s not like it’s a conscious decision; I think if you’re genuinely into what you’re doing and enjoying yourself on stage, it just shows and is clearly contagious. And the energy is context dependent so naturally varies from crowd to crowd and venue to venue. - Celeste Côté (keys)
The natural world, and humanity's place in it, is a common thread that weaves through your albums, yeah?
Nature is us, it’s our home. Our home is in shambles: it’s flooding, it’s on fire. It’s impossible for me not to address this as the exploitation and plundering of the working class and our habitat continues in the name of profit. – Derek Atkinson (vocals, songwriter)
Touring is hard no matter the size of the band. As a nine piece, the logistics get dicey, not to mention costly. Looking to the future, what are the band's live ambitions? Do they even matter? Does anything matter?
Touring is certainly something that has become increasingly difficult for our band. For the reasons mentioned above in combination with the fact that we are aging at rapid speeds! Homes, families and careers have left us pretty content to stick with some local shows and the odd 401 trip but who knows what the future holds! It sure would be fun to do another extended tour, personally I hope it works out at some point. – Brad Sheffield (synthesizers)
Take a humility break and tell me what lyric/line you're most proud of on this album, and what inspired it.
“If it hurts too much to look away, then just watch, and just wait” – Dan Larmour (guitar, vocals)
“Such lovely playgrounds, but so many graves” - I like this a lot both on a personal and social level. Personally, it’s in reference to a friend I met in Belize who told me about Mother’s Day there, where it’s the busiest day of the year in cemeteries because of AIDS. Kids would walk themselves to visit the resting place of their young mothers. Socially, I think it speaks ambiguously to the rapacious bourgeois exploitation of the planet and global working class. From enclosure and colonialism to apartheid and genocide: our labour and the commons are the playgrounds of the rich.” – Derek
“Pretending we’re not colonial” - captures the essence of cdn neoliberal capitalism. – Baris
This one has always hit home for me: “Don't write / just call it a night / I'm not leaving / I've been gone for a long time” because it's so simple and kind of universal/easy to identify with (perhaps speaking for myself, ha)”. – Celeste
It's hard not to argue that a lot of bands make their most significant work during the first 10 years of their lifespan. Do you feel like you've reached a pinnacle moment with this record, or do you feel like the group is just getting its footing?
This album is our fourth full length in 9 years but our first without James Bunton (producer/engineer Donovan Woods, Ohbijou, Vivek Shraya, Ansley Simpson to name a few) at the helm. James really helped us create the Loon Choir identity, so in a lot of ways this felt like a fresh start as much as it felt like perfecting a trusted and true method. I think that our numerous line up changes over the years helps make it feel like a new band each record as well. Working with Dean Watson on this was a great experience and it was really cool to have the entire record done in Ottawa. In the past, we had done a lot of tracking in TO and our mastering in MTL. I suspect by the time the next record comes around it will feel like a new band all over again. – Brad
Loon Choir release “In The Age of Alienation”, Friday, April 26th at the National Arts Centre, Fourth Stage (show is sold out)
“In The Age of Alienation” is available for purchase. Stream the album via Spotify here.
– Rolf Carlos