Rumspringa by Canon Blue
LABEL: Temporary Residence

Nashville musician Daniel James’ first album as Canon Blue, Rumspringa, is both instrumentally and lyrically strong. The album benefits highly from James’ collaboration with Denmark band Efterklang, as well as Amiina, the string quartet for Sigur Ros. The songs have a complexity of instruments (including a glockenspiel) that create a deep ambiance, coupled with strong driving beats from drummer Bjorn Heeboll. The depth and sonic complexity is something that you crave, and that you recognize only when you hear. Each song is associated with a place, from Memphis to Vegas.
 
The gradual introduction and layering of instrumentation is an art – practiced by many polished bands, including Radiohead and Grizzly Bear – which Canon Blue follows gracefully. The first song on the album, “Chicago (Chicago),” begins with horns and soothing vocals before the drums add momentum.

When you hit the third song on the album, you’re in for the best part. “Indian Summer (Des Moines)” kicks off with a circular sound almost like wind chimes, and follows with a tricky drum and synth line that defies prediction. The strings join up and the lyrics resonate with you long after the song ends, “Consider it a sign/I am alone in a long, long line/when everything is wrong/and it has been for a long, long time.” When the chorus pitches in with, “No you won’t ever reach me/you won’t ever reach me” you feel solidarity – you’re part of the sentiment, not simply outside of it. There are valleys in the song, in between chorus and verse, where it feels as if you’re floating delicately on a bed of strings.

Canon Blue - Bows & Arrows (Vegas) from Canon Blue on Vimeo.

 “Honeysuckle (Milwaukee)” starts out with a glockenspeil, then the gentle kick of drums and synth. It reaches the same pop peak that “Indian Summer (Des Moines)” does. “It’s gonna be the last day of our lives” repeats in the chorus, each repetition of the statement playing off the previous repetition in complement, the layers of vocals blending together as the song reaches a climax and returns to the verse.
 
“Lulls (Memphis)” is completely instrumental, starting out soft and minimal and arcing into a crescendo of strings and feedback by the middle to almost the end of the song.  “A Native (Madison)” brings to mind Arcade Fire, with a marriage of eager strings and paired male and female vocals. “Velveteenager (Minneapolis B)” is strongly reminiscent of Wild Beasts’ “Bed of Nails,” both in the layered synth and circuitous route of the vocals. The chorus sticks in your head, “there’s nothing to say/there’s nothing to do/you’re looking for me when I’m looking for you.” The complex drumming that riffs through the chorus is the buttermilk frosting on a red velvet cupcake.
 
Fans of epic, dense soundscape layered under pop harmonies will be very pleased. The thing I love most about this album is that it keeps my interest. The songs are a symphony of harmonization and lyrical possibility, like roaming a new part of the world where you’ve never been before.


REVIEWED BY KYRSTEN BEAN
KYRSTEN’S FAVORITE TRACKS: “ Honeysuckle (Milwaukee)” •  “Indian Summer (Des Moines)”
Kyrsten Bean is a freelance writer, a musician and a photographer.

FREE MP3: “Indian Summer (Des Moines)”