Saul by The Whitsundays
LABEL: Friendly Fire Recordings

Don’t be fooled into thinking that The Whitsundays’ second album, Saul, is solely an album consisting of ten well-written rock songs. Just below the surface of practically every moment that passes lurks something pleasantly dark, creepy and otherworldly. Imagine what would happen if you equipped early Doors and early Beatles with the music technology of today, and a boatload of LSD. I think you would get something that sounds something quite like Saul.

Paul Arnusch, mastermind of the group, is accompanied by Lyle Bell, Aidan Lucas-Buckland, Smokey Johnson and Aaron Parker of the critically acclaimed group, Shout Out Out Out Out, of Edmonton. Paul wrote, produced, and engineered the album over the course of a Canadian winter, from the confines of his basement.

“The quality of the album is often readily apparent, but its real beauty is barely subliminal at times—hanging from the clouds, and suspended from the surfaces of songs.”

The songs are somewhat simple in structure, catchy, with simple arrangements, but there is always more going on than there seems to be. “I Can’t Get Off Of My Cloud” starts of as a bad-ass rocking tune with awesome thumping drums and a killer guitar-riff. Odd sounds and such start creeping in with the chorus, and take over about two-thirds of the way through the song in a sonic soundscape that makes you forget where you are, until you land comfortably back where you started. Killer song.

“Silent In The Wind” is a circus-tinged-western-ballad with a heavy dose of The Doors. Really. The punchy organ parts are responsible for the circus vibe, melancholy guitar strumming and the ghostly howling feel inherently western, and Paul’s vocals drip with Jim Morrison. Again, about two-thirds way through the song, the soundscape widens and gets way weird and spooky. It’s actually quite lovely.

The real juggernaut, though, is “Yesterday When You Left.” The song is 2 minutes and 26 seconds of expansive, sonic, oddness. A musical interlude for an extra-terrestrial.

To capture the depth of Saul, I suggest listening to the album with headphones. While this enhances the listening experience of any album, it will even more so with Saul. The quality of the album is often readily apparent, but its real beauty is barely subliminal at times—hanging from the clouds, and suspended from the surfaces of songs.


REVIEWED BY LYNN SHER
LYNN’S FAVORITE TRACKS: “There’s A Monkey On My Back” • “I Can’t Get Off Of My Cloud” • “How Long Will You Go On”


MP3: “I Can’t Get Off of My Cloud” (right-click & save)
MP3: “Silent in the Wind”  (right-click & save)

The Whitsundays "You Know I Can't Lie" from friendly fire recordings on Vimeo.