steering clear of the mainstream
since 2001

june 2010

review
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info opinion

Triple Burner

"Let's Build a Fire" CD

Madrona Records

Genre: instrumental folk rock

Madrona
C.P. 253
Succ. R
Montreal, QC
Canada H2S 3K9

May 2006

Having spent the past year in Montreal, I've gotten to discover a number of excellent new bands hitting the scene. One of the most intriguing is Triple Burner, a collaboration between instrumental folk stalwart Harris Newman and GY!BE member Bruce Cawdron. Their two recent shows in Montreal (live reviews of both are on Indieville) garnered a decent amount of buzz, and excitement for this new album - available in June - is pretty high.

Interested parties: you will not be let down. This well-recorded, beautifully packaged album is filled to the brim with rolling, engaging instrumental folk. It takes the fingerpicking folk style of Newman (whose work is predictably very influenced by that oft-mentioned wonder John Fahey) and crosses it with a more rock-based approach somewhat in line with Pell Mell. After a minute of ambience entitled "Kelvin Says," this disc kicks right into gear with "The Wherewithal," a duo for guitar and bowed glockenspiel that features some truly full-bodied guitar plucking. Excellent melodic themes throughout prevent the track from ever approaching tedium. "Roundabout" brings percussion into the mix, which is where Triple Burner finds its true groove - the rhythmic drums and textured cymbals add momentum to Newman's flawless guitarwork. This theme continues throughout, reaching a pinnacle with "The Pulse of Parc Ex," a fourteen minute epic built on a gradually evolving guitar melody. Such a long composition would seem vulnerable to becoming boring, but such is never the case here - the tension and the rises and falls in the music are consistently enjoyable, producing a dreamy atmosphere like nothing else. The closing track ends somewhat strangely - just a fadeout from a repeating guitar part - but such is the nature of such a loosely flowing (yet still cohesive) record. Triple Burner have put together a fine record here; I dare say this is among the finest GY!BE offshoot projects, though the Godspeed connection is made practically trivial by the album's uniqueness. Highly recommended.

MP3 (from triple-burner.com): Bride of Bad Attitude

88%

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 9 tracks, distributed by the label, released 2006]