Arctheline

Published the week of April 2nd, 2009 in the McMaster Silhouette's "ANDY" A&E section. - McMaster Silhouette

Arctheline’s Trespasser

Written by Ric Taylor
Published by View Magazine 04.23.09

We had last written about Will Seaborn (bass/vocals) when he was offering the debut CD from his former band Etch. The band never capitalized on their CD and broke up with musical and personal differences. Over the next couple of years, Seaborn would seek out new kindred spirits. The chance meeting with Geordie Stewart (keys/guitar/vocals) would have him join Spin Frequency to play covers in and around Hess Village. But the covers didn’t cut it and an all–original outfit was formed with Freddy Wilkes (guitars), Andrea Unrau (keys/vocals) and Alex Seaborn (drums). Focusing on challenging themselves and their listeners, Arctheline offer edgy if not uneasy danceable pop on their new CD, Trespasser.
“Arctheline came from long road trips,” offers Seaborn on the interesting band moniker and musical direction. “We travelled along a lot of straight interstates in the U.S. last summer where you just waited for the eventual turn in the road to make things interesting. This attitude kind of ended up applying to our music: taking something that’s comfortable and messing with it.”
The end tracks for Trespasser include three part vocal harmonies over a mix of dual pianos, hard rock guitar riffs, and a slap bass funk beat – not to mention 35–voice choir, hand drums and rainstick. The intricate infusion at times seems incongruent but while some songs sound like a band still trying to find its legs, the more original combination of sounds certainly offers a distinct sound.
“We’re taking the music that has influenced us and combining what sounds cool to us with what we do best,” explains Seaborn. “We grew up listening to America, CSNY, and all these cool bands with layered vocals you don’t hear anymore – so we’re hoping to combine those ideas without copying any one style outright.
“We recorded this album in attics and basements, with the heat turned off and a bottle of vodka,” he adds. “We knew we had good songs, the gear and the technical knowledge to make something that sounded good.”
Perhaps as original as the musical melange, Arctheline have chosen a novel venue to unleash the new disc – the band hopes to continue challenging the comfortable and conventional, but that doesn’t mean that their CD release won’t be welcoming.
“Making sure people have a fun time at our shows is really important to us, and hopefully we’ll make that easy by having a fun time ourselves,” notes Seaborn. “We’ve been involved in Hamilton music in very diverse ways over the years: not just with rock bands, but also with the local theatre scene and even classical groups. We’ve locked ourselves away for months finishing this recording, so we want to find out what we’ve been missing for the last six months. If you come to this show, you will see a band energized by their music, relieved that the CD is done, and happy about where this could lead.”

- Ric Taylor, VIEW Magazine 04.23.09

by Jay MacDougall
AWMusic.ca

It is kind of disappointing when your first experience with a band is live and they completely blow you away only to be a disappointment on the album. It gets really annoying when you show someone a bad and state they are so much better live. Unfortunately that is what happened with my experience with Arctheline.

Arctheline’s first album Trespasser, is by no means bad, but it isn’t great it is just average. Yet the reason it is so disappointing is because there is a lot of potential for a lot of really great music, which they proved live. If I had no experience with them live I would just dismiss the album as an average alternative album, but after seeing them live I know have so much goddamn potential. Live they have insane amounts of energy that seem to be missing on the album. But the biggest problem on the album is simply how it is mixed. They fell into the same trap that Most Serene Republic had, great live show but a poorly mixed album made the album seem boring.

Really they have a lot of potential to do something amazing. The band has a fairly unique sound, with a heavy rock guitar driving the songs and clever fun vocals that could be very interesting. Yet one of the reasons that the album is mixed wrong is the keyboard. I appreciate the keyboard player being humble and wanting to avoid having a direct lead over the band, but the piano on every track is mind blowing, yet it’s so hard to hear. If the piano were leading the melody with the heavy rock and driving the songs, combined with the interesting vocals this would be a fantastic album.

All in all the album is ok, but it only disappoints as you can tell there is some really awesome potential there. If they just had a few minor changes then it would be completely fantastic. I know they defiantly have the means to do it, as live they are completely mind blowing, one of the most fantastic local bands I’ve seen live. It really is all in the mix, make the keyboards louder to take lead, turn down the guitar to make it the drive, in order for them to bring out the vocal tracks and this album would be beautiful. Either way still take any opportunity to check out them live, they remain one of the most impressive live acts I’ve seen to date. - AWMusic.ca, published 26.5.09