Library Voices
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada | INDIE
Music
Press
“The results of these studies (in pop music) are well worth the effort. Hunting Ghosts succeeds in being addictive and continuously compelling.” - Prairie Dog – Cover Story (Regina)
They seem affable, in love with one another and mostly just happy as
hell to be doing what they're doing. It's a cliché a lot of musicians
fall back on and a look many a band has gone for, but it doesn't
always ring with the sort of sincerity that it did inside the Bovine
just before midnight Wednesday.... So they all take a glass and down
a shot right before a final song (pictured, top). Hey, it's only your
first show in Toronto in front of a packed house at the Bovine once.
- City TV - Toronto, Aaron Miller, Thursday November 27, 2008
While much of the Voices' reputation is built upon their blistering
live show--all 10 players firing on all cylinders--Hunting Ghosts
succeeds in capturing that same energy onto disc. Packing in just as
many literary references as hooks, the EP is a compact bundle of
energetic classic pop, a modern update of the British Invasion. n the
thick of recording their first full-length album (The Museum of Natural History), the group's footing has grown
even more solid. "Haunt This House" gets gorgeously ghostly, while
"Bookish" and "Bodies of Fiction" could attain hipster national-
anthem status if given the chance. Even in its current rough,
unfinished form, it's obvious Library Voices have come up with one of
2009's finest records of the year.
- Mark Hamilton - Calgary Herald, Published: Friday, November 14, 2008
Library Voices
Hunting Ghosts & Other Collected Shorts
By Pras Rajagopalan
Just when you thought the time of the ten-piece pop collective had passed, along come this, um, dectet from Regina whose MySpace descriptor reads “pop as fuck.” With this EP, however, they’ve produced an affable collection of songs that could more accurately be termed “twee as fuck.” Certainly their vocals-by-committee/glock/git/synth lit-pop sometimes feels like a variation on a now rather familiar theme. But this EP’s multi-decade mash-up of pop styles feels warm, inviting and unrehearsed. While exuberant bounciness appears to be the ticket for the majority of the EP, the winner may be the most subdued track. The utterly charming “Hunting Ghosts” glides effortlessly on Brian Wilson-esque harmonies, a hushed female vocal and a skittery beat, and is in turns wistful, contemplative and comfortingly cryptic. (Young Soul) - Pras Rajagopalan - Exclaim! Magazine
The six songs on the self-titled EP are sugary sweet ditties,
drenched with some of the best vocal harmonies, catchy melodies,
clever lyrics, and quirky instrumentation that you could ever ask
for. The songs have an instantaneous appeal. The result is an I'm
From Barcelona-meets-New Pornographers blend that makes it
impossible to shake the earworms out of your head, even after you've
heard a solitary chorus.
- T.O. SnobsMusic http://www.snobsmusic.net/2008/11/library-voices-library-voices-ep-album.html
Though falling under the large pop umbrella, Library Voices carry an
upbeat, dance style with an overall ‘60s feel. However, rather than
falling into "bubblegum pop," their sound is self-reflective, ironic
and sincere.
- SoundProof, By: Cheryl Stornelli http://www.soundproofmagazine.com/Canada/SoundBytes/Quick_Dirty_-_
Most three- or four-piece bands break up over egos, girls or creative
differences; imagine a group of 10 trying to not go that route.
Enter Library Voices, one of Canada's strongest newcomers to the
music scene. Library Voices' young career is only going to expand.
Currently touring the country and preparing to release a full-length
follow-up to Hunting Ghosts, with 11 songs already written, don't be
surprised if you hear a lot of them over the next year.
- The Brock Press, Matthew Hadley Issue date: 11/18/08
LIBRARY VOICES
Library Voices
Hometown: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Recommended if you like... Ra Ra Riot, I'm From Barcelona, Talking Heads
Why it rocks: Make room for another massive collective: This born-in-'08 Canadian posse boasts more than 10 members. Thankfully, the sound isn't convoluted at all, leaning on well-edited art school essentials, from restrained flourishes of unadorned guitars to playful keyboards and cutesy boy-girl vocals. Self-referential lyrics? Check. Tales of young, drunken romance? You betcha.
Fun fact: Library Voices is more than a clever band name. The group packs its six-song EP, Hunting Ghosts (& Other Collected Shorts), with literary references, from track titles riffing on Vonnegut, to a tale of a Tom Waits-t-shirt-wearing hottie/bookworm quoting Kafka on the dancefloor. - SPIN.com
Discography
August 2011- Summer Of Lust LP (Nevado Records)
May 2011- Genration Hanclap 7" (Nevado Records)
2010- Denim On Denim LP (Young Soul Records/EMI)
2008- Hunting Ghosts And Other Collected Shorts EP (Young Soul Records)
Photos
Bio
Library Voices could very well be the Dark Knight of indie rock. At every turn they’ve been met with curses of mythical proportions. While it may be true they’ve had their trailer robbed on tour and the following year, their instruments and studio destroyed in an unimaginable flood, the seven piece pop-outfit from Regina have refused to let anything slow them down. Summer Of Lust marks their third release in just over two years.
Every winter, thousands of Saskatchewan residents pack up and head south to escape the soul crushing conditions of the prairie winter. While most of the province was basking in the desert sun from their campsite in some Arizona WalMart parking lot, Library Voices rented an old town hall in the frozen rural village of Kronau (population: 209) and bunkered down to write their sophomore release. As if that weren’t enough, they then packed up the van and drove headlong into the heart of winter on a cross-country road trip to Montreal, to commit the songs to tape. The result is a bright -eyed, feel good rave-up that sounds like it’s been soaked in sunshine and gin sodas.
Fueled by criminal amounts of espresso and a hundred bottles of gas station wine, the album was recorded in just ten days with engineer/producer Jace Lasek (Wolf Parade, Besnard Lakes, Suuns) at Breakglass Studios in Montreal. On Summer Of Lust the band carries on their traditional of ever evolving instrumentation, this time around incorporating an Onmichord, a Prophet 08, and samples of NASA space recordings to their guitar/synth driven sound.
Library Voices hyper-literate lyrics are once again teeming with pop culture references. The album offers respectful nods to Douglas Coupland, David Foster Wallace, John Lomax, Raymond Carver, Jacques Cousteau, and Joseph Heller (to mention only a few). Summer Of Lust also features an ode to Miles Davis and Juliette Gréco’s forbidden love affair (Be My Juliette Gréco, Paris 1949), the declaration of a truce with the bands own hometown (Regina, I Don’t Want To Fight), and a satirical stab at Stephen Harper for his stance on the arts and funding cuts to the CBC (The Prime Minister’s Daughter).
The album has a guest appearance by multi-award winning audiobook narrator Simon Vance, who has narrated countless influential works including novels by Oscar Wilde, Dostoevsky, Huxley and Orwell, as well as Frank Herbert’s Dune series.
Library Voices have performed well over 200 shows in that time includes stops at Virgin Fest, Hillside Festival, and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Their relentless tour schedule has allowed them perform everywhere from BC Place to public libraries and has landed them in SPIN, The New Yorker, and on La Blogotheque.
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