Woodpigeon

"Growing up in Canada, I remember flipping through the pages of those subscriber series of Encyclopedia Canadiana, wildlife picture books, and Disney collector storybook sets available at grocery stores and through mail order. I always begged my parents to subscribe, to get the monthly instalments mailed directly to our house. I'd wait what felt like ages between issues – all read cover-to-cover upon arrival, of course, tossed onto the shelf and forgotten in the wait for the next package to arrive.

Diving back into those books as an adult and re-discovering just what waits inside behind dusty covers prompted the line of thinking behind the development of the songs on Treasury Library Canada. I didn't want these songs to be forgotten, to end up on the shelf collecting dust. While a lot of them were written around the same time that we were working on our first record Songbook, they didn't fit the overall story and feel, that I was going for with that record. But something kept them all together – a story started to emerge between the songs when left to their own devices.

We hit garage doors with drumsticks and test-ran every mellotron sound we could find. We chased new sounds and structures, throwing away entire arrangements to try it from another angle to see what would happen. As time went on into the recording, Treasury Library Canada felt more and more like a continuation of the diary composed on Songbook, but where Songbook told the story of my time living overseas – from happy arrival to admittedly bitter departure – Treasury Library Canada compiles the sounds of struggling with place.

We throw a lot of words around these days – everyone cusses; it seems saying "I love you" gets easier for folks all the time – but I'm always careful with the words I choose. "Love" only goes to those who deserve it. "Hope" never really dies, no matter how bad things may seem. And "home," above all else, is only used correctly when it describes the place you're meant to be. I've written a lot of songs attempting to figure that out for myself since moving back to Canada, re-experiencing our winters, driving across our vast expanses of prairie. Treasury Library Canada helped me figure out just what the words listed above – and "home" in particular – truly mean to me."

RELEASES:


17/01/11: Fra Le Nuvole (EOTR0015dig) Double EP, download only
19/04/10: Die Stadt Muzikanten (EOTR0013) Album CD and download

09/02/09: Treasury Library Canada (EOTR0010CD) CD album

29/09/08: Songbook (EOTR0008CD) CD album

28/04/08: That Was Good But You Can Do Better (EOTR0006): Single (ltd.500) and download

www.myspace.com/woodpigeon
www.woodpigeon-songbook.com

The Young Republic

The Young Republic are a virtuoso octet equally schooled in the arts of sunny, country tinged guitar-pop and orchestral derring-do. Hailing from the Back Bay neighbourhood of Boston, Massachusetts, the band formed around a refectory table in their freshman year, and have rapidly proved themselves to be among the most distinctive ensembles in the greater New England area.

The Young Republic take each tune and add their special blend of folk, rock and classical styles. Deliberately and delicately adding instrument upon instrument, with keen ears for harmony, colour and counterpoint, they create music that aims more towards the 60's pop music giants (Wilson, Lennon, McCartney) and the luminaries who overshadow even them (Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Stravinsky) than their contemporaries. They are at heart, a rock band, but it is perhaps a willingness to stretch into new musical territory that earns notice for their sound.The subject matter of their latest release 'Balletesque', mines the depths of the American historical consciousness past and present. Characters of salesmen, bootleggers, preachers, outlaws, western poets, actors, all search for theirs in settings of depression era New England, bloody, war-rattled Texas and mid-century Middle America. Trains, oil, blood, snake handlers, boats, loose women. America, black and white, red and blue. To dig beyond the fiction and folk yields personal insight Saporiti. Betrayal and loss are common threads and certainly reflect on the bandmates whose loss defined the previous year. His observances of an unstable country, most visibly through economy, and what it is to be a youth on such shaky ground, loom lyrically large. But perhaps the main theme of Balletesque is the realization and acceptance that you lose, you don't get it back and life goes on. In The Young Republic's case, their loss - bandmates, tours, sleep, time - has yielded a band that can stand toe to toe with any in the country. A band hitting its stride. A band that is all too rare these days. A band that can play.

RELEASES:

12/10/09: Balletesque (EOTR0012) CD Album / LP / Download

01/09/08: Idiot Grin (EOTR0009CD) CD album

07/01/08: 12 Tales From Winter City (EOTR0005) CD Album/Ltd. Vinyl/Download

17/09/07: Modern Plays (EOTR0004) 7" Single (ltd. 1000) and download

25/06/07: Girl From The Northern States/ Your Heart Belongs In Tennessee (EOTR0002) 7" Single (ltd. 750) and download

23/04/07: Blue Skies (EOTR0001) 7" Single (ltd. 500) and download

www.myspace.com/theyoungrepublic
www.theyoungrepublic.net

Charlie Parr

A confused and shy individual, Charlie Parr plays original and traditional folk and Piedmont-style blues, accompanying himself on National resonator guitars, 12-string guitar and sometimes a banjo. Apart from the single released by End of the Road Records, Charlie has released 6 cd’s, 4 of which are still available, the latest of which is called “Roustabout” and contains 14 tracks, recorded in true monophonic sound. If you are interested in any of Charlie's albums please visit his website as they are self-released or released by other lovely labels.

RELEASE:
01/06/08: Worried Blues (EOTR0007) 7" Single

www.myspace.com/charlieparrduluth
www.charlieparr.com

The Low Anthem

The Low Anthem is a folk and rock trio from Providence, RI who take influence from old gospel and folk tunes, Tom Waits, Neil Young, and Nick Drake. Ben Knox Miller and Jeffrey Prystowsky's mutual interests in Americana, baseball, and morally agnostic narrative necessitated the formation of The Low Anthem in 2006 at Brown University. They began a collaboration with classical composer Jocie Adams in November 2007. They are known for varied and eclectic instruments and a combination of thoughtful ballads with raw, minimalist rock.

RELEASE:
23/02/09: Charlie Darwin (EOTR0011) 7" Single (ltd. 500)

www.myspace.com/lowanthem
www.lowanthem.com

Port O'Brien

Port O'Brien began as the bedroom recording project of Van Pierszalowski and Cambria Goodwin. Sprouting from the isolated coastal village of Cambria, California they collected kindred spirits along the way and blossomed into a full band.

Their latest album 'Threadbare' offers dark, haunting, and at times meditative songs paired up with the untiring, somewhat aggressive and punchy anthems that Port O'Brien is becoming known for. The last few years have seen many adventures for the band. The creation of this record came with continuing changes both within the band personally, and sonically and Port O'Brien will continue to evolve.