Chris DeLine

What an odd thing it is to compare other people of the same age to yourself, isn’t it? In my high school, someone a year ahead of me was drafted into the NHL. Nationally, the trend becomes bleaker. Lebron James was born over a year after I was. I can barely spit out “necessity” and the winner of the 2004 National Spelling Bee was a 14 year old, spelling “autochthonous.” And if that isn’t the worst of it, I can always look to The Lovely Feathers. The Montreal quartet consists of (3) 23 year olds and (1) 21 year old. Not to say that the boys haven’t practiced countless hours…but…what I wouldn’t give for a little natural ability, y’know.

I dread making the comparison to other Canadian Francophone bands, but…I must. The Feathers play a tremendous set of songs along the lines of (….my teeth just clenched…) Wolf Parade; playing a blend of spastic, outrageous tracks, each of which cling to you a little more than the last. As one can tell, with my simple comparison to Wolf Parade, the band is hard to describe. Let’s try again. “The Only Appalachian” comes off as a Sonic Youth that, instead of diverging into melody from time to time, play the opposite roll and tease anarchic guitars. It would be too easy to take a shot, saying something to the extent of The Lovely Feathers sounding like a version of Franz Ferdinand that actually had balls and actually played some solid rock and roll from time to time. It would be rude of me to say that, and I won’t go there. But if someone else to were say such a thing, I would not disagree. Do those comparisons offend less? Either way, the band touches on something unique.

On the other hand, could the band just be fakes? It is clearly noted that they only started playing in 2004, well after the bands previously mentioned had made it “big” in the scene. I mean, what kind of band plays music that sounds like the bands that they like to listen to? Don’t most true musicians stop listening to music so as not to be artistically influenced by any outside sources? Well, no – no to all of that. The Lovely Feathers take all of the garage that used to be “the it thing,” and speed it up. They add a load of unconventional tangents, and abnormally funny lyrics. But if listening to a faux-chic, neo-hipster band of Canadians that rock isn’t your thing, The Lovely Feathers might not be for you.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]