This week’s Midweek Music Mix features music by Kitten Spitt, Are Canin, Danielle Doiron and Hue/You.
Matt Carter
Kitten Spitt – Covered in Spitt Vol.1
Sometimes, if you pray to the music gods for long enough, you receive a tiny reward; an acknowledgement for your service, or your patience, or something like that. That reward can take many forms but this year, right now in 2021, it takes the form of the Fredericton-based queer punk duo, Kitten Spitt and their debut EP, Covered in Spitt Vol. 1. With seven songs over six tracks covering songs by Blondie, the Ramones, Joan Jett, the Misfits, Anti-Flag and Black Flag, Kitten Spitt clearly have impeccable taste and bedroom recording skills to match. Without straying too far from the original versions of each of these anthems, Kitten Spitt’s Scout and Emilia offer up slightly poppier takes of these classics while at the same establishing a tone and character that we can only hope will eventually lead to a few originals. That said, I wouldn’t say no to more of the same. A totally fun EP and a great introduction.
Are Canin – The Ghost in the Valley
I can’t quite place what it is I love about this project. Perhaps it’s the sincere delivery or the immense vulnerability that seems to characterize each new release from Are Canin and Oliver Wallasse. There is an undeniable level of honesty that rings through each song on this and the two previous albums. There are also creative aliases and fictional narratives that serve to create a distance for someone eager to learn more about this project, while also adding a degree of intriguing mystery to the whole thing.
At times, The Ghost of the Valley feels too personal to be listening to. Like a therapy session or what I imagine it must feel like to read someone’s diary or dig through their personal effects in an attempt to understand some level of hidden personal trauma. I like a good mystery and I really like this release. That said, the degree of candor that carries through each of these tracks leaves me feeling just a little uncomfortable. Uncomfortable in a good way. If that’s actually possible without being creepy.
Danielle Doiron – Middle of the Night
On their debut EP Middle of the Night, Saint John singer songwriter Danielle Doiron offers an intimate window into a world of heartbreak, self-reflection and personal growth, delivered through a soft, beautiful voice accompanied by sparse instrumentation and a lot of honesty. Doiron sums up the personality of the EP with the line, “I think about all my dreams I have forgotten and I think about what will happen if I don’t change.”
There is an undeniable sense of longing that resonates through each of the six tracks on Middle of the Nightthat seem to reflect a lot of the same feelings many of us have been wrestling with over the past year. Doiron candidly flaunts her introspection and her desire for personal development, airing a lot of what so many of us choose to keep inside. Maybe we should follow her lead by becoming more honest not only with ourselves but also with those who will listen and those we care about. Beautifully brave and admirably honest.
Hue/You – Field Recordings 4
I’m going to conclude this instalment of Grid City Magazine’s Midweek Music Mix with a new recording by Pelerin, New Brunswick’s Hue/You, an unusual fit to place among a series focused largely on more traditional music creations. That said, the contrast this project provides to the regular outpouring of songs and instrumentals usually featured here is worth noting.
This release is the fortieth offering from Hue/You (sometimes labeled as Querious, although both originate from the same Bandcamp account), a project that combines field recordings with noise, drone and related ambient textures to uncover rhythms and the melodic underlinings that exist beneath the surface of everyday sound. This latest Hue/You release captures the sound of a sump pump pumping water from a basement through forty feet of corrugated pipe. The first track is the raw sample and the second is a manipulated version, kind of like a remix, if we were to approach this project using common music categorization. Sure, it’s odd. But there’s no denying the rhythmic qualities on display. The eye of the beholder, and all that.
Send us your Music!
If you are a New Brunswick artist or group, have new music on the way and would like to be considered for a future edition of Midweek Music Mix, send us the details at gridcitymagazine(at)gmail.com
