In our series Home Scene, Grid City asks music fans to share what they love most about the city’s music culture. This time we check in with musician Patrick Reinartz (The Trick).
What have you been listening to lately?
I’ve been really enjoying the new Caribou album. It has a lot of elements I love, where cool beats and production meets great melodies and sort of a “personal” delivery. The Flying Lotus album from this last year also kind of took me by storm.
Most anticipated local release of 2015?
I’m pretty excited to hear what Kill Chicago has in store for us. They’re a really talented bunch of guys and I think they have a great full-length in them that will have the potential to turn some heads. And then there’s also Off Season, which is Jean-Etienne Sheehy’s solo project — featuring lots of gorgeous folk-pop melodies rendered through the lens of electro-punk. Always love to hear more of it.
Name the one Fredericton band you believe more people should know about.
I think one of my most pleasant surprises in 2014 was The Sentimentals. I’d known Cedric Noel for a while through solo shows and Redwood Fields, but it was cool to see him bring his talents to a back-to-basics rock outfit and just really having fun with it.
Live music culture is an important part of Fredericton’s identity. If you could improve one aspect of the city’s music scene, what would it be?
As a musician, I’d love to play more all-ages shows. Some of the most enlightening moments I had as a young musician were when playing on these bills with bands of all ages and genres. You learn a lot more from hanging out with people who are different from yourself than you do when you just seek out the specific types of people and music you already know you like. But it’s also a hard thing to return to when you’ve spent the last 10 years gradually aging out of it.
Looking back at the past year, what would you consider to be an important highlight for the city arts scene?
I think every time the city hosts a larger scale event or festival, it’s a big win for the city’s arts scene, whether it’s Shivering Songs, Harvest, or NB Musicians Emerge. But I think the one that stands out as being particularly special is the Shifty Bits Circus (in it’s 3rd year, I think). Basically, here you have a group of young folks who felt that there was a niche to be filled in the city’s scene and so they just filled it themselves with the things they love. It’s hard not to admire their enthusiasm and the fact that their hard work resulted in this big, odd festival of awesome weirdness.
Patrick Reinartz has been performing solo as The Trick for over a decade. In 2014 he added a full ensemble to perform his compositions. The full group will be releasing some new tracks in 2015.
