Massachusetts psych rockers Carinae are building new audiences on Canada’s east coast.
Matt Carter
There aren’t many American bands that visit Canada’s east coast as much as Carinae do. Over the past few years, the New England-based indie psych ensemble have become regulars on the eastern Canadian music scene after becoming fast friends with other touring bands from the region.
“We were first introduced to the music of eastern Canada when our close friends Walrus of Halifax came through Western Mass,” said Carinae guitarist Calvin Parent. “We played together at a show-house a few of us lived in at the time and immediately formed a bond. We have continued to play shows together, make other connections to Maritime bands, and it all started to make sense. We met Motherhood and they were our gateway in a million ways to play in eastern Canada. Our first Canadian show was at Flourish Festival. That tangible energy exchange, all the people we met, and the bands we saw sealed the deal for us.”
Carinae will be back in Fredericton on October 12 for a show at the Empire, a new all-ages venue located upstairs at 117 York Street. They’ll also be sporting their brand new self-titled album.
“This new album is much of what we have played in our time touring Canada for the last year or so,” said Parent. “It took us many tries to get this one right, recording and re-recording with different engineers over the better part of three years.
“I think in a lot of ways we just weren’t ready, the energy and intent was there but we needed time to grow and develop a little bit and this new record is the culmination of that,” he said.
If the first two singles are any indication, Carinae will be a complex album and one that finds the band delving deeper into the hallucinatory, psychedelia they’ve been crafting since the release of their debut in 2015.
Part of this development has to do with the band’s current lineup of Parent on guitar and vocals, Kasey Green on keyboard/synth and vocals, Gabe Camarano on drums, Nina Kent on bass and Gage Lyons who also plays guitar and sings.
“The primary writing and lyrical content of this album is from Kasey, except for Someday which was written by Gage,” said Parent. “We’ve always composed together by sitting down and figuring out how to make a song make sense around a general feeling or idea or concept. There was a period of time where half the band lived about 30 minutes away and we would get together a couple nights a week, rehearse and record everything, then make dinner and listen back on what we were making. This period of time was immensely productive for us as we were able to separate ourselves from everyday life to just work and compose and spend time together. Unfortunately a rare and random tornado knocked a tree down on that house.”
As with any band as committed to touring and writing as Carinae, there have been a few lineup changes since the band first started playing out. Parent and Green are currently the only original members of the group.
“As far as lineup changes go, it seems there have been many, but they’ve all been very organic,” said Parent. “It’s changed the voice and focus in many ways, and as new instrumentation is being added to the group, we’ve had to sit back and focus on space in a way we hadn’t before. It’s very easy to become a jumbled mess of sound when you have so many people on stage, so we find ourselves looking at frequencies and the interplay of melodies quite a lot. This has really led us to being a very dynamic and flowing cohesive unit, which is a big part of our specific sound.”
Most recently, the band welcomed flutist Steph Jacco into the fold. Together with the full lineup plus a sound engineer, Carinae is nothing short of a mammoth touring act.
“Peter McQuillan is our sound wizard, sample man and sound effects lord, and that brings us to a whopping seven,” said Parent. “In the past we’ve had members join for short runs or to fill in if someone was away. We don’t really consider ourselves a collective. I think if you ask any of us the best description would be a family. We’re very close, sometimes too close, but none of this would exist in the manner it does without the immense amount of care and love we share.”
The band’s forthcoming album was recorded in Easthampton, Mass. with Justin Pizzoferrato, who has worked on recent projects with with J Mascis, Sebadoh, Glen Hansard and Parquet Courts.
“We recorded it locally to us at a studio called Sonelab in Easthampton, Massachusetts,” said Parent. “Justin Pizzoferrato, who recorded it, has worked with the likes of The Pixies, many of the members of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, and so many more incredible bands. He has quite an ear and very good taste that made the working relationship a dream and he was willing to experiment in ways we hadn’t even considered.”
And while Carinae is set for release this month, the band already have a slew of new material waiting to be recorded. It’s just a matter of when.
“The exciting part for us is that we’re sitting on so much new material,” said Parent, “so once this record is out and we’ve toured it there is new work to dive right into.”
Upcoming Performances:
Carinae + Chillteens + Property | Oct 12 | Empire | Fredericton, NB | View Event
Carinae + Smoly Hoax | Oct. 16 | Gus’ Pub | Halifax, NS | View Event
Carinae + Klarka Weinwrum | Oct. 17 | Thunder & Lightning | Sackville, NB | View Event
