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Out of the woods
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Doubt the Kinks ever played a fetish party, or the Police a constabulary bash, but among the many gigs nailed down by Montrealers the National Parcs in 2008 was a command performance at a private party, out in the woods near Cornwall, ON, for Parks Canada rangers. Material from the trio’s debut CD/DVD, 2007’s Timbervision—an audio-visual ode to the Canadian wilderness, where they sourced the footage and samples that would add up to their distinctive melange of rap, rock, pop, gospel and electro—found a particularly receptive audience there, one that unanimously demanded a full repeat of their set. “Afterwards,” chuckles Ian Cameron, the Parcs’ video guy, “each of them came to us, like, ‘Our park has the greatest frogs…’” “They were competing,” recalls singer and multi-instrumentalist Chimwemwe Miller. “‘Come to our park! They got the blue algae over there!’ We sold more merch there than at big festivals!” Different anglesThey’ve played their share of big festivals since their debut at Montreal’s Musée d’Art Contemporain, as part of the museum’s Friday-night Nocturnes performance series. In addition, the MAC included two videos from Timbervision in Projections, a three-month showing of what Cameron calls “the cream of the crop of Quebec music video production with an added artistic slant,” part of the MAC’s Triennial celebrations. “It’s definitely an avenue we want to explore,” Cameron continues, “how to bring work we’ve done into the gallery. The project goes beyond simply music. We see this as a great opportunity to be exposed to an audience that wouldn’t necessarily come to our shows.” “We’re trying to capitalize on the fact that we’re unorthodox in our approach,” says Miller. “One of the first things people said about us was, ‘It’s great… what is it?’ So instead of being afraid of that, we’re embracing it and using it as a strength, saying, ‘Okay, what are the little angles and corners we can fit into, as well as the main-stage stuff?’” Vincent Letellier, the electronic tunesmith of the trio, likes the practical possibilities such venues can offer. “You can articulate in a more hands-on way. It’s not just about passively watching a DVD. We always want to have more interactivity.” Cameron hints at more involved user-friendly installation plans. “Exactly how, we’re still figuring out, but I’d love to make a giant video synthesizer with which the audience can set off audio-visual samples and make their own mix from Timbervision, extending the life of the album.” Not that the trio is treading water (or chopping logs or lobbing rocks) on the strength of Timbervision. New work has already happened, notably at the Off-court Film Festival in Normandie, France, where the Parcs had a 10-day residency. “They gave us a bunch of cameras and computers to edit, and then we just went out in the area and filmed a full story, with images from everywhere—the beach, the street, older parts of the city. So we got to do another, fresh video that does resemble the aesthetic of Timbervision, but in another country.” Sounds, found and surroundingHold on… the city? What happened to the call of the wild? “That wasn’t a band mandate, it was an album mandate,” says Cameron. “We limited ourselves in terms of our palette for Timbervision, then used that process and applied it to a different environment.” “Obviously, we love the forest and we’re called the National Parcs,” adds Miller, “but we don’t want to limit ourselves.” The trio are very likely to go back to nature—they’ve been getting yoo-hoo calls from Brazil and elsewhere—but first they’ll play Cabaret this weekend. Prefacing a concert of road-tested and reworked tunes from their debut, plus some new joints, is a rather unusual means of hearing “King Size,” a muscular jam born on the Normandie jaunt. It’s a sort of listening booth on steroids, installed outside the showroom. “One of my friends does crazy contraptions,” says Letellier. “Instead of miniaturizing everything and putting MP3s through tiny speakers, he makes huge octagons with speakers everywhere. He’s made a scaled down version—it’s a 5.1 Surround mix, but instead of everything being lateral, it’s all over. You step into it and stand on the bass bin, and then you’ve got a shower of highs from above.” “It’s a little treat,” chuckles Cameron. “Instead of releasing a single, it’s a peek at what’s to come.” The trio are getting a clearer idea of what’s to come, if not, ironically, where to go. Wherever they may alight for the next round of serious sound and image sourcing, they’ll have a lot of prep work done. “We’re taking the opposite approach [from Timbervision],” says Cameron. “Instead of showing up in environments and letting them inspire us, we’re building maquettes, song structures, and then marrying those to a concept.” “We’re just trying a different method,” adds Letellier. “What stays is the vibe, the way we do things and the sounds we put out.” WITH DJ JEUNE PREMIER AT CABARET |
