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Mum’s the wordWhat’s the story with cello-based
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“We’ve always entertained the thought of having a vocalist, but never got around to it,” Justin Wright—along with JP St-Cyr, one of the two cellists who founded and front Montreal band Sweet Mother Logic—says with a laugh. “I don’t think we’d ever go into lyrics,” adds guitarist/bassist Jack Kelly, “but if we did, it would be very sparse. Since we’re trying to keep it musical, it would definitely be very textural.” Granted, there’s enough going on in the music of the instrumental quintet to make a singer quite optional. Of the two cellists, he says, “JP’s really at the rhythmic, bass end of the cello spectrum. Justin’s a lot more melodic, carrying the nice, compositional side of it. It’s great because you’ve got the highs and the lows on either end, and they’re working off each other in a way where they don’t compete. “We all have roughly equal input,” Kelly continues, “so you’re getting five different ideas.” Nonetheless, there’s a powerful narrative quality to SML’s tunes, contrasting with the evocation of mood or environment so common in instrumental rock. “I think a lot of it is compensating for what the vocalist would normally do,” says Wright. “We have to tell the story without someone to literally narrate it.” “We’ve got a tendency to start small and then slowly crescendo to a certain point,” Kelly adds, “The songs start from a certain point and gradually move to their apex, then kind of trail off afterwards—which is kind of the way I think a story should be developed.” “We aim for a lot of tension and release,” Wright concludes, and indeed, SML’s music is tightly wound with vigorous energy and engaging, original melodies—more so, however, on last year’s debut EP, Ascension Island, than on their new, eponymous full-length, a more patient and expansive effort. “The EP was recorded and mixed in three days, a lot of that was set-up too,” Kelly notes. “This time, we spent a month in pre-production just arranging the material.” “A lot of it was in the compositions too,” says Wright. “We realized that on the EP, a lot of the time, we’re kinda working against each other, each person playing their own thing a bit too much. We tried to make it more cohesive—and not overly elaborate.” “The EP was also more a collection of songs,” says Kelly, “whereas the album definitely has more direction. We tried to make the songs more thematically linked.” Okay, an instrumental quintet with strong classical leanings and vintage analog synthesizers (care of Eric Kaplin), a penchant for wordless tale-telling and an album with a thematic thread (plus a drummer, Adrian Aitken, who brings a clear ’70s rock feel to the proceedings)—we could be getting into some pretty dire and bloated prog-rock territory here. Kelly insists otherwise. “We’re almost afraid to call ourselves progressive because of those connotations. There’s definitely a conscious effort to stray from being pompous or seeming pretentious. Trying to deviate from where previous bands have let themselves get too involved in themselves, I suppose.” “Even with the album cover,” adds Wright, “one of the biggest no-nos was to make it look like a Yes cover.” Considering the magically mycological landscape adorning the record’s sleeve, Kelly admits with a sheepish chuckle, “We kinda failed in that respect!” CD LAUNCH WITH THE UNSETTLERS |
