Feb. 20, 2013 - Issue #905: DOA No more - Trading in punk for politics
Boats
Sailing the musical seas
When do we start to acknowledge that our clock is ticking? And ticking maybe just a little bit faster than we want or expected. A nostalgic mood, coupled with an impending birthday or a momentous occasion normally does the trick.
As Boats vocalist Mat Klachefsky settles into his thirties, mortality is not only on this mind these days, but it also weaves itself around the crunchy, yet catchy, indie-pop on the Winnipeg-based band's third album, A Fairway Full of Miners.
"You think when you're 30 you're going to have shit figured out, but I guess not," Klachefsky says. "Instead I'm going to waste my time playing in silly rock bands and go broke."
A mix of giddy explorative meanderings, sprinkled with witty one-liners coupled with zig-zagging instrumental flourishes, and straight up three-minute pop ditties, Miners—at least thematically—concedes that, well, we all get older.
"I have a good analogy," Klachefsky says. "The first album was basically saying 'Let's go run around and bash our heads together in a field.' The second album was more like 'Wow, I can't believe how much that hurt and how we're all covered in blood now.' And then the third album is more 'Now we're going to die in the field.'"
The record is as raw as that sounds, but in a playful way. With a little bouncy glockenspiel, a few sing-a-long chants and lines like, "I'm coming over to jump on your bed and break your dishes," gleefully delivered by Klachesky's notably high singing voice, there is an exuberance that belies, perhaps, the band's refusal to surrender.
"Very rarely would I see a piece of writing that's deadly serious and dry and interesting," he says. "I'm more interested in really short one-liners, interesting turns of phrase, non-sequiturs and taking stuff out of context. That's just the current stuff that I like to read, so that's what I like to write."
There's an edge of humour, but a sharp, steep kind of edge to the songs, and according to Klachefsky, the creative process hasn't left him with any deep insights when it comes to reflecting upon our mortal state.
"I don't think it helped," he sighs. "I don't think I found any answers."
Sat, Feb 23 (9 pm)
With Rattle Rattle, The Moas, Anorak Slang
Wunderbar, $10
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