Jul. 21, 2010 - Issue #770: Draw It Yourself
Prevue
Inland odyssey
Vollebekk's debut explores Iceland, Bob Dylan
BLACK ON BLACK » Razors are tough to come by in Iceland / Supplied
Listening to Vollebekk on record however, carries even more familiarity. Achingly, he evokes Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen while echoing modern touches artists like Patrick Watson and Jeff Buckley. Having completed school in Ottawa and Iceland, as an artist he has graduated to Montréal, putting his youthful curiosity to tape with his debut, 2009's Inland. To put it simply, longing hasn't sounded this good in some time.
"A few months before leaving for Iceland that I started listening to [Dylan's] Blonde On Blonde and Blood on the Tracks," he explains of his musical journey from 2006 to the present. "And so the soundtrack to me being away was Bob Dylan. He influenced me the most, but it was weird because I was away from North America, away from any city he would describe in a song."
That, along with seeing Iceland's own Sigur Rós ("one of the best shows I'd ever seen"), gave him a perspective he realized he'd been missing in his hometown. "I felt like I was eavesdropping on something really special. I finally got some perspective," he reveals.
With this new attitude, he returned to Canada, relocated to Montréal and committed 11 songs to tape at Breakglass studios, home to Wolf Parade, Patrick Watson and the Besnard Lakes. The result was Inland, a stunning collection of mostly acoustic songs that captivate from the first note through to the last. There's a maturity in his writing and arranging of Inland that belies Vollebekk's age, and a confidence to the recording that sidesteps the fact that he banged it out in just over a week.
"I really wanted to record it in 10 days, '60s style," the vinylphile explains. "I was pretty confident coming into the studio ... that the songs would be there." Combined with warmth, intimacy and the occasional full-band and string quartet arrangement, the album begs for the record player, pulling and pushing in equal measure, coming to the listener in waves. It's an experience best suited to all the attention and patience a listener can afford.
To catch Vollebekk's live show, however, reveals the rawer experimental side of the energetic young artist. He's also a multi-instrumentalist, looping violin and bowed electric guitar for atmosphere and adventure. This year will take him across Canada and Europe, and in between he'll be back in the studio working on his next album.
"I really liked Vic Chesnutt's last record, the sound was just exactly what I wanted [for the upcoming album]," he offers. "I don't know what it is, but there's something mysteriously honest about his records, this crazy energy. Like with Patrick Watson's records, they're so beautiful and you're really aware how amazing Breakglass [the studio] sounds, and I love that. But with these songs I'm working on, I just didn't want to have the studio help me; I wanted the studio to be more raw, for the songs to just happen." V
Fri, Jul 23 (8 pm)
Leif Vollebekk
With Erin Ross, Erin Mulcair & Landon R Coleman
Haven Social Club, $10
More info about Haven Social Club →
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