Organ - Brother

  by John Clarkson

published: 6 / 3 / 2006

Label: Select Label
Format: CDS

intro

Haunting third single from Vancouver all-girl new wave five-piece the Organ, shortly about to release their debut album in the UK

Vancouver all-girl new wave five-piece the Organ have been making a slow, but steady impression on their native Canada since first forming in 2001. Their impact has been more sudden in Europe. Three tours in quick succession of each other last year , and two well-received singles on small labels, the ‘Sinking Hearts EP’ (Sink and Stove Records) and ‘Memorize the City’(Queens of Noize), have lead to a deal with the large scale independent, Too Pure. ‘Grab That Gun’, their debut album, which has been out in their homeland since 2004, is due for release in early April. ‘Brother’, which is taken from it and which is being released to coincide with the start of a fourth European tour, is, like the other two singles, a mesmerizing experience. Ashley Webber’s dark, churning bass and Shelby Stock’s hefty drum work contrast with Debora Cohen’s chiming guitar lines and Jenny Smyth’s jangling Hammond Organ to create a work of tense, haunting atmospherics. Singer Katie Sketch’s urgent, forlorn vocals meanwhile merge the global and the personal, fearfully imagining what it might be like if the world was at war and her lover was prised away from her. “Sometimes it hurts when you care about me/But it’s going to hurt more when they take you from me” she sings with awed anguish and horror. The B side, ‘Love, Love, Love’, recorded for a BBC radio session in November, is an acoustic reworking of another song from ‘Grab That Gun.’ Cohen’s fluttering guitar work is pushed to the fore, while Smyth’s usually more dominant organ is a gently pealing, hazy background presence. With another evocative performance from Smyth that finds her feeling alienated from the world and desperate for love, it shows, in contrast to ‘Brother’ and the songs on the previous two singles, an otherwise unheard softer side to the Organ. The last year or so has been a good one for Canadian music with acts such as the Arcade Fire, the Dears and the Hidden Cameras all breaking out into the international scene. On the evidence of ‘Brother’, and with ‘Grab That Gun’ on its way, the Organ look like being a considerable addition to that already impressive roster.

Track Listing:-