[ News :: 17.02.

03]

Sonic Unyon Press Release:

Sonic Unyon is proud to announce the signing of Southern Ontario dream pop quintet a northern chorus to the
label. The band will release their second full length CD spirit flags via Sonic Unyon on Tuesday, May 6th, 2003 in
Canada/USA and a day earlier in the UK. (Their debut album, 2001’s Before We All Go To Pieces, was released on
the Black Mountain Music label.) More details on the album will be released shortly, but here is the track listing for the
upcoming album:
01. song & i
02. red carpet blues
03. fragile day
04. let the parrots speak for themselves
05. take your canvas everywhere
06. louder than love
07. mombassa
08. moment fit to remind
09. I dreamt the world had ended
10. eilan donan
11. flag in hand
For more information please contact Sean Palmerston at Sonic Unyon
Visit Sonic Unyon dot Com too

see flicks:
himalaya
best in show
life is beautiful

hear discs:
toshack highway . everyday, rock'n'roll is saving my life
sianspheric . the sound of the colour of the sun
a silver mt. zion . he has left us alone but shafts of light sometimes grace the corner of our rooms...
my bloody valentine . loveless
mogwai . rock action
the dirty three . ocean songs

read paper:
margaret lawrence . the stone angel
william gibson . neuromancer
michael barclay, ian a.d. jack, and jason schneider . have not been the same; the canrock renaissance 1985-1995

100101 net:
the aurora page
guerrilla news network
all music

End

Imagine hiking through a serene meadow or an expansive mountainous

setting. Miles away from the modern, civilized, damaged world,
everything you encounter here seems both majestic, as if forever
indestructible, and fragile, as if it could disappear any minute. You
enter a tranquil, contemplative state, and, Walkman in hand, you
search for an idyllic aural accompaniment for it all.
So you pop in Spirit Flags. In opener "Song & I", tremoloed guitars
heavily drenched in reverb slowly fade into the mix, stop, and start
again. Bass, drums and lackadaisical vocalists join them at full
blast, and for a few minutes you almost think you popped in "Crimson
and Clover" by mistake. Then the second track, "Red Carpet Blues" (an
instrumental but not actual blues), ups the tempo more than a few
notches, bringing to mind the backing to a classic Smiths or New
Order tune.

The songs that follow, however, are far more lethargic and leisurely
paced. The band has a tendency to stretch conceivably compact pop
songs to the six-to-eight minute range by concluding them with
lengthy instrumental codas. Fortunately, the codas are often
stunning, especially when flutist Julie MacDonald and violinist Sarah
MacGregor play in tandem over graceful acoustic arrangements and
grandiose walls of distorted guitar. You'll also swoon at the
musicians' effortless transitions from quiet, gentle verses to loud,
dramatic choruses. The epic "Let The Parrots Speak For Themselves",
for instance, does this expertly -- almost well enough to distract
you from paying too much attention to the eccentric, borderline-
precious lyrics.

It's much easier to get a handle on the revolving, echoing, less

lyrically abstract "Louder Than Love", in which the Canadian sextet
pushes its more immediate melodic instincts to the fore without
sacrificing a finely-honed sense of atmosphere. And if the
mournful "Mombassa" (which features the ranting of preachers at a
Kenyan gospel festival, and sounds uncomfortably like Jim Jones in
Guyana) seems out of place, the climactic, hymn-like "Eilan Donan"
fits perfectly as you stop to rest. This song has some of the
loveliest harmonies you've ever heard, and the moment the music drops
out and the voices return, a capella, is pure bliss, even if it only
lasts for a few seconds.

You complete your hike, but refrain from listening to the album again
on the way home. After all, you don't want to accidentally drive off
the side of the road. But you wait in anticipation to play it again
at home, before drifting off to a deep restful sleep.

-- Chris Kriofske
www.splendidezine.com

My Shaded Sun

(lyrics: P. Hall)

will this love be my last,

or feed lonliness?
for all the years I've watched you cry,
you've never known my desire for you will never die.
I long for a day,
when i can say without a lie,
that i feel whole again.
when I fade away again my dear,
everything will be alright.
when I feel so whole again my dear,
everything will be just fine.

I saw an angel yesterday,

and she had your smile.
I asked her what's her dismay,
it may take a while.
have i known your other life,
are you returning?
when I can say without a lie,
that i feel whole again.

when I fade away again my dear,

everything will be alright.
when I feel so whole again my dear,
everything will be just fine.

and my shaded sun will shine through and through,

and i'm coming up for the air that i need.
she'll wake up the day and spend it

Clear The Air

(Lyrics: S. Livingstone)

I felt like i was burning alive,

it was there in that gaze that i'd found what had slipped away.
I wished that a day had come for us,
and laid out the future with roses.

so i'll sigh and clear the air,

cuz i wish that you were there.

I awoke to a mist of ashes and i searched for the morning fire,

and with the heart of the hunter i will swallow these moments of wonder.

so i'll sigh and clear the air,

cuz i wish that you were there.
we could coast across the waves,
and see no more days of rain.

here in the evergreens,

we should stay.
and when they come for us,
I'll tell them we're staying here with the sun.

Tales from the big top

(Lyrics: P. Hall)

imagine yourself on a hillside,

stoned and loving the silence,
perfect in watching yourself grow.
through all the haze that my mind's made,
I wake up here, clear for the first time,
like so many days that i've wasted.

(so rise and shine for the days anew)

so we'll talk about the years,
recalling our memories,
so faded but pure,
we'll say that we knew you,
when we were young.

so wait for me outside the big top,

tell me, i'm almost cured from this desperate attempt to relieve my soul.

where did i go wrong?

what path was my soul on?
and will you remind me i can breath on my own?

(so rise and shine for the days anew)

so we'll talk about the years,
recalling our memories,
so faded but pure,
we'll say that we knew you,
when we were young.

And still she sleeps

Lyrics: S. Livingstone)

all i wanted was this day re-lived for it's led me astray,
and i'm so tired of roaming around in this dream as that fire burns away.

and still she is sleeping,

she's holding this dream in her arms.
and still there is no other peace,
like the one that i find in her eyes.

I waited too long for those eyes to appear,

and now that i've seen them i'm living this dream,
I'm waking up yesterday every time i say her name.