Date Posted: May 24, 2011
Print Edition: May 13, 2011
By Paul Falardeau (The Cascade) – Email
The group of young Vancouverites that make up Red Cedar came up through the world of unnamed punk and metal bands at various stages of spinning out of control that makes up much of the Vancouver scene. Yet, their debut LP, Enter the Sun Gods, is far from those rough pastures of youth. It is a mature, controlled exercise in movement from soft to loud and the steady unfettered growth of emotional aural space.
The first track, the titular “Enter the Sun Gods,” hums and buzzes with the kind of quiet and determined potential energy found in the sky immediately before clouds burst with rain. So when the electric guitar of “Take It Back” finally arrives on the scene it is not without a sense of satisfaction; the second track is a payoff to the tension built in the opener.
Although Red Cedar’s sound is distinctly their own, a quick introductory comparison could be made to a band like My Moring Jacket, who similarly mix folk, country, prog, and psychedelic with a healthy binding dose of Neil Young. Even the haunting tone of vocals laid out by guitarist Andy Bishop, drummer Colin Jones, and bassist Shaunn Watt hang in the air with the same airy mysticism as those of Jim James.
There is also something distinctly Canadian happening with Red Cedar. “Untitled” finds vocals that bend in a style not unfamiliar to Gordon Downie. But, Red Cedar is a band from Vancouver and they aren’t likely to sing about Wheat Kings or Bill Barilko. The spirit of the West Coast does hang heavy on the album. Enter the Sun Gods sounds anything but sunny – well, perhaps sunny in spots, but in true British Columbian fashion the majority of the time is spent under grey skies. Soggy titles like “Raindrops in the Cold” seem to especially capture the Northwestern feel.
Yet, this album is far from gloomy or depressing, BC kids know how to love the rain, and while the album is moody and brooding, the payoff in closing tracks “Twice as Hard” and “Way Back Home” bring the building, fuming storm of an album to its head and are probably the finest tracks on the album.
The music put forth on this fresh debut is not to be missed, and seems to herald a promising career for these talented songsmiths. Enter the Sun Gods may be prophetic in name as Red Cedar seems to be a band with the potential to go far; their sound, resplendent with the majestic mountains and forests of the west coast, is mature beyond the years of the band members and is only the beginning of a rewarding musical journey.
