The New Music

By Cam Lindsay

Back in 2006, Montreal party trio Think About Life dropped their self-titled debut album, fulfilled their promotional duties and then wandered off. Matt Shane spent time drumming for noisy pop group Magic Weapon (also featuring Jordan Robson-Cramer of Sunset Rubdown) and working as an artist, Martin Cesar developed his leftfield hip-hop act Dishwasher, and Graham Van Pelt went and earned himself a Polaris Music Prize nod for Five Roses, the debut album by his dream pop solo project, Miracle Fortress.

But TAL have finally returned. Their second album, Family (Alien 8 ), is an unexpected giant leap by the trio, who have completely overhauled their sound. Dropping the lo-fi grit of their debut, they’ve created a much slicker but no less jumbled album that sounds as if it was recorded in Technicolor and warrants 3-D glasses. If you were ever curious to know what TV On the Radio spiked with laughing gas and produced by the Avalanches in Brian Eno’s studio would sound like, well, Family can feed you.

We caught up with the just hours before they brought the party to Toronto’s Over the Top Festival.

You guys are often considered to be a party band. So what makes a good party?
Martin: Some really good vibes, really good food, tons of Doritos, good conversation… the music is smooth and then it gets just pumpin’ [mimicks blaring house beats]. That’s a good party.
Matt: And then there’s a chill out party. You all eat ice cream and lounge about on these nice big cushions…
Graham: Until the music brings it back to a big dance party a bit more!
Martin: It stinks like hell, but everyone’s cool with the stink.
Matt: Yeah, some sweet chili heat…
Graham: With nachos and cheese and cool ranch.

Umm… are you guys looking for a Doritos endorsement or what?
Matt: Well, if they contact us…
Graham: We sent them a few demos.

The first album was very lo-fi and distorted, whereas the new album is so clean, harmonious and filled with all of these R&B type grooves. I almost didn’t recognize you when I first heard Family. What made you take this direction?
Martin: It came naturally over the last three years. Just experimenting with things, trying stuff out live as well. We got some good reactions to these tracks that have this R&B thing, but it’s not fully defined.
Graham: The first album we made soon after we started the band, weeks, maybe months afterwards. We didn’t really know what each other liked that much. But this time around we got to know each other better and became closer friends. So we started sharing our musical tastes a lot more.
Martin: Yeah, and I think that’s where the album title came from. Again, when we started within two months we were playing shows. So, I think Family was more of a collaboration.

You cram a lot into what you do. The music, album artwork and videos are collages. What is it about using so many layers that inspires you guys?
Martin: Layers? Umm, I think it has to do with not being satisfied with just one side of things. I think if you look at us from a closer scale we’re a very complex band. I personally love layers because it just shows that there is more than one thought process. If you can absorb then you can benefit from it but also get confused by it.

Do you each have your own layers?
All: Yeah, sort of.
Matt: It’s a three-layer product at all times.
Martin: A three-layer burrito!
Matt: That’s the name of our next album.

You guys posed with a dog on the cover of Family. Was it difficult getting it to sit still for the cover shoot?
Matt: It took many shots, but [Bodie] was well-behaved. A lot of dogs wouldn’t sit still. It’s our friend Dave’s dog; he owns the studio that we recorded some of the drums at.

Did Graham’s success with Miracle Fortress have any impact on Think About Life?
Graham: Yeah, I mean whatever success there was… specifically, I got some recording equipment out of it and we shared all of the same studio stuff. I guess that’s one way it helped.

It also seemed to be an entry way for people who weren’t familiar with Think About Life.
Graham: Yep, it worked both ways, like before Miracle Fortress. They helped each other out. Although a lot of people tell me they only like one or the other. “Man, I love Think About Life, but that Miracle Fortress record is a little wussy!”

You all have your own “other projects.” Would you say Think About Life has traces of all of those projects?
Martin: I would say that it does happen for me. My Dishwasher project is a very personal project, but sometimes I think maybe something would work better in Think About Life.
Graham: Yeah, there are a couple of songs on Family that started as Miracle Fortress songs. But then I quickly realized they wouldn’t work.

It’s been a few years since Montreal was considered Canada’s epicentre for emerging music. Is it still thriving?
Graham: There is always going to be tons of musicians, like Toronto.
Matt: I don’t think it’s thriving any more than when Spin was covering it [in 2005].
Martin: Montreal is cheap to live there, the rent is cheap.

The label’s press release claims “Family can also serve as a floatation device in case of bad-vibes.” Has this been tested out?
Matt: We can’t be liable for using our CD improperly, but yes, it does work as a floatation device.
Graham: Underneath that press release in extremely fine print is a legal release that gets us out of any trouble from this.

You can listen to Family in its entirety by clicking here.

[Photo by Richard Lam]