(Photo by Jackman Chiu)

I wasn’t planning on jumping into writing about music much here, or at least writing about it in the way I’ve attempted to on my old blog (and in the future, I do plan on writing about how the Arcade Fire’s “Neon Bible” is to blame in my fall out of distaste for music blogging in general). But until then, I promise to not write insincerely, and will likely write more about myself and my reaction to music than trying to find weird descriptors and odd descriptions for flash-in-the-pan bands. Without further ado, here goes:

Something my spouse and I have been talking about recently as we celebrated birthdays and anniversaries, is that while life together on the whole is amazing and a blessing, I’ve personally felt like I’ve lost  a certain “spark” from my life. I’m not positive on when that happened, maybe from fighting an increasingly difficult battle with depression and anxiety, losing the fluctuating battle with weight gain, being miserable at work, becoming distant from family members, watching friends morph into card-carrying adults, or most likely — dealing with a difficult year of illness and death.

Travelling earlier this year to Minneapolis/St. Paul, one of my goals of the trip was to try and discover some new “local” music way outside of whatever is currently on my radar here in Toronto. With just my luck, there really wasn’t much happening at the time in terms of shows (school was out at the time, so I’m not surprised), except for a cool local act called “ADIDAS” who played some awesome electronic mood music while they were opening for Wolf Eyes.

But as I was perusing one of their weeklies, I came across a feature about a Eau Claire, WI band named “The Daredevil Christopher Wright.” Actually, it was this story right here. You can see why it piqued my interest… the interviewer shed some light on Jon Sunde faith and church-raised background, and some of the themes he explored in his writing. Their association with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) didn’t hurt either.

I eventually found their record online, “In Deference to a Broken Back,” and I was immediately stricken by the album. Opener “Hospital,” shows off Sunde’s classical background, followed by the meandering “The East Coast,” and then peaking with “Conversation about Cancer.” There’s more great songs, like “We’re Not Friends,” “The Daredevil Christopher Wright” and “Stewardess,” but those first three songs really grabbed me.

For a while I kept trying to place them as a “Christian” such-and-such band, like a “Christian” Modest Mouse, a “Christian” Bright Eyes or even as a not-annoying version of Danielson (from the yelping in many of the band’s live tracks). But in the end, they couldn’t really be nailed down like that… they’re as indefinable as other musicians whom I’ve connected with, like Sufjan Stevens or Dave Bazan.

The other thing that stuck with me were the themes of loss and death… how they were seen through a lens of optimism and hope (something I’ve been surely lacking lately). More than any other album I’ve loved this year, like “A Mountain is a Mouth” or “Soft Airplane,” “In Deference to a Broken Back” is my most played, by far. I even went so far as to message the band over Myspace to tell them how much I enjoyed their music.

Unfortunately when the band came to Toronto for NXNE, I was too busy doing my own NXNE show at the Horseshoe and didn’t get the chance to go to one of their several shows around town (including two at Criminal Records). Word of mouth spread about the guys, which lead to a review packed with high-praise from CHART. Apparently part of the band’s family is from Toronto, so I knew they would be back.

Last Friday the band returned to Criminal Records, in what was (officially) going to be their only show in Toronto, the first date of their tour on the east coast. I showed up about an hour before the band was scheduled to start, while they didn’t even load in until fourty-five minutes later (Hey, I was being cautious… I wanted to get a half decent vantage point for this). I was joined by my brother Brock and his fiance, as well as my Silver Speakers bandmate Jared, my two sister in laws and their friend Jenny, who I all convinced to come out to hear this band.

When things finally got going, Jared, Brock and I (probably the three tallest guys in the store), lined up against the far right of the room and watched as the band set up their pedals, tuned up and began to play. I didn’t keep track of a setlist or take photos or anything (staples of the serious music-blogger business), but standouts were an afro-themed “Parade of Tigers” and a doo-wop version of “We’re Not Friends” (I think), along with lots of older tracks and the standouts from “In Deference.” (Yes, I even told them to turn up their amps, and they obliged). We also got a little of the usual Americans-in-Canada border banter. Overall, I was astounded by both their musicality and understated humility: there were no “rockstar” moments or “fake humilty” moments… Just talent, fundamental talent, on display.

It was during their final song of the evening that they came to the moment I was waiting for… When the second half of “conversation” transitions into it’s triumphant third, when their trio of voices launch into a bright major chord, just a few beats before the somber tone shifts… It was beautiful, and it sent shivers all up and down my neck.

So where do I go from there? After the show, walking out onto Queen St, I’ll admit that I felt a little more spring in my step and more than that, pleased that this awesome band proved that they were for real. I’m excited that people are still crafting wonderful music, and it inspires me to continue to go for it.

If you want to hear the full-length album “In Deference to a Broken Back,” you can find it streaming in full here.

You can also listen to some live recordings from their session at Daytrotter.

Post-script.

I was driving around the north Ontario countryside today and I was struck by a realization that in the last couple years I’ve been misplacing my focus, that too much of my energy has been spent on trying to find success, instead of focusing on the art itself. I think I need to step back, dig in and not worry about what happens afterwards.