Photo: Kieran Hounsell
Canadian quartet Centrefold recently released their self titled debut album, a raw and diversely influenced set of tracks suggestive of a band possessing a wide palate of music tastes. Resourcefully tuneful hooks and melodies which take their cues from shoegaze, jangle, psych and dream pop nestle alongside gritty fuzzed out doses of noise pop and subtle nods to a slew of rock centred genres including the progressive variety. Principal songwriter , guitarist and band founder Luke Spurrell quite clearly wears his love for his many influences on his sleeve, expansive tastes he shares with fellow guitarist Nicholas Meadus and bassist and album producer Kieran Dooley. Meadus and Dooley together with part time guitarist Michael Lewis are responsible for the many layers and effects heard on the album. The decision to enlist Rebecca Spurell (Luke’s sister) despite her inexperience in the pivotal roles of lead vocalist and drummer was an educated and future oriented one and while its clear on parts of the record she’s taking her first steps, the potential she displays in both areas for the musical lanes her band travels is enormous.
It’s a potential that extends across all of Centrefold’s members and one that is further heightened by the gradual opening up of the band’s songwriting processes. In a recent interview with the excellent Brazilian shoegaze and dream pop focused blog The Blog That Celebrates Itself , Luke Spurell, who started Centrefold originally as a solo project spoke of how the creative side of the band had changed over its short two year life span;
“Since (its beginnings) the band has drastically shifted and we all bring something essential to sound of the band. While I’m the primary songwriter, I only create the skeletons and the rest of the band puts the muscles and skin on it. We are also getting much more collaborative in the writing process going forward”.
Listening to the album’s seven fully fledged tracks, you feel those shifts unfolding in and between them. The clues for where this democratisation will take them may lie in three of the bands newer tracks. We were drawn to the band by the powerful and emotively layered album opener ‘Break’, the undoubted album standout. It’s packed with sonic density and centre’s on a spacey lead hook, half of which is a clear nod to My Bloody Valentine’s ‘When You Sleep’. These aspects are perfectly served by the soupy down in the mix vocal, the only contribution in that guise by Luke Spurell and the prog-rock inspired outro. The equally alluring yet far more circumspect ‘Anywhere’ is another standout and highlights Rebecca Spurell’s hypnotic and arresting vocal style as does the dream pop of ‘Blank Page’. The diversity between these three tracks is just as apparent elsewhere. There is a fair bit of room to manoevere between the jangle and psych pop found on ‘Thumbtacks And Feathers’ and ‘Sprain The Sun’ and the dense slow shoegaze of ‘Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t and the angsty rock of ‘High Stakes’, tracks that appeared on their debut EP last year.
Whichever way they decide to go, their exploratory and boundary pushing intentions and ambition in utilising diffuse musical elements are two factors that make Centrefold a band to keep tabs on. Check out the tracks ‘Break’ and ‘Anywhere’ below and get a digital copy of the album here.
Break
Centrefold (CAN)
From the album, ‘Centrefold’, Self Released.
Centrefold Facebook
Audio Stream
Anywhere
Centrefold (CAN)
From the album, ‘Centrefold’, Self Released.
Audio Stream