The Wooden Sky & friends at Buffalo Bar, Cardiff

Event information

Gathered In Song in association with Buffalo Bar presents...
THE WOODEN SKY
EVENING HYMNS
DEER PARK
Wednesday 3rd October 2012
Buffalo Bar, Cardiff
Doors 7.00pm
£6.00 advance / £8.00 on the door
www.gatheredinsong.com

THE WOODEN SKY

The Wooden Sky are a Canadian indie rock collective based in Toronto, Ontario who recently signed to the ever dependable London label Loose Music (home of The Felice Brothers, Handsome Family, Dawes, Deer Tick, Willard Grant Conspiracy etc.) for the European release of their stunning new album ”Every Child A Daughter, Every Moon A Sun”.

Initially formed as the bedroom project of singer / songwriter / guitarist Gavin Gardiner, the band has grown exponentially throughout the years -- both physically and figuratively. Spanning three records, several EPs, countless well-received tours, and dozens of collaborators (including members of Bella Union’s Ohbijou, amongst others) and, the group's development over the past decade can be used as a measuring stick in the Southern Ontario scene they've helped to curate and sustain.

Their reverence-turned subversion of accepted notions in Americana-based music have made them tireless innovators, consistently finding new wrinkles within a genre as broad as it seems ageless. With When Lost at Sea in 2007 and If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone in 2009,The Wooden Sky have slowly assembled a catalog of diamonds in the rough; hard-won songs encompassing regret, dusty roads, lost souls, and urban life that have struck a nerve with a legion of music fans passionate about the very human stories the group tells.

Shifting from lilting, fingerpicked folk ballads and rustic, sepia-toned country twang to skipping indie rock and contemplative ruminations on days gone by, The Wooden Sky create a secret world where not-quite-forgotten memories return as ghosts. On this rich tapestry of atmospheric sounds and salvos, the past is never far behind.

EVENING HYMNS

Evening Hymns are sung from the cathedrals of tall trees. They capture the spirit of moments, of friends around a bonfire on a foggy beach, the crunching of snowshoes in the silence of a winter night and memories of tribal boys growing up with pellet guns, fishing rods, and handmade forts.

The upcoming record, Spectral Dusk, covers very personal issues, and takes Evening Hymns to the next level, musically and lyrically, from their acclaimed debut record‚ Spirit Guides (2009). A study of loss, pain, and hope and a pathway drawn out of the dark into the light, Spectral Dusk finds Jonas Bonnetta dealing, through music, with the loss of his father three years ago. This record spills its guts out on the floor, and yet so softly it leaves the listener no option but to reflect on their own mortality. An album as dense as it is spatial, Spectral Dusk moves from droning bliss (Irving Lake Access Road) into anthemic chants (Cabin In The Burn). A record to be experienced more than listened to. An environment to exist in for an hour. A small retreat from the world.

Recorded in a log cabin in Northern Ontario with the band’s closest friends, it features members of The Wooden Sky, Timber Timbre, City and Colour, and more. With Spectral Dusk the band is following up on their critically acclaimed debut record Spirit Guides, successful appearances at Reeperbahn Festival, Top of the Folks, Pop Montreal, NXNE, Rolling Stone Festival, a successful European tour in spring 2011 as well as a 2 month tour of Europe with Agnes Obel and Timber Timbre in late 2011.

“There’s an unmistakable warmth on Spirit Guides... It’s a warmth that transforms the nine patient, building tracks from simple finger-picking heartbeats into lush, sweeping strokes of near-perfect orchestral pop”. PopMatters

“Full of wonderful melodies and hooks and, most importantly, the ability to make the deepest melancholia feel uplifting. It’s a lonely record that never feels alone…wholly remarkable and quite possibly essential”. Chromewaves