TEKARRA, Gareth Gilliland, and Aversions
TEKARRA
Kicking Horse // Saw-whet Records
March 2020, the world felt the weight of an unknown enemy all at once. Anxiety, fear, and uncertainty filled the air as the streets emptied. Two years on, fear of the unknown has given way to despondence, dread, and doom. Surely, not all of us feel this way, but it’s the right headspace to be in before entering into the latest offering from Edmonton merchants of tone TEKARRA; after all, Kicking Horse was born out of tour cancellations and subsequent dread of making music in the face of a relentless global pandemic. Kicking Horse is a battering ram of atmospheric doom that hangs in the air like electricity, throbbing and pulsing until its haze of doom has choked out any remaining light.
Over the course of two monstrous tracks, TEKARRA leave no room for hope amongst the heft of their sonic mass. While on one hand, the tower of tone has a sense of urgency and potency, it’s ultimately patience and reflection that are the stars of the show. Each strum, riff, and hit comes down like a sledgehammer and reverberates through your bones, sometimes for what feels like an eternity. If you manage to sort some thoughts from your vibrating skull, you’ll be able to do more than feel pity for their drums and amps. The richest sonic energy is often found at the limits of your gear, and TEKARRA understands that better than anyone.
In general, Kicking Horse serves tonal meat more than it does conceptual sustenance. TEKARRA went in search of sonic stature and came out the other side with an ambient record that feels like wading through a swamp with rubber boots full of mud. Headphones on, this album will surround you like electric pudding and won’t you go until you ooze out the other side a chattering mess of existential doom. There’s little to be heard in Kicking Horse, there’s a hell of a lot more to be felt. Listen loud, and don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
- Clay Geddert
Gareth Gilliland
Social Eyes // Self Released
Gareth Gilliland's first EP, Social Eyes, will bring you calm while you wait for the spring time to arrive. Released on January 7th, these five songs are full of beautiful sounds and textures that will take you on a cinematic musical experience worth repeating again and again.
Gilliland has supported various musical acts in the Edmonton scene in the past few years, but this is his first time releasing under his own name and with all his original music. “I've always found joy in supporting other groups and bringing their music to life… When I finally started working on my own voice in early 2020 it sounded like a mosaic of all the artists I've been involved with, a personal recognition of the impact so many artists have had on my life”, says Gilliland.
Musically speaking, Social Eyes combines elements of folk, jazz and hip hop that, along with etherial guitars and soft vocal melodies, will provide you a memorable listening experience. The opening track, “Stock Photos, Airbrushed Histories”, is sonically peaceful and distant, the perfect song to watch the snow melt while the sun shines bright. The fifth track “Factory Floors'' is a delicate song with light string arrangements that will open up your heart and fill it with warm emotions. So what about the rest of the EP? How is it? Well, the other three tracks are all yours to enjoy on your own; they are available on all the music platforms.
Now you know what to expect from Social Eyes by Gareth Gilliland. It is your turn to press play, sit back and relax. You won't be disappointed.
- Fel Gamarra
Aversions
Sharp Left Turns // 24 Hour Collision Records
Like many bands formed in 2019, the Vancouver-based Aversions are no strangers to the ever-evolving musical landscape (musicscape?) that has been gestating since the initial Covid-19 lockdowns in March of 2020. Look out, this baby's gonna pop! Unable to play gigs and unable to tour, many bands turned to distributing their music online and interacting with their fans in the digital space. Indeed, Aversions' debut EP (titled Base Portrait) was released at the end of March, 2020.
A band not being able to play live is like a bird that can't fly - it seems tragic at first, but then we recall that some flightless birds are some of our favourite animals: penguins, kiwis, ostriches. Remember the cousin of the ostrich, the cassowary? That fella will rip your throat out before you can even type "Aversions - Sharp Left Turns" into a search engine. Beautiful, deadly, effective; just like the Pandemic-Post-Punk Aversions have been honing since 2019.
I was happy to see the same names listed in the credits for both Base Portrait and Aversions newest EP, Sharp Left Turns (released January 14, 2022). We have Sam Coll on vocal and guitar duties, Rory Munro on guitar and vocals duties, Chad Devlin laying down some mean bass and vocals, and Joe Ross slamming the drums. These flightless birds (can I say that? is this a valid metaphor now?) are running at you at full tilt, ready to rip your throat out.
The first track on the EP, "Famous Last Lines", was previously released in July of 2021. I believe the band had intended to work the four songs off the Sharp Left Turns EP into a full-length album, but difficulties in getting to the recording studio during a global pandemic threw a bit of a wrench into the machinations of their plans. That isn't to say that Aversions weren't busy: they continued to share music together as a band through online file-sharing and online conferencing sessions. The information accompanying the release of Sharp Left Turns describes these songs as "the earlier of the band's pandemic portfolio", which is exciting because of the implication that there exists a "later of the band's pandemic portfolio".
A testament to their endurance during tough times, a music video for the song "Sharp Left Turns" was premiered by Cups N Cakes in December of 2021. The song begins with driving guitars and drums, droning bass; we quickly meet wailing vocals and the Aversions dressed in beige outfits. In the video, they stand and sit around, gazing into the fuckin'... abyss, man, all in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Whether the band is in an alley, out in the woods, or being enrobed in plastic, they remain quite stoic throughout. Marcus Aurelius has nothing on these gentlemen.
Personally, I think the video is neat as heck, and some of the images from the video (they're on Aversions Instagram page as well) are reminiscent of those old hunting photos from the late 1800's, where the hunters stood by their trophy and presumably had to stay still for several minutes due to the slow exposure of the cameras back in them days.
So far we've been introduced to two songs from the Sharp Left Turns EP. The previously released "Famous Last Lines" has an added introduction that was not present on the original release. It's chaotic and definitely sets a mood - it's cinematic in scope.
This leads us to my favourite song on the EP, "Two Score to a Ward". I believe a score is a period of twenty-years; I'm not sure what the relevance is here but I felt it important to mention. This song is solid, as are all the songs on the release, but what really got me was the droning guitar riff that builds tension for the first minute of the song before the chorus hits, and then at 1:41 all that tension is relieved and condensed until it pops again at 1:57. These are the moments where, on my 5th or 6th listen, I find myself just rewinding (is that even the right word anymore?) the same part over and over and appreciating the Musical Moment. Speaking of musical moments, the last minute of the song is sonic-brilliance. Not the hedgehog, but "related to the nature of sound waves", type of sonic.
"Interview 99" wraps up the release, and almost feels melancholic. It's the last song on the EP, the drums attack the hi-hats relentlessly; the chord progressions towards the end of the phrases are dark and emotional sounding. I love the way the bass is mixed on this track too, it's loud and droning - I recently installed a third subwoofer into my basement, and this album was a treat to listen to.
Looking at the credits, their first EP had many of the same people working on the engineering side of things, and you can really hear it. There's continuity between their first and second EP in terms of the way the band sounds, but there's definitely signs of a maturing band. When you look at them chronologically, the growth I hear between Base Portrait and Sharp Left Turns has left me genuinely friggin' stoked for their next release. I expect more musical moments. I want to hear more Pandemic Post-Punk, you Aversions, you! In fact, I am averse to Not-hearing more Aversions.
- Alex Bennett
