Atsuko Chiba, poolblood, and Monks on Call
Atsuko Chiba
Water, It Feels Like It's Growing // Mothland
I’ve gotten into the habit of writing reviews in public settings. I find having a bit of white noise bordering my laptop/chai latte workstation aids in my staying focused and also provides the occasional welcome distraction viewing people pass by in their Tuesday morning downtown best. People and places can frame an idea, perspective, or inspiration. I’ve enjoyed leaning into that vibe even when the weather would encourage most to stay indoors or at least snooze the alarm a couple more times. We’ve got no time to snooze today, though, as it's my pleasure to introduce the new record from Montreal’s Atsuko Chiba to the Cups N Cakes Network. The latest release, Water, It Feels Like It's Growing, venturesomely crosses genre-defining borders with a cohesive and hypnotic blend of post-rock, progressive rock, and krautrock, weaving together a rich sonic tapestry that subverts through offbeat songwriting.
The theme for this new album embarks on a different path from previous works where the thematic focus mainly dealt with introspection, spacetime and the personal journey. The themes explored in this new album are focused on responding to your environment. Ideas explored heavily on the record include division and group ideology, especially when looking at the weaponization of vocabulary and how it's used to distract, displace and alienate while forcing individuals to pick sides.
Following the release of two improvised sessions, the world was officially introduced to Atsuko Chiba with their first full-length, Jinn, in 2013. The release was followed up with two Eps in 2016: Figure And Ground and The Memory Empire. On April 12th, 2019, Mothland released their sophomore long-player Trace, revealing a new depth to their diversified sonic palette, proposing an elegant balance between straightforwardness and psychedelia. In early 2022, the experimental rock orchestra retreated to their secret lair, Room 11 – a custom recording facility built by the band between 2017 and 2021 – to record a third full-length, further refining their unique sonic alloy, a reconciliation of extremes, equally informed by the fringes of musical exploration as well as by pop music, past and present.
The new record Water, It Feels Like It's Growing roams free along a multitude of genres, akin to a flagless ship cutting through beautiful yet troubled water. This third full-length from the Montrealers should please fans of The Mars Volta, Beak> or Spirit of the Beehive.
- Earl D
poolblood
mole // Next Door Records
poolblood’s Maryam Said personifies time as a mother figure. On mole, their January 13th release via Next Door Records, this abiding romantic sensibility draws together a record that offers nostalgia, intimacy, darkness, and humour propped up throughout an eclectic, grungy, bedroom-pop-esque landscape. “A lot of it was just me processing the grief of leaving and also trying to let time heal me and become a mother, a parent figure,” Said says of the record. To the listener, mole comes in waves.
Said drew on inspiration from Fiona Apple, Nick Drake, and Joanna Newsom, as well as non-musical references, for mole. They mention “My Own Private Idaho” as a driving force behind the album’s themes of intimacy and the forces of strength and vulnerability within relationships. “I thought it was so beautiful,” Said says, “That idea of how friendship, platonic and romantic, can weave in and out of each other.”
A distilled, country-inspired guitar riff opens “shabby”, the third track on the record. Echoes of Silver Jews and The Shins can be heard in this track, especially. Said’s voice is the clearest that it has been yet, as they sing a tribute to the kind of friendship that inspires personal growth: “I’m trying to do right / right by your side”. Oscillating indie pop ballad "twinkie" is next, followed by the grungier “voyager”. Crunchy, distorted guitar tones sublimate the record as Said reflects on a relationship gone sour: “if I told you what I wanted, would you leave me?”.
The through lines that stand out in this record are Said’s searching, unexpected vocal melodies and phrasing choices. Following modal lines and colouring outside the lines of the form, poolblood’s personal touches add depth and delightful eccentricity to nostalgia-tinged indie pop landscape they inhabit. The production supports and emboldens these choices at every turn, creating a self-assured and honest feeling throughout.
Mole culminates in “my little room”: a crescendo of the musical conversation. Contributions from collaborators Eliza Niemi (cello), Victoria Bury (flute), Aaron Hutchinson (horns), Christian Lee Hutson (guitar), as well as producers Shamir Bailey and Louie Short, present throughout the album, build and shine in this track.
- Sophie Noel
Monks on Call
Lakewood Rd. // Self-Released
How did you ring in the new year? Edmonton based band Monks On Call celebrated the move into 2023 with a special midnight release of their debut EP Lakewood Rd. It’s a shorter listen (roughly 20 minutes in length) but packs quite a punch. The EP’s release is a decade-long culmination of hard work, passion, and love between musical collaborators: Ry Dizon, Kara Marchand, and Colten Bear*. Much like the emotional core that made up the older folk rock/blues tunes that inspired the album (Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rhiannon’ comes to mind), Lakewood Rd. is a welcome introspective jam session bursting with heart. However, I would also argue that this EP is more than a simple jam session. If you look at the song titles, they read as fragmented pieces within a memory; quiet ruminations; honest glances into old wounds. "Sex In the Kitchen" is a folksy tune held aloft in the listener’s headspace with its swift instrumentals and open vocals. "Take the Long Way Home" utilizes a similar approach. However, "Loose Ends" is the emotional core of the EP: a stunning break away from its mostly blues-heavy sound. It aches with memory; a feeling that lives on like the gentle hush after a winter storm. Explorations of memory, time and confrontation with pain are important themes for the EP. Overall, Monks For Call nails it out of the park with their debut release. It is an album worth exploring – a new year, a brand new release. Why not?
We open the EP with "Sex In The Kitchen". Right away, the band establishes their folk/rock sound with a high tempo acoustic guitar that lends a calm energy to the track. There’s a musicality in Marchand’s vocal performance; She keeps in time with the catchy rhythm, drawing out vocally in specific lines such as “Where do we go from here?” and “Choices…the ones that we make. Promises….the ones we break.” It’s an engaging take that hints at the overall theme of fragments in the EP.
"Can’t No More" and "Capsized" follow a more direct blues-infused path. A signature blend of electric guitar, smooth backing drums and crisp vocals compliment melancholic lines like: “I’m running on empty. I wish I had plenty more whiskey and women and things that your money can buy…” and “This bed is so cold when I’m in it alone.” "Can’t No More" dives into its blues roots with world wear vigor: a feeling that lingers as we move to the next track.
"Take The Long Way Home" has a more folk/rock atmosphere to it. The track starts off with a head-bopping, toe-tapping electric strum that belies a heartbreaking confession: our narrator is avoiding home. “I’ve spent a long time cryin’ where I’ve been before. […] So I take the long way home. I take the high road. I don’t wanna know – if you’re home alone tonight.” It’s a story that might be familiar: a love fading, a frustrated lover; a quick means of escape. One of the best things about this EP is its storytelling. The structure of its story – from the opening line about running out to the liquor store to the line about missing "you when I’m alone" – draws on the familiar paradoxical nature of romance. We can imagine ourselves as the hero of our own story: a rogue fugitive on the run from whatever mess that awaits us at home. “I think you’re gonna miss me. You’re gonna listen to my song. And you’re gonna wish I hadn’t taken the long way home…” The tricky thing about that, though, is we can't always help the yearning for what we shouldn’t miss.
Overall, Monks On Call paints a vivid image of lit cigarettes, cold beer, and an eerie yearning for an end. It’s fitting, then, that the next track that follows is "Loose Ends".
"Loose Ends" is the emotional core of the EP. The song is a tender moment of catharsis: an uncomfortable truth that sometimes follows love or even the unpredictable nature of life is that some things will, inevitably, end. It’s not always easy. It’s not always expected. Sometimes, an end can confront you with the force of a speeding truck and leave you stumbling with reluctance towards a new beginning. This track touches on that sentiment with bittersweet gentleness: “You were just a kid trying to act tough. And I was just a kid trying to act all grown up.” Structure wise, the listener is primed for emotional intimacy that's explored in the next line: “It’s like playing house – without knowing how to build one.” It’s a song filled with fragments – “Begging for forgiveness, begging for your love. Don’t I deserve it? After all that I’ve done?” The emotional beat of this song lies in that theme of memories split into fragments: “I tried my best to save this sinking ship.[…] it’s been a long time coming. Now I see the end.” A beautiful grace traces that path between love and pain. Memories, as explored throughout the EP, can become a kind of cushion for the hurt. The funny thing about the tune is for its slowed down pace and more subdued mood, time flies by. Is it the moving chorus? Is it the universality of the subject matter? Or the riveting hook of the electric guitar? It could be a combination of all three things and more. What is certain is that there is a soft magic that’s hard to forget. It’s a gorgeous, gorgeous track.
As Percy Shelly once put it, music vibrates in the memory. “Loose Ends”, and overall the entire EP, is a prime example of this notion.
- Josalynn Lawrence
