I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

We first stumbled upon the Toronto seven-piece band The O’Darling when they opened for Hey Ocean! back in November. We chatted outside for a bit and then they handed us their album. Now, we get a ton of albums sent to us daily and, unfortunately, this one was added to that pile. I say unfortunately because for the past four days this album has been on constant rotation in the office.

This is the second album by the Toronto group which is actually impressive considering they only formed in 2008. Their first album, or EP rather, was titled A Nice EP and was given some great feedback on the blogosphere. With the recent release of their self-titled album, The O’Darling have stepped up their game and given us a record that is part jazz, part pop and 100% enjoyable. The album opens with “Venture Song” a tune with a rather long instrumental intro accented by the glockenspiel (apparently it’s hip now!) and sung by Jennah Barry. Her voice is what caught my attention at first as it is well beyond her years because it reminded me of songstresses from the forties and fifties but with a modern twist; completely soothing to the ear. The album then dips into “La Prairie” which holds the same slow, steady tempo as the previous song however is sung completely in French. The switch-up in language may be due to the fact that half the band are francophones or it could be an homage to our bilingual country; either way THIS Anglophone thoroughly enjoyed it.

Another added treat was the addition of a plethora of unusual instruments. They have the glockenspiel, the banjo, the omnichord and the flugelhorn. Although we hadn’t heard of the last two, whatever noise they made worked as was heard on “City Part 1″. Another interesting feature of this band is that they have three, yes THREE lead vocalists who are all female. This may be a bit off putting for a listener since it can create a sense of inconsistency, however the band have done a great job of somehow finding three ladies who each sound similar and yet maintain their individuality creating a sound and experience that is consistent. If this is any indication of what their live show is like, we are in for a treat. Overall a fabulous first record for a band that is still young and emerging on the scene. If you like jazz or pop music, then you will love The O’Darling; a hybrid of the two that is simply “darling”!

Memorable tracks: “La Prairie” & “Montreal”

Not-so-memorable tracks: “Fire, Fire”

The O’Darling play the El Mocambo this Saturday, December 12th with Miss Emily Brown.

Reviewed by Kimberlee McCormack

Often described as one of Canada’s best up-and-coming acts, Hey Ocean! are a young band with an extraordinary talent for blending various musical styles into a brand of infectious pop that is uniquely their own. Their second album, It’s Easier to be Somebody Else, was released in late 2008 and they’ve gone on to do extensive touring in Canada since; when we heard they were coming to Toronto we couldn’t pass up the chance to speak with them. iheartthemusic was first introduced to the foursome back in September when we happened to catch their performance at Mod Club and were immediately hooked by their laid back spirit and pop-folk sound, not to mention their sweet live performance skills! Hey Ocean! has already shared the stage with the likes of Bedouin Soundclash, Shad and gone South to play SXSW, and they’re making a name for themselves in a big way along the way. We caught up with Ashleigh (vocals/flute), David (vocals/guitar), Dave (bass) and Dan (drums) at Trinity Bellwoods Park. Check out what they had to say!

iheartthemusic: Traveling seems to be a huge part of your lives, Ashleigh and Dave actually spent some time in Costa Rica together, am I right?

David: Yeah, that’s actually where our name came from.

iheartthemusic: Yeah, there seems to be a lot of water references with your band, and not just in your band name, what’s thereasoning behind that?

Ashleigh: The name came from that trip [Costa Rica] where it had rained for, like, 14 days straight. We went down to the water and yelled, “hey ocean, why are you so mighty?” and started throwing things because we had cabin fever. We were just going nuts, so it came from this angry “hey ocean” and then came up again in a conversation when we were looking for a band name. Band names are really hard to get, but I think it kind of suits us because we are very tied to the West Coast.

David: As far as the oceanic references in the songs, we were actually talking about that the other day because we were writing a lot and some of the new songs for our next album have oceanic references too. I think for all of us the ocean connects everything in the world. You think of the ocean and you think that it’s out there and how big it is and how that connects you to other people. That’s kind of why it comes up.

Ashleigh: Or when we are travelling or touring we miss home, so we are kind of like drawn to this thought of the ocean and the mountains.

iheartthemusic: In addition to writing for this next album, you also just shot a video for “A Song About California.”

Ashleigh: We actually shot three videos!

iheartthemusic: Three videos! I’ve only seen the one so far, so how did you come up with the concept for it?

Ashleigh: We met with these guys called The Studio Movement and they really liked our band and wanted to do three videos in a really short time frame. Two of them were done overnight, like 8pm to 8am… we are all very tired! The concept for “California” was thrown together at the last minute. JP, who directed the video, at the last minute was like, “I got this idea about a laundromat and then it breaks into this musical theatre kind of world”, and we were all into it. I have musical theatre roots so I was totally into it. I got to do a dance break in the middle.

iheartthemusic: Was it shot out West?

Ashleigh: Yeah, it was a freezing day in December and the store owner had turned off the heat and I literally got in the dryer in between takes because it was so cold in there. I don’t think we did the dance break until 4:30 in the morning and the dancers were being so positive and great!

iheartthemusic: So you shot all three videos in the span of how long?

David: Probably about a week.

Ashleigh: We did another one for a song that Dave sings called “Fifteen Words” and also “Too Soon”, which will be the next video that comes out. It was an organized chaos thing that another director came up with.

iheartthemusic: You guys were one of the Canadian bands to play SXSW, what was the response like down there?

Ashleigh: It’s such a crazy, crazy place.

David: You are competing with like eighteen hundred other bands for audience. I think the show we did on the Friday night, we were competing with, like Metallica. There are just so many bands and so much music going on that your head definitely explodes with music.

iheartthemusic: Was there anyone there that you were able to check out that blew you away?

David: Sam Roberts.

Ashleigh: He’s got a man boner for him.

David: [laughs] It’s true, he’s awesome.

Ashleigh: Yeah! I also saw this crazy band from Seattle called Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head.

iheartthemusic: They actually opened for Lily Allen in Toronto a few weeks ago. Were they good?

Ashleigh: Very crazy! They are all super young and have so much energy. I felt like after every song they should be like, “end scene”, like an improv musical act.

iheartthemusic: Let’s talk about how you guys self-released your last album, what was that like?

Ashleigh: Great! It was so cool working with someone that just got what we wanted to do and was always there for us.

David: Releasing it on our own has been rad because when you are growing up as a band you kind of have the same insecurities that a lot of people growing up would have and, as a result, a lot of bands sign contracts earlier than they probably should have. They sign wanting someone else to help them out and because they’re nervous to do it on their own.

Ashleigh: Doing it on our own was pretty gratifying.

iheartthemusic: Has the recession affected you at all?

Dave: I think music is very important to people, especially in difficult times. You definitely see that in the previous depression, that was basically the time when jazz and swing exploded – it came in huge because that’s how people relaxed and got away from the stress of it all. So I think I’ve personally noticed more people coming to the shows.

iheartthemusic: Well, if anything, the live performance has become so important because people are not buying albums like they used to.

David: I think for us, we’ve never really been a band whose record is flying off the shelves – we’ve always made an impression at the show.

iheartthemusic: Funny you should say that because I actually caught you guys in September when you opened for Shad and went out and bought the album right away based on that performance! How did you get hooked up with Shad?

Ashleigh: We got introduced to him through friends and then he actually moved in with Dave.

Dave: I’ve actually played with him a bunch as well -playing bass for his band. He’s just a rad guy and what makes his music so great is that he doesn’t just listen to rap but listens to everything. He even tends to appreciate music that he doesn’t even like, so we are fairly similar in that regard. We all enjoy listening to a broad spectrum of music so that connection was pretty immediate.

iheartthemusic: Is there anyone that you aspire to play with?

Ashleigh: Said The Whale.

iheartthemusic: Aren’t you buddies with them?

Ashleigh: [laughs] Yeah, we want to tour with them.

Dave: I would love to play with The Cat Empire. That would be awesome. 

Ashleigh: Feist.

Dave: Cake.

iheartthemusic: It’s tough, there is so much talent to choose from, especially in Canada! I find there is such a sense of community amongst Southern Ontario bands, do you find that same vibe out West?

David: I noticed when we came here [Toronto] that sense of community amongst bands and the interplaying. Everyone knows each other – I like that. Vancouver is becoming more like that but it used to be a bit more of a competition. I remember when we first started playing gigs with other bands the opener and the headliner had a bit of a vibe between each other. We’ve definitely got a really good crew of bands that we are super tight with and we all go out to each other’s shows and support each other.

Dave: I think in the last six to eight years in B.C. there has been a movement going on and because of that more venues were opening up and more bars were doing open mics and people were starting bands and buying equipment and spending their time doing that. I think that now we are seeing that maturing a bit and there are some really dope artists coming out of B.C right now.

iheartthemusic: So what’s up next after this tour?

Ashleigh: We will be writing on this tour and then festivals in the summer and then hopefully in the fall getting back into the studio to record our new album.

David: That’s the focus, but we will hit some festivals this summer, which are always fun. We are really trying to hit Hillside and Virgin Festival Toronto. I’d like to come out here again in the summer. We really like coming here. 

Hey Ocean! put on a stellar show at the Horseshoe, playing to an almost sold out crowd! Their performance included a plethera of musical intruments such as the cow bell, glockenspiel, flute and more. They even had a surprise on-stage appearance by headliners for the evening, Spiral Beach. This group just keeps on getting better. Their videos for “Too Soon” and “Fifteen Words” are now out and can be seen on their MySpace!

photography provided by Kristin M.