Debut full-length album Mt. Chimaera from Brasstronaut set for U.S. release March 23, 2010 on Unfamiliar Records (Japandroids, No Gold, Makeout Videotape)
Mt. Chimaera, the debut album of Vancouver band Brasstronaut can be envisioned as the mythological beast of its title. This record skillfully unifies genres as various as pop, electronica, klezmer, and jazz, just as the chimaera is composed of parts from a lion, goat and serpent. And they both breathe fire.
Recorded at The Banff Centre, in the Rocky Mountains, and mixed/produced in home studios in Vancouver, Oberlin, Ohio, and New York, Mt. Chimaera is the first full-length release by Brasstronaut's definitive six-piece line-up. Fronted by vocalist and keyboardist Edo Van Breemen, this roster is fluent in trumpet, lap steel, flugelhorn, and the seldom-heard EWI (a breath-controlled synthesizer). But don't be mistaken, Mt. Chimaera is a pop album, just one brewed with the most astonishing ingredients. This delicate balance is attained with the kind of grace that make Grizzly Bear and Radiohead at once avant garde and universal.
Album opener "Slow Knots" is the perfect summary of Brasstronaut's boundary-crossing vision. Horns tempt the melody toward total chaos but are restrained by an upbeat, finely-honed pop rhythm. Meanwhile, Van Breemen self-deprecates: "Do you really think that I betrayed you?/Honey don't you know that I'm too dumb for that?" Likewise, single "Lo-Hi Hopes" changes tempos and switches movements, while still possessing all the pace and hook of a Spoon anthem.
Elsewhere, "Six Toes" has a bounding sea-shanty rhythm and playful keyboard melody reminiscent of fellow Canadians Sunset Rubdown, but Van Breemen's lyrics keep the song out of that group's lofty fantasies and firmly planted in the real world: "We met in Crab Park, on that cold, and that snowy, December day." The orchestral sweep of closer "Insects," and the swelling horns of "Hearts Trompet" reflect the grand ambitions of this Vancouver band. Coming off an acclaimed spot at the 2009 Iceland Airwaves Festival in Reykjavik, Brasstronaut is preparing for a North American tour in support of Mt. Chimaera. This includes the much-anticipated appearance at South By Southwest. Altogether, 2010 promises big things for Brasstronaut. Now is the time to get a hold of this new and startling beast.
Check tour dates and stream brand new album track "Slow Knots" here
