woodpigeon

hey! hey you! take a listen to woodpigeon performing live, and then keep your eyes peeled for when we're in your part of the world:
CBC Radio 3 In-Session , recorded live at The Hive in Vancouver.
CBC Radio 2 Combo To Go , recorded live at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary, alongside our friends the Voicescapes vocal ensemble.
from Rectangle Records :
FREE!- EP! Written in Paris, Berlin and Edinburgh, Houndstooth is a sweet, minimalist, short-player from Woodpigeon that we think you are going to love. It was recorded with Jane Vain* and she lends her voice to a few tracks too! This should tide you over until the first of three EP’s from WP, Dewey Does It is released later this year.
Here it is:
01. in praise of the west midlothian bus service
02. oberkampf
03. potsdamer platz (stomp, stomp, stomp)
04. ladybug ladybird (home demo)
05. the return bus ride home 06. thoughts on the one who got away by the one he left behind
* track 4 recorded by mark at home / track 6 recorded by aaron booth, who also sings.
and here's a grand review of it from FFWD magazine:
Moving away from blissed-out orchestral pop to quiet and refined folk, Woodpigeon raises the stakes on Houndstooth. The six-song EP is a departure for the band – moving from big and complex to small and more intimate. The first two tracks in particular ("In Praise of the West Midlothian Bus Service" and "Oberkampf"), showcase strong, deliberate vocals and effective harmonies and meld hymnal-like swells to create these modern lullabies. Recorded beautifully by another local favourite, Jane Vain, the band has never sounded more crystalline or precise. Track six, recorded by Aaron Booth, emphasizes the band’s confidence in the new material and showcases the lyrics and intricate acoustics – allowing the song to build and retreat effortlessly. By shedding the bells and whistles (literally), Woodpigeon allows the listener to hear its growth in every plucked string. By keeping things simple and stripping down its sound, the band has managed to show on Houndstooth that big things really do come in small packages. 4/5 -- KIRSTEN KOSLOSKI
and then: SONGBOOK, our debut album, is out now on rectangle records (through universal / fontana). click the link to go straight to their online shop, or order it through your local record dealers.
alternately, we're also hip with the
here's a nice review of it from NOW MAGAZINE out of toronto:
WOODPIGEON
Songbook
(Rectangle Records)
NNNN - CRITIC'S PICK
Like Calgary's answer to Sufjan Stevens and his travelling symphonic circus, prairie collective Woodpigeon have a penchant for long-winded song titles (Home As A Romanticized Concept Where Everyone Loves You Always And Forever) and jingly, ramshackle chamber-folk concoctions driven by banjo, glockenspiel, a sprawling choir and quivering male vocals. Though there are sonic similarities, the writing on Songbook suggests repressed longing and romantic fantasies rather than Stevens's hyper-detailed short story narratives, but Mark Hamilton's delightfully whimsical metaphors and imagery (a love song about ninjas! Superheroes sacrificing good deeds for love!) work perfectly in tandem with Woodpigeon's shimmery songs. And though the music works well in watercolour shades, when the loose-knit ensemble puts some muscle into rocking out, as on the driving Jonathan Ashworth Rollercoaster, they make a strong case for why Woodpigeon might be the next great Canadian breakout band. -- SARAH LISS
and another from THE EDMONTON JOURNAL:
woodpigeon, led by Calgary musician/journalist Mark Hamilton, creates lush, romantic music that combines bright, delicious pop with gorgeous echoey harmonies and oddball orchestrations including some lovely guitar, banjo, shambling drums, a glockenspiel, piano, melodica and horns. But, it's not nearly as unbearablly twee as you might imagine. Comparisons with Belle and Sebastian are fair, but with less Little Lord Fauntelroy and more of W.O Mitchell's dark innocence. With tracks like 'home as a romanticized concept were everyone loves you always and forever', and 'a sad country ballad for a tired superhero', it's like you're listening to a prarie city's inner monologues. 4/5 -- MARY SASANO
aw. shucks...
here's a video from our cd release show at the engineered air theatre in calgary on 28 october 2006 (visuals by our friend joe kelly). the song's called my denial in argyle.:
finally, cameron chapman of the haritoshan film ministry has been making a documentary on us since the very beginning – during the recording of our album SONGBOOK, live shows and events, and even capturing the entire 2007 mini-tour of the UK on camera. here's an early glimpse of it - a live performance of 'songbook' the song...
we're also all about the side projects. if you like what you're hearing, you might also like SPREEPARK , PIGEONBOOTH , and/or THE BRENDA VAQUEROS . we sure do and it's kind of like an inner-band race to see who can make the most albums.
i think that's about it, really.