Timber Timbre
Hot Dreams | Arts & Crafts
Canadian folk music group Timber Timbre, made up of Taylor Kirk’s vocals, and Simon Trottier and Mika Posen playing a wide range of instruments, is set to release their fifth album in April, following their 2011 Polaris Prize-nominated album Creep On Creepin’ On.
This album has a dark, mysterious tone, reminiscent of Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields’ collaboration in the band Dead Man’s Bones. The album does a wonderful job balancing the music and the lyrics, giving each their moment to shine.
The lyrics are simple but with a haunting undertone, as in “Run From Me,” when Kirk sings, “You better run from me darling … you better run for your life.” The almost morbid lyrics aren’t meant to be a detailed story, but a brief impression of a thought, leaving room for the instrumental music, which is complex and multi-layered.
With beautiful passages of musical complexity, such as the syncopated beat in the opening track, the album draws the listener’s attention to the slow, musical melodies and harmonies. In parts, the album emulates the calm, afternoon jazz you’d expect to hear in a coffee shop, but with an electronic twist. The result is a wonderful mix of calming and eerie.
The only downside to the album was its overall composition. Each track on its own is a piece of musical excellence, but being played together detracted from the music’s power; each song has a very similar tempo, giving the album an overall feeling of lethargy. If only Timber Timbre had mixed up the speed of their tracks in the same way they explored the different musical tones and mixture of instruments, the album would have been a musical gem.
Overall, Hot Dreams is an album full of thoughtful, musically complex tracks.
