"Cottage country is alright for some / But I couldn’t seem to catch a break / Down with the tired mothers / All glazing by the lake..."
The beautiful worn folk fences and indie rock island noir of "Hourglass Lake Ahead" by Velour on Tap, the latest incarnation of Halifax, Nova Scotia based songwriter I.D. Brimacombe and from VOT's debut EP "Cruel Harbour", stuns gently with punchy musicality and poetic storytelling just vague enough to give the song a patina of wonderment. I am loving the swirling acoustic core, the jammy drumming, booming bass wall and killer guitar maneuvers as a tightly wound framework for Brimacombe's vocal countenance that feels at once gently sagely and coolly provocative. The aesthetic overall has me feeling everything from late 70's bohemian indie rock ala R.E.M-esque to post punk / power pop 80's ala XTC to slacker rock-esque jams ala Cracker. At least those adjacent artists feel right to me. I also appreciate the decision to use a different unique voice on the chorus, a voice that seems to look at the night stars but adds a sense of aloofness in a great way.
A very different piece of music that feels grounded in driving down real roads with creative license to tell stories that might be made up but might be steeped in reality too.
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
Velour on Tap are:
I.D. Brimacombe: words, voice, acoustic guitar, 12 string, electric guitar
Emilie MacBeath: voice
Spencer McPhee: drums
Devin Fox: bass guitar, lap steel
Matt Steele: electric guitar
LYRICS
Cottage country is alright for some
But I couldn’t seem to catch a break
Down with the tired mothers
All glazing by the lake
They said it’s rough in winter
With nothing much to do
And past the Irving Station
There are a troubled few
Break all your plates tonight
Enjoy the dance of the dead
Follow the signs to the right
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
And you will meet the locals
Once they know you by your name
You’ll drag your kitchen clingers
Through early morning flame
And if you meet a hunter
With tattooed sailor arms
He sees that vacant waitress
Who lives out by the farm
Break all your plates tonight
Enjoy the dance of the dead
Follow the signs to the right
Hourglass Lake Ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
You might see a landscape
That you’ll want to save in paint
A dog dissolved in smoke
On the shoreline of the lake
Deflated tubes collected
And pulled out from the docks
Gold necklaces left glistening
Out on the quarry rocks
Break all your plates tonight
Enjoy the dance of the dead
Follow the signs to the right
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
Hourglass Lake ahead
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/velourontap/
https://velourontap.bandcamp.com/album/cruel-harbour
Velour On Tap is the latest project from Halifax, Nova Scotia based songwriter I.D. Brimacombe. On debut EP, Cruel Harbour, Brimacombe maps a ‘Maritime Gothic’ psychogeography of the North Atlantic, a place where inland ‘cottage country’ claustrophobia meets the cold jagged edge of North America. Cruel Harbour is a four-song map of disorientation - gas stations, quarry lakes, and coastal roads where directions fail and meaning leaks out of objects. Brimacombe has spent three decades making music, with projects in Montreal, Lisbon, London and Chicago, before arriving on the Atlantic coast.
Velour on Tap,indie rock,dream pop,psychedelic,trippy pop,alt rock,debut EP "Cruel Harbour",Halifax / Nova Scotia based songwriter I.D. Brimacombe,post rock,post punk tropicalia,"Hourglass Lake Ahead", folk,
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