Heard Immunity is the first EP by Canadian roots band Patchwork Yak, which features Murray Fitch (guitar/banjo/uke/harmonica), Suzi Martin (guitar/banjo/percussion) and Eric Smistad (bass/guitar). This is a band that proudly identify as nerds: Smistad is an IT professional, while Fitch and Martin both have engineering backgrounds. That all the members play multiple instruments may have something to do with this fact. Fitch and Martin have also won spots in several Calgary songwriting contests, while Smistad is a university-educated musician with a specialty in bass (while also adept at keys and guitar).
Patchwork Yak call their style of Americana “folk-rock with doses of country and blues. In our shows, we usually do an acoustic no-drums first set, then dial up the energy with drums and a mix of electric and acoustic bass and guitars in the second set.” Heard Immunity is mostly an acoustic EP, with songs about “love, loss, politics and basic silliness.” Pains are taken to keep the lyrics smart, because “life is too short to listen to bad lyrics.” The album was produced, engineered and mixed by Jarred Albright, who also added mandolin and string arrangements to several tracks. He even used viola strings on his violin for a lower, fatter sound. Recording took place at the Calgary Recording Company studio in Alberta, Canada. Mastering was by Stuart McKillp in Vancouver using Logic. Most of the live recording used an Aston Spirit microphone. The opening track “Fraser River” has a tricky start, where the sounds of an actual river slowly fade in, soon joined by a very resonant standup bass and beatnik-like percussion played on a djembe, which is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa (yes, I had to look that up!). The introductory acoustic guitar has the matter-of-fact jocularity of a Rickie Lee Jones tune. The band describe this song as “a laid-back, rolling track that combines geography, lost love and the Fraser River (the largest river in British Columbia).” Fitch sings in a sincere, slightly gravelly tenor that melds perfectly with the playing. The band comes in for some lovely three-part harmony on the chorus. For the second verse an electric piano is also introduced, and the river sounds return for the final fade. Next up, “Winnipeg” is so good that I had to make sure it wasn’t a classic track that I’d simply forgotten about. Starting with simple banjo and vocals by Suzi Martin, it’s the lyrics that are the killer for me. Said to be inspired by the narrator’s overhearing a conversation about whether or not to live in Winnipeg, Manitoba (apparently not the most desirable location in Canada), the voices cause the singer to remember a lost love affair that happened there: “He was just walking down the street when he saw her / framed in the crystals of her breath on the winter air / well damn that winter air!” The band’s gentle performance with Albright’s amazing strings make for an unbeatable combination. “Faint of Heart” has the upbeat Americana feel of Gillian Welch, but with vocals that are more from the Emmylou Harris-Nanci Griffith school. It’s the kind of song you can imagine singing along to in grade school. The band describe it as “Banjo, banjo, banjo. A song about challenges and need to take risks when looking for love.” After these two, it’s really something that the group calls “The Mountain” the most “country” of the tracks. I’m assuming a lot of this has to do with the one-two beat and Albright’s fiddle. Fitch takes the lead vocal for this tune about “long term love… and mountain climbing” where scaling a peak is a neat analogy for the rocky terrain of a love affair. “Drinking Song” is a partial answer to a question I have, which is: “Why does everybody think drinking alone is so bad?” It’s a classic folk rumination on killing your pain with drink or drugs, somewhat of the John Prine school but from a female perspective. The band gets a lot of requests for this song, which means it must be a universal conundrum! “Complicated” is quite a timely song about trans rights. “Billy the accountant likes to wear skirts / He’s one of the boys, he’s one of the girls / A strapless gown or a pinstripe suit / Bright red pumps or Oxford shoes / Well it’s complicated…” For this big finale the band starts folky, then slowly adds instrumentation until we’ve hit full electric guitar singularity. The band calls it “stadium rock” but that’s only compared to how they usually play! An amazing debut from this folky collective with some truly great songs. Recommended!
1 Comment
Linda Hewlett
3/19/2023 02:49:49 pm
Patchwork Yak is such a refreshing trio to listen to! Original songs and lyrics about life, love, mistakes, values - worth a listen!
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