Album: Waxing Romantic
Artist: Travis Bretzer
(Mexican Summer)
Three-and-a-half stars (out of five)
As much as Edmonton tries its best to embrace winter, we seem to produce a growing number of musicians who write summery tunes. Listen to expats Mac DeMarco, Homeshake, Alex Calder or Renny Wilson and you might be tempted to think Edmonton is a beach town in Mexico, not a snow-bound city in the Canadian prairies. Add Travis Bretzer to this list of wishful thinkers. Waxing Romantic, the press-shy (and gig-averse) musician’s full-length debut, is a deceptively potent cocktail of melting guitar riffs, lackadaisical rhythms, and lyrics about love, nostalgia and existential crises. At times, you might even be fooled into thinking you’re listening to DeMarco’s new tunes, but Bretzer’s voice is slightly sweeter and breezier (and Beatles-ier), plus his arrangements seem to “glow” with an extra sonic haziness, adding to the wistfulness of Waxing Romantic’s 10 tracks. Promises drips with trickling riffs, soft synths and echoey vocals, while Don’t Forget shimmers with ‘60s prom vibes, fuzzy guitars, plinking piano keys, and a psychedelic chorus of multi-layered vocals. “Good times never seem to stay / They just fade away, but it’s alright,” Bretzer sighs on the last number, Good Times, which opens with what sounds like rolling waves in the distance. As in the distance from Edmonton to Playa del Carmen or how far summer feels when we’re in the middle of a January cold snap.
Album: Lonely Ghost
Artist: Artisan Loyalist
(Sky Council)
Three-and-a-half stars (out of five)
Come to think of it, Artisan Loyalist’s synth-pop debut is very much a beach-flavoured album, too. Sun-kissed ‘80s synths, reverb-drenched melodies, hushed vocals, and danceable beats bob along with each other on Lonely Ghost, a svelte and sentimental nine-track collection by this Edmonton musician, legally known as Robert Ryan Batke (of indie-rock act Faunts). “Stay here alone or move along?” he wonders on Silica, which mixes wafts of sombre synths with laser-like pulses perfect for one of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi films. “You are not forgotten,” Batke chants on Rainsong, as a soft drizzle of claps, and sax-like hums makes way to a downpour of guitar jangles and eerie Sting-like moans. Like a lonely ghost, these tunes will pace the hallways of your bones for years to come. Artisan Loyalist opens for Dada Plan on Friday, March 20 at Wunderbar, 8120 101st St. Doors at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10.
