Talk In Blue Mellow Out In The Soil

by Jordy Yack

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April 15 - 21, 2010

Something interesting is going on in the south-end of St. Catharines. It's not a kegger, or a beer pong tournament, or even some kind of backyard ‘herb garden.' Five Brock University students have been taking time away from their studies and school commitments to make some truly beautiful music together. Barsin Aghajan, Ben Pearson, Nathan Heuvingh, Brian Cliffen and Dave Allen are Talk in Blue, a rock group with a penchant for folk, and in some cases a folk group with a soft spot for electric instruments.

The band formed last summer when Pearson met Aghajan and Heuvingh. "We met as neighbours, I was playing in another band (the Jacobson Family Band) with Dave and Brian. While Barsin and Nathan were playing in a different band (Help the Houses). We joined forces with similar interests and similar styles," begins Pearson.

"Our playing brought us together. We knew we were talented and we just needed someone to facilitate. And Ben did that," explains Aghajan.

"It was like a dating service for compatible musicians," adds Heuvingh.

"Ben was our e-Harmony." laughs Aghajan.

Since the band's inception they've played as both a stripped down folk act and as an electric version: think classic Devendra Banhart with rumblings of a Jeff Tweedy sort of vibe. Their earlier shows found the band reaching out to the arts community and playing gigs during Downtown St. Catharines' Art City as well as the James Street Night of Art. During this years' In the Soil Festival the band gets to showcase both sides of Blue. They played a warm folky set during the festival's launch on Tuesday and plan for a more electric set this Friday. "There's two things to master with a band, how to play an unplugged set and playing a full electric set," explains Pearson.

"We're working on both, we all have different preferences and we kind of met in the middle. Dave and I come from a folkier stripped down background, Brian and Ben were in more electric bands. Amp bands," muses Aghajan. "We're aiming now to meet with a happy medium."

"We want to be dynamic and fit into different atmospheres, express ourselves in the art scene or the music scene," notes Heuvingh.

At the moment, Talk in Blue's recorded output has all been done by the band with the exception of their song "Bluebird" that was produced by Jordan Hrycyshyn. "Bluebird" is a sunny number, chock full of foot-stomping drumbeats, frolicking piano lines, lovely melody and just a few short blasts from a melodica. While my personal favourite, is the haunting seven-minute "Masse." The songs begins with some light droning guitar and finger snaps and never takes time out to breathe. Hushed and whispered vocals intermingle between warped bass sounds and echoey tom beats. The song gets so hot it takes almost two minutes to fade out and then once it finishes you're ready to hit play again. Pretty impressive stuff, especially when you take into account that "Masse" was self-recorded in a leaky basement. "We say by the end of the summer we want to have an EP, and if I say it in print, it has to happen," concedes Pearson. "We also want to start meeting a bunch of orchestra players and other friends to collaborate, horns et cetera. We have a lot of big picture stuff where would need a lot of help from other musicians."

"We want music to really give us a sense of community. We're really interested in collaborating and hopefully In the Soil gives us the chance to do so," says Aghajan. "It's really flattering to be involved with In the Soil - It's like the bee's knees of all the arts festivals in St. Catharines. It's something we fit into more. It's our demographic and it's an honour to be a part of it."

TALK IN BLUE
w/The Bends, Jakub Zapotoczny, The Regards, Culture Reject, Great Bloomers
Friday April 16 @ L3 Nightclub.
6 James St. St. Catharines.
myspace.com/talkinblue
inthesoil.on.ca

In the Soil: Niagara's Homegrown Arts Festival flies into it's second year of programming and plans to be bigger, more accessible and dirtier than ever! Festival co-founder, Joe Lapinski, explains where the name of the festival came from, "Well, we were banging our heads trying to find an appropriate yet catchy name for the festival...our heads began to hurt, so we began stomping our feet in frustration! With the souls of our feet bruised and bloodied, we fell to ground. Clutching the dirt in our hands we asked, ‘Why does Niagara have so many talented artists? There must be something In The Soil.'"

Over 200 artists will take part in the festival, which includes musicians, filmmakers, media artists, dancers, performing artists, actors, playwrights and more!

This year the festival has expanded to include media art that will be projected onto the wall of the old Russell Hotel at the corner of James and St. Paul streets.

The festival runs from April 15 until April 24, primarily in venues located in downtown St. Catharines. The one exception is the "Bushels of Wild Oats" event that takes place at Brock's Centre for the Arts (Sean O Sullivan Theatre) on Thursday April 23. Wainfleet's Juno-nominated, Great Lake Swimmers will be performing along with St. Catharines' Jesse T. Reid and The High Wire String Band and aerial artist Molly Keczan.
inthesoil.on.ca