Evening Hymns
Spirit Guides (Out of This Spark) You can’t listen to “Lanterns”, the opening track on Spirit Guides without getting swept up in its power and beauty.  Like The Antlers, Evening Hymns taps into a  deep vein of sadness and pain, but does so in a way that is redemptive and healing.  Spirit Guides is an album that constantly changes shape and mood and, late arrival to this list it may be, it’s definitely one of the year’s most welcomed.

http://www.quickbeforeitmelts.com/2009/12/albums-2009/

wow. thanks!!!

http://londononburgeoningmetropolis.blogspot.com/2009/12/torontos-best-albums-of-2009.html

Evening Hymns / Spirit Guides (Out Of This Spark)

Initially I worried that my warm feelings towards this record came from its familiarity, as it draws together most all of the best aspects of the current Toronto “Bellwoods” scene into a single distinct statement, rich with atmosphere, emotion and melody. And then I realized that complaining about that was like complaining that someone gave you a mix tape that contained all your favourite songs that somehow sounded entirely new. Which is to say, ridiculous.

http://www.chromewaves.net/2009/12/chromewaves-favourite-albums-of-2009/#respond

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Evening Hymns (SCQ’s Year-End Questionnaire Part III)

From the second I heard ‘Lanterns’, the first song from his arresting new album Spirit Guides, I knew Evening Hymns had just given 2009 a tremendous shot in the arm. I had the good fortune to catch the man behind the moniker, Jonas Bonnetta, the evening before his record officially dropped, and he dives into these questions with the honesty his album is dripping with. (Photo by Peter Chatterton)

SCQ: What have been some of your favourite records of 2009? Gush away.

Cass McCombs-Catacombs, Dirty Projectors-Bitte Orca, Mountains-Choral, R. Kelly-12 Play:4th Quarter (although not officially released), Sam Amidon-All is Well, Phosphorescent-To Willie, Timber Timbre-S/T

SCQ: Be it from the radio, lost on Myspace or from your roster, what song(s) could you not stop spinning?

‘Something Hiding For Us In The Night’ and ‘(Bit) Part’ by The Wooden Sky. Before this record came out I’d go to their Myspace and listen over and over… so much Tom Petty in those songs it’s great. The whole record is really beautiful but those two songs had me hooked. I’m really overplaying Washed Out’s “Feel It All Around” right now. I just got back from being on the road out west and it felt really nice to play that song near the beach.

SCQ: Seldom celebrated but crucial to The Album’s identity is cover-art. Can you offer any shortlist of personal favourites from the past year?

Bill Callahan-Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, Mt. Eerie-Wind’s Poem (always a contender for best album artwork), Bonnie Prince Billy-Beware.

I guess Mt. Eerie takes it for me. That dude always blows everyone out of the water when it comes to artwork. It starts with the cover and then as you open it up it gets more and more epic. His release “No Flashlight” is probably my favorite packaging of all time.

SCQ: When you look back on what transpired this year, what will stand out as your most memorable musical moment(s) of 2009?

Getting signed to Out Of This Spark was pretty memorable. I’m really excited to be working with them. The label is really focused on the artist and allows me to be pretty flexible in how I want to work. I got to open for some great bands that I’m a fan of too. That was a thrill. The biggest deal was probably finishing the record. It started out pretty small and ended up turning into this larger affair that we tried to wrangle. That was a real accomplishment that I’m really happy with.

SCQ: Most of us probably haven’t thought as far as New Years Eve plans but still, looking forward, what do you have on the horizon for 2010?

I just want to tour a lot. I’d like to take Evening Hymns more into the U.S. and would like to go to Europe. I’m slowly forming a band to play these songs with me and i’m excited to travel and play some new towns.

I’m also really excited to start recording another record right now. I know that as I type this my record comes out in like 5 minutes but I’m really looking forward to taking all the things I learned with Spirit Guides and putting it towards something new. I’ve started demoing things now and hope to start another record at some point early in 2010. I’d like to do a vinyl only release. Maybe some 7″ releases or something. Who knows..

http://theskeletoncrewquarterly.blogspot.com/2009/12/evening-hymns-scqs-year-end.html

Spirit Guides

Evening Hymns and The Harbour Coats at The Tranzac in Toronto

Frank YangThe Bellwoods crew is certainly setting a high standard when it comes to set dressings. Thanks to them, I’ve now attended shows in the heart of a volcano, an exploding library in the sky and as of this past Friday night, a heavily wooded lumberjack camp. In reality, it was the Tranzac and the occasion was the record release party for Evening Hymns’ new album Spirit Guides; a grand and gauzey statement of gospel-inflected folk-rock which is quite highly-regarded around these parts.

Support for the night came from The Harbour Coats, who on most occasions are a miniature Canadian super-group of sorts with members of Constantines, Snailhouse and Evening Hymns principal Jonas Bonnetta but on this night, due to logistical issues, were just frontman Bry Webb and an acoustic guitar and his own And if the oft-repeated reference point for Constantines is a heavier Springsteen, then Harbour Coats is a nod to the Boss’ more stripped-down side. Decked out head to toe in blue Christmas lights, Webb turned in a short set of tunes rich with images of the Canadian north and proving that he was as compelling and charismatic a songwriter a performer outside the Cons as he was with them.

At one point in the set, Jonas Bonnetta mentioned that this was pretty much his first-ever headlining show and for the occasion, he did it up right. Enlisting many/most of the contributors who played on Spirit Guides, Evening Hymns ranged from Bonnetta solo to a stage-filling 10-piece band including members of The Wooden Sky, Ohbijou, The Magic and The D’Urbervilles as well as a couple of his own siblings. And though all the parts were in place to recreate the expansive beauty of Spirit Guides – the stage even looked the part of the record’s rustic aesthetic – it would prove to more a question of chemistry than mathematics.

Though the show began strongly and remained so as the band’s numbers ebbed and flowed, at one point leaving Bonnetta to perform solo for a few numbers from his first record Farewell To Harmony, to my ears they weren’t quite managing to capture the ineffable specialness of the recorded work. And there’s no shame in that – to catch lightning in a bottle once and commit it to tape is a feat, to be able to do it again and on demand is asking a lot. But as the show progressed, it became evident that things were starting to coalesce and by the time the band’s numbers swelled for what was clearly the climax of the show, for which they’d wisely saved the record’s biggest moments, they were sounding like something much greater than the sum of its parts, in the same way that Spirit Guides is much more than the sum of its influences and reference points. As if cued by the bold organ of “Tumultuous Sea”, the show found a new level and through the encore and its gloriously jubilant readings of “Broken Rifle” and “Mtn. Song”, all crashing chords, thundering percussion and choral vocals, it was finally everything it could have been.

With so many of the record’s performers involved with other bands, it’s a bit difficult to envision how they could take this record on the road and do it the same sort of justice they did on this evening. This is not to say it can’t be just as effective and affecting with a different configuration, and I’m sure that however they end up taking it on tour, even if it’s just Bonnetta solo, it will be its own kind of special but I’m pretty pleased to have been able to witness it with the original cast, so to speak.

Soundproof and The Vancouver Sun have interviews with Bonnetta and London Burgeoning Metropolis, another review of the show.

http://www.chromewaves.net/2009/12/evening-hymns-and-the-harbour-coats-at-the-tranzac-in-toronto/